60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens is stepping down as Paramount Global faces pressure to settle a $20 billion lawsuit from Donald Trump. With Shari Redstone in the middle of a huge deal with Skydance, will this be what defines her legacy? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break it down.
Clocking out? News of Bill Owens’ resignation is raising concerns among journalists about corporate influence and the future of editorial independence at CBS News. “60 Minutes has been going strong covering Trump, and then Bill Owens told his staff that he can't do this job anymore,” explains Masters. “He said, ‘it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.’ So this is a huge thing in the news business, well beyond CBS News.”
The heat is on? Owens’ decision to step down publicly all but confirms that something deeper is happening behind the scenes. “You don't lose a guy like Bill Owens unless something is going on behind the scenes that causes him to feel like the best thing for him to do is to publicly step down,” says Belloni. “Shari Redstone, or someone in her orbit, is clearly putting pressure on him to not go after Donald Trump.”
Redstone’s headstone? With the ongoing Paramount-Skydance deal caught in the midst of the CBS News controversy, Shari Redstone’s decision to settle with Trump could prompt new questions about her legacy. “I think that Shari Redstone is doing something that will be in her eventual obituary in selling out CBS News,” Masters speculates. “I mean, I can't sugar coat that I feel for somebody like Leslie Stahl. She wants to work, and people want to believe that somehow the worst won't happen. I think somehow the worst is going to happen. I think there'll be other resignations.”
