60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley called out CBS News’ parent company live on air on Sunday.
Pelley’s statement came after Bill Owens, the show’s executive producer, abruptly resigned last week, saying he had lost the freedom to run the show independently.
“Bill resigned on Tuesday. It was hard on him and it was hard on us,” Pelley said at the end of Sunday’s broadcast. “But he did it for us — and you.”
Pelley told viewers that CBS News’ parent company, Paramount Global, is in the midst of a merger with Skydance Media that requires the approval of the Trump administration.
Pelley said that Paramount had begun to supervise 60 Minutes content “in new ways.”
“None of our stories has been blocked,” he said. “But Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it. But in resigning, Bill proved one thing — he was the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.”
President Donald Trump has sued CBS News, alleging 60 Minutes unfairly edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris last fall to her advantage. The network later released unedited transcripts of the entire interview, saying they proved the show was “not doctored or deceitful.”
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