Former CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon is concerned that “60 Minutes” is being “rewritten in real time.”
While speaking at the Status Summit, McMahon touched on her exit from the company last May, her thoughts on President Donald Trump’s “frivolous lawsuit” against “60 Minutes” and her long-term fears that the very DNA of the program was changing.
“My last year at CBS News, Stations and Syndication was largely spent defending, protecting, standing up for and oftentimes fighting for the editorial independence of ’60 Minutes,’” McMahon said. “I think it’s deeply concerning to have colleagues I trust, some in the room here today, saying so very directly and so very plainly that they experienced editorial interference firsthand. I wasn’t there, but I trust them completely in that.”
She added: “Am I concerned that the DNA of ’60 Minutes’ is being rewritten in real time. Am I concerned that, in the quest to transform, that the problem has been misdiagnosed. And we are potentially changing, dismantling, the very thing we are meant to protect? Yes. I am absolutely concerned, but I will stop short of weighing in on the death of ’60 Minutes’ until I see this next ’60 Minutes.’”
Last May, McMahon stepped down from her role as President of CBS News and Stations. McMahon said in a memo at the time that it had “become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” according to the New York Times. She also described the tension between herself and CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, as “challenging.”
At the summit, McMahon reiterated that she never went after Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss after she stepped in and started making moves at the organization.
“I’m always hesitant to assign ill intent or judgment really without truly understanding the motivations or the vision. I can only judge the journalism,” she said.
Weiss shook up “60 Minutes” shortly after taking on her new role and that led to the exits of Scott Pelley, executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, among others in the newsroom earlier this year.
“60 Minutes” is set to return for its 59th season this Sunday following the high-profile shakeups over the summer under Weiss and new executive producer Nick Bilton.
“Over the summer, we’ve made changes to every aspect of the broadcast to make it stronger,” Bilton told The News York Times in an interview Tuesday. “While each of those changes represents a slight departure from the way it’s been done in the past, it will make for a new approach to ‘60 Minutes’ in its totality.”
He added: “The stress is like a snow globe that has settled, and I can see exactly what we have to do. I‘ve never felt more that I’m in the right place doing the right job than I do right now.”
A.J. Katz contributed reporting to this story.
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