Leslie Stahl’s ‘Ridiculous’ Question to Jewish Hostage May Have Sealed ‘60 Minutes’ Boss’s Fate, Scott Pelley’s Rebuke Discloses

Scott Pelley’s sharp-tongued rebuke on the closing segment of Sunday’s episode of “60 Minutes,” in the wake of the sudden resignation of the programs beleaguered executive producer, Bill Owens, is fanning the flames that have engulfed the once-prestigious news organization.While many believe the source for the problems swirling around the production team at “60 Minutes” is President Trump’s lawsuit accusing them of deceptive editing, Mr. Pelley’s much scrutinized soliloquy on Sunday evening didn’t as much as mention the lawsuit, or the interview with Vice President Harris which sparked it. Rather, Mr. Pelley mentioned Gaza coverage. “Stories we pursued for 57 years are often controversial — lately the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration,” Mr. Pelley said, in the fragmented sentences that are a hallmark of old school broadcast newswriting. “Bill [Owens] made sure they were accurate and fair. He was tough that way, but our parent company Paramount is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it.” Mr. Pelley appeared to be conflating two issues. Mr. Trump’s lawsuit — which is believed to be leading the FCC to hold up the merger — centers not on Gaza coverage but on the October 24 interview that “60 Minutes” did with Ms. Harris. The “60 Minutes” anti-Israel coverage of Gaza, which reportedly angered Shari Redstone, who is the chairwoman of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, is a separate matter. Mr. Pelley’s oration suggests that it was the Gaza matter that led to the downfall of Mr. Owens. Scott Pelley defiantly denounces his employers at the end of ’60 Minutes.’ CBS Mr. Pelley’s remarks also follow reports about “whispers” in the halls of CBS News of more departures, including on-camera stars like Lesley Stahl, who may be forced to retire after she anchored the second anti-Israel Gaza segment which aired earlier this month. Ms. Stahl had her skepticism on full display in an interview with an American Israeli father, Keith Siegel — who was taken hostage along with his wife, Aviva during Hamas’ October 7 attack — and who alleged that he was starved by his captors.“Do you think they starved you or they just didn’t have food,” she interjected while Mr. Siegel described the horrors he endured while in captivity.“No, I think they starved me, and they would often eat in front of me and not offer me food,” Mr. Siegel responded. Viewers of the segment denounced Ms. Stahl for the “ridiculous” question to Mr. Siegel.Leslie Stahl is under fire for asking a ‘ridiculous’ question of freed American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel. CBS NewsUpon Mr. Owens’ abrupt resignation last week, reports surfaced that Ms. Redstone had been attempting to keep “tabs” on any Trump stories the “60 Minutes” team was working on.Well-placed sources within CBS News told Semafor that several executives, including Ms. Redstone, had asked the production team for advance notice on what segments the “60 Minutes” team had planned before the show goes on hiatus in May. Ms. Redstone had reportedly been made “livid” by a segment that aired in January focusing on State Department rank-and-file opposition to the American role in the Israeli-Hamas war.The unbalanced segment also led to public outcry over anti-Israeli bias at the news magazine program.The executive chairwoman of Paramount Global, Shari Redstone, on November 7, 2024 at New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris/ Getty Images“This segment, the latest example of major news outlets recklessly reporting on Israel’s defensive war against Hamas, was shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy, and relied heavily on misguided information,” read a statement from the American Jewish Committee at the time, adding that the segment barely made any mention of Hamas’ initial actions that led to the war in Gaza.“The segment only briefly referred to Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023, described their fighters as ‘militants’ rather than terrorists, and even went so far as to elevate the outlandish notion that, following Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israel should have sought to make peace with Hamas terrorists rather than act in self-defense.”Ms. Redstone also installed a rival of Mr. Owens’, Susan Zirinsky, to a new position overseeing news standards at CBS News, including at “60 Minutes,” which historically has resisted any oversight from greater CBS News.“60 Minutes” was not the only locus of anti-Israel content. “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil was upbraided by CBS News management after he asked challenging questions on air of the anti-Israel writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Ms. Redstone publicy said that CBS News erred in how it managed the situation, and she took Mr. Dokoupil out to lunch. Tony Dokoupil of ‘CBS Mornings’ interviews Ta-Nehisi Coates. CBS NewsShortly thereafter, internal CBS News dicta were leaked to the press — in them, CBS standards officials gave guidance to producers not to call Jerusalem the capital of Israel without qualification and, similarly, not to call Hamas members terrorists.Amid the scrutiny, Mr. Owens was reportedly concerned that Paramount was “becoming too interested” in the internal affairs of “60 Minutes.”A representative for Ms. Redstone denied the claims that she or the company were seeking to kill stories.

Leslie Stahl’s ‘Ridiculous’ Question to Jewish Hostage May Have Sealed ‘60 Minutes’ Boss’s Fate, Scott Pelley’s Rebuke Discloses

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