Scott Pelley, Lesley Stahl Demand That CBS Give ‘60 Minutes’ Acting Executive Producer the Permanent Job, After She Oversees Weekly Anti-Trump Stories

The stars of CBS News’s “60 Minutes” have sent a letter to CBS senior management in Los Angeles, demanding that their acting executive producer, Tanya Simon, be named to the job permanently, according to a published report. Ms. Simon, who’s been in charge since Executive Producer Bill Owens resigned in April, has overseen the program as it defiantly aired weekly anti-Trump segments, much to the frustration of parent company Paramount, which is trying to settle a lawsuit brought against CBS and “60 Minutes” by President Trump. Indeed, as Paramount tries to settle Mr. Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit — over the editing of Vice President Harris’s October 2024 “60 Minutes” interview — the “60 Minutes” stars, known as “correspondents,” have become increasingly vocal about their unhappiness with Paramount. According to a far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy, in the latest attempt to assert themselves all seven correspondents of the venerable newsmagazine program — Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, Bill Whitaker, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim, and Cecilia Vega — sent a letter to Paramount co-executive George Cheeks with a personnel request: make Tanya Simon — the daughter of a longtime CBS correspondent, Bob Simon — the executive producer of “60 Minutes.”One staffer told Mr. Darcy for his closely read “Status” newsletter, “The next E.P. has to be Tanya. There will be a revolt if it’s not her.”CBS News has been denounced by President Trump for its editing of the ’60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris interview. CBS NewsMr. Darcy reports that Mr. Cheeks and the president of CBS News, Tom Cibrowski, appear to be waiting to make a decision on the new executive producer until Paramount completes its merger with Skydance Media. Ms. Simon, who was Mr. Owens’s deputy, has been working as the interim executive producer of the show, overseeing the final weeks of its season when the program ran weekly anti-Trump stories. Her father, a legend in news broadcasting who appeared primarily on “60 Minutes” toward the end of his career, died after a crash on Manhattan’s West Side Highway in 2015. Ms. Simon, who has worked at “60 Minutes” for more than 25 years, is expected to resist any apology to Mr. Trump that could be part of a settlement.Mr. Owens resigned in April, stating that he had lost the ability to make independent decisions for the program. His departure, widely seen as a forced ouster, came after months of mounting tensions with the nonexecutive chairwoman of Paramount, Shari Redstone, who had voiced her displeasure with “60 Minutes” and its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. Ms. Redstone reportedly pushed to fire Mr. Owens after the show ran a story about dissent in the Department of State over America’s response to the Gaza war, which the American Jewish Committee called “shockingly one-sided.”Mr. Owens had also been put in charge of a reimagination of the “CBS Evening News” after the ouster of anchor Norah O’Donnell in a cost-saving measure. The new format for “CBS Evening News” was a fiasco, leading to a precipitous drop in ratings and revenue in excess of the savings reaped from Ms. O’Donnell’s exit from the ledger.Tanya Simon is currently acting executive producer of ’60 Minutes.’ CBS NewsThe other major source of tension was Mr. Owens’s management of “60 Minutes” as Paramount tried to resolve Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against CBS for the Harris interview, which was edited to remove what critics called a “word salad” from the beginning of her answer to a question about Israel. CBS has defended the editing of the Harris interview and tried to get Mr. Trump’s lawsuit dismissed or moved to New York from its current venue in Texas, where it is being overseen by a Trump-appointed judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk. However, those requests have so far been denied. While CBS has tried to dismiss the lawsuit, Paramount’s executives believe that a settlement is the key to winning approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its crucial merger with Skydance. The Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, has said the president’s lawsuit is unrelated to the review. However, the agency is conducting a news distortion investigation of the Harris interview, and the Skydance deal has been held up. A former head of CBS News and Stations, Wendy McMahon, resigned in May, saying she did not agree with her bosses on the path forward. Puck’s Dylan Byers reported she was fired due to her bosses’ displeasure with her overall job performance, not just the matter of the Harris interview, but was allowed to resign to save face. Kamala Harris sits down with Bill Whitaker for her ’60 Minutes’ interview. CBS NewsMr. Owens and Ms. McMahon were opponents of settling Mr. Trump’s lawsuit. Mr. Darcy previously reported that the two ousted executives said an apology for the Harris interview was a “red line” they would not cross. The issue of whether CBS will issue an apology for the Harris interview seems to have become a sticking point in settlement negotiations. The network has issued apologies for other stories that turned out to be wrong, such as in 2004 when Dan Rather issued an on-air apology for running a story that falsely attacked President Bush’s National Guard service. In the case of the Harris interview, CBS insists it did nothing wrong. However, Mr. Trump’s legal team has been pushing for an apology. In a move that could derail negotiations over a settlement, Paramount “isn’t prepared” to issue an apology, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The decision by the correspondents of “60 Minutes” to advocate for Ms. Simon to be the executive producer of the show likely signals they believe she will seek to stand up to pressure from executives. She is not expected to willingly issue an apology for the Harris interview. Ousted: Executive Producer Bill Owens of ’60 Minutes.’ Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesMr. Darcy reports that Ms. Stahl and Mr. Pelley, who offered glowing words for Mr. Owens and his decision to resist the will of his bosses, are “seriously weighing their future at the program.”Ms. Stahl said she was “angry” at Ms. Redstone for her maneuvering to try to settle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit. She told “The New Yorker Radio Hour” that Mr. Owens’s resignation was a “punch in the stomach.”“Everybody at ‘60 Minutes’ — I think everybody … most of us — really appreciated his standing up to the pressure and saw him in heroic terms. So, when he announced that he was stepping down, it was a punch in the stomach. It was one of those punches where you almost can’t breathe,’ Ms. Stahl said. The longtime “60 Minutes” star declined to say what would be a red line for her to leave CBS, as she said Mr. Owens’s resignation was a “line” that was crossed. However, she said the former executive producer asked the staff not to resign. Shari Redstone attends a screening of ‘We Will Dance Again’ at Temple Emanu-El on September 18, 2024, at New York City. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Paramount+Mr. Pelley delivered a stunning on-air rebuke of Paramount after Mr. Owens’s resignation, and tied his departure to the effort to get its merger with Skydance approved. He also denounced Mr. Trump in a fiery commencement address this spring at Wake Forest University. He then appeared on CNN on the occasion of its airing the play “Good Night and Good Luck,” about legendary CBS News host Edward R. Murrow. Mr. Pelley told his interviewer, Mr. Cooper, that settling Mr. Trump’s lawsuit would be “very damaging” for CBS News.While Mr. Darcy reports that Ms. Stahl and Mr. Pelley are considering their future at the network, especially if Ms. Simon is not named the executive producer, it is unclear if they would actually leave. Several major networks are looking to cut costs through layoffs or cutting salaries. It is highly unlikely that Mr. Pelley or Ms. Stahl would be able to replicate their seven-figure incomes and social status with similar jobs anywhere else. CBS did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Scott Pelley, Lesley Stahl Demand That CBS Give ‘60 Minutes’ Acting Executive Producer the Permanent Job, After She Oversees Weekly Anti-Trump Stories

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