Former '60 Minutes' executive producer Bill Owens publicly defended Scott Pelley's scathing critique of CBS News' leadership and recent management changes on Monday, stating that the veteran journalist 'can smell a fraud from a mile away,' according to multiple reports.
Owens Receives Truth to Power Award
Owens made the remarks while accepting the 'Truth to Power Award' from the New York City Press Club, as reported by Dateline. He expressed pride in Pelley, saying, 'I couldn't be prouder of him, and I know all the people at '60 Minutes' couldn't be prouder of him.' Owens resigned from CBS News last year, citing threats to his journalistic independence linked to the Trump administration, according to the press club.
'CBS News and '60 Minutes' are institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed,' Owens said, as quoted by Variety.
Pelley's Heated Exchange with New EP
Owens' comments follow the abrupt firing last week of several executive producers and correspondents at '60 Minutes' and the appointment of Nick Bilton as the program's executive producer. Bilton, a former tech columnist and documentarian, has no prior experience in broadcast TV news, similar to CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who was appointed late last year by David Ellison, the Trump-aligned CEO of Paramount Skydance.
During a heated staff meeting on Monday, Pelley confronted Bilton, according to The New York Times: 'She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she's made at the 'Evening News' have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?' Owens echoed that sentiment, criticizing the recent terminations: 'They were fired by people who don't even know what we do, who don't actually care.'
Staff Letter Expresses Concern
CBS News staffers sent a letter to Ellison on Monday expressing similar concerns. The letter, signed by current and former '60 Minutes' staffers as well as other prominent journalists and actors, stated: 'The wholesale dismissal of editorial management, without a public pledge to maintain the values, standards, and traditions of this program, puts the legacy of '60 Minutes' in jeopardy.'
