UPDATED with additional details and comments: Bill Owens, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, said Tuesday that he is resigning from the venerable CBS newsmagazine, telling staffers he had lost his ability to make independent decisions about the show.
“Over the past months, it has also become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it,” Owens wrote in a memo obtained by Deadline. “To make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience. So, having defended this show – and what we stand for – from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward.”
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“The show is too important to the country, it has to continue, just not with me as the Executive Producer.”
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The New York Times first reported on his exit. Read Owens’ full memo below.
Owens’ departure comes amid Donald Trump‘s attacks on the show, as he wages war on mainstream media by targeting outlets with questionable lawsuits and exploiting corporate owners who have key business deals before the administration. There have been settlement talks between CBS and Trump’s team over a lawsuit Trump filed over the way 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris. Many legal observers call the lawsuit frivolous, but CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global and its controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, need administration approval for its proposed merger with Skydance. A mediator was recently selected to try to resolve the dispute, sources said.
Owens met with staffers of 60 Minutes as his email went out. According to Status News, which obtained audio of the meeting, Owens told them, “I do think this will be a moment for the corporation to take a hard look at itself and its relationship with us.”
In addition to 60 Minutes, Owens also served as supervising producer of CBS Evening News, overseeing an overhaul of the nightly broadcast earlier this year that put more emphasis on correspondents’ storytelling.
The news of Owens’ departure comes amid anxiety in the news division, with consternation over a potential settlement that would be widely viewed as caving to Trump’s demands. At a recent Radio Television Digital News Association award ceremony in Washington, D.C., longtime correspondent Lesley Stahl told those gathered that the honor was particularly significant “when our precious First Amendment feels vulnerable and when my precious 60 Minutes is fighting, quite frankly, for our life.”
The newsmagazine, still among the network’s top-rated shows, has continued to produce hard-hitting segments about the Trump administration in its initial months. Last week, after the show ran segments on Ukraine and then Greenland, Trump lashed out at the show again, calling on his FCC chairman Brendan Carr to punish the network for the show.
“They are not a ‘news show,’ but a dishonest political operative simply disguised as ‘news,’ and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In addition to the lawsuit, the FCC is investigating the 60 Minutes edit, in response to a complaint from a conservative group, even though past FCC chairs have rejected requests to delve into editorial decisions. The agency has only a narrow authority to act on complaints about news content, and explicitly states that it is prohibited by law from “infringing on First Amendment rights of the press.”
After Trump filed the lawsuit in October, CBS News rejected his legal team’s demands that they turn over an unedited transcript of the Harris interview, claiming that the show edited an answer to a question to improve her chances in the election. The network did turn over the transcript in late January, after the FCC requested it. The show said that the transcript and footage showed “that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” and that the edits were standard practice in the industry. But Carr did not render a decision, and instead sent the matter out for public comment.
After reports surfaced that CBS parent Paramount Global was in talks about settling the Trump lawsuit, Owens told staffers, per the Times, “The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done.”
Inside the news division, staffers were rattled by Owens’ unexpected exit, also coming at a time of upheaval at the network with job cuts and the pending sale to Skydance. Some saw his departure as fallout from the parent company’s desire to settle the Trump lawsuit. Rome Hartman, a producer for 60 Minutes, told the Times that “we all find it profoundly disturbing.”
One prominent Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), wrote on X about Owens’ exit: “If it’s true that the cradle of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite can no longer withstand pressure from Donald Trump, journalistic independence isn’t merely threatened – it’s already in retreat.”
CBS News has been beset with a series of leadership changes in recent years, with three different heads of the news division in less than two years.
That said, in his note today, Owens wrote that Wendy McMahon, the president and CEO of CBS News and Stations since 2023, “has always had our back, and she agrees that 60 Minutes needs to be run by a 60 Minutes producer.”
In her own note, McMahon wrote, “As Executive Producer, Bill has led 60 Minutes with unwavering integrity, curiosity, and a deep commitment to the truth. He has championed the kind of journalism that informs, enlightens, and often changes the national conversation. His dedication to finding and nurturing talent will be felt across CBS News for years.”
She addded that she and Tom Cibrowski, president and executive editor at CBS News, “are committed to 60 Minutes and to ensuring that the mission and the work remain our priority. We have already begun conversations with correspondents and senior leaders, and those will continue in the days and weeks ahead.”
Read her full memo below.
Owens has served as executive producer of 60 Minutes in 2019. He is only the third person in that role since its start in 1968, after Don Hewitt and Jeff Fager.
Here is Owens’ email:
The fact is that 60 Minutes has been my life. My son was 6 months old, my wife was pregnant with my daughter and my mother was in a coma when I spent 5 weeks on the battlefield in Iraq with Scott. My 60 Minutes priorities have always been clear. Maybe not smart, but clear.
Over the past months, it has also become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it. To make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience. So, having defended this show- and what we stand for – from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward.
The show is too important to the country, it has to continue, just not with me as the Executive Producer. Please remember, people didn’t think we would survive without Mike or Ed or Don or Jeff. We did. You will.
60 Minutes will continue to cover the new administration, as we will report on future administrations. We will report from War zones, investigate injustices and educate our audience. In short, 60 Minutes will do what it has done for 57 years.
Wendy McMahon has always had our back, and she agrees that 60 Minutes needs to be run by a 60 Minute producer. Tanya has been an amazing partner, as have Claudia and Debbie, Matt Richman and Matt Polevoy. I am grateful to all of them.
Look, I have worked at CBS News for 37 years, more than half of that at 60 Minutes, I have been shot at and threatened with jail for protecting a source. I have overseen more than 600 stories as Executive Producer of 60. I know who I am and what I have done to cover the most important stories of our time under difficult conditions. I am also proud to have hired the next generation of correspondents and to call Lesley, Bill, Anderson, Sharyn, Jon, Cecilia and Scott friends. Scott one of my closest.
Thank you all, remain focused on the moment, our audience deserves it.
Bill
Here is McMahon’s email:
Hi everyone,
After 37 years, Bill Owens is ending his illustrious career at CBS News, 25 of those years at America’s most important news program, 60 Minutes. His note to the team is below.
As Executive Producer, Bill has led 60 Minutes with unwavering integrity, curiosity, and a deep commitment to the truth. He has championed the kind of journalism that informs, enlightens, and often changes the national conversation. His dedication to finding and nurturing talent will be felt across CBS News for years.
Bill will be with us in the weeks ahead so there will be time and opportunity to thank Bill for his immeasurable contributions to CBS News, 60 Minutes and the profession of journalism as a whole.
Tom and I are committed to 60 Minutes and to ensuring that the mission and the work remain our priority. We have already begun conversations with correspondents and senior leaders, and those will continue in the days and weeks ahead.
On a personal note, working with Bill has been one of the great privileges of my career. Standing behind what he stood for was an easy decision for me, and I never took for granted that he did the same for me.
Wendy