60 Minutes star goes rogue with astonishing live on-air statement about network and Trump

In a stunning and highly unusual act of newsroom rebellion, veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley broke rank live on television on Sunday night leveling a blistering accusation against his own corporate bosses.

With his signature calm but unmistakably forceful tone, Pelley used the broadcast’s final segment – aptly named ‘The Last Minute’ – to address the sudden resignation of the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens. 

But what began as a tribute to a respected colleague quickly morphed into an extraordinary on-air condemnation of CBS parent company Paramount Global, which Pelley claimed had been taking a more active role in the show’s journalism.

Pelley suggested the interest from Paramount bosses had come amid a desperate bid to secure political favor from the Trump administration exposing what he called the dangerous erosion of editorial independence at one of America’s most storied news programs.

‘Bill resigned Tuesday. It was hard on him and hard on us, but he did it for us – and you,’ Pelley told viewers, before delivering the bombshell. 

‘Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways.’

‘No one here is happy about it’ Pelley revealed about the extra supervision that corporate leaders are imposing. He also noted noting how in quitting, Owens proved he was ‘the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.’

The live commentary was a rare glimpse into the internal battles at 60 Minutes, an institution that has built its reputation on fearless reporting for nearly six decades and Pelley’s on-air statement was an unusual peek behind the scenes at the inner turmoil viewers seldom get to see.

Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley broke rank live on television on Sunday night leveling a blistering accusation against his own corporate bosses.

Pelley used the broadcast’s final segment to address the sudden resignation of the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, pictured

Pelley suggested the interest from Paramount bosses had come amid a desperate bid to secure political favor from the Trump administration in the hopes a merger would soon be approved

Pelley made clear that although no stories had been blocked outright, Owens believed the creeping corporate oversight had crossed a red line and was undermining the very foundation of journalistic integrity.

‘None of our stories has been blocked,’ Pelley declared, ‘but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it.

“Stories we’ve pursued for 57 years were often controversial, lately the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair—he was tough that way.” 

The corporate storm swirling around CBS comes as Paramount Global races to finalize a high-stakes merger with Skydance Media, a deal that reportedly hinges on receiving the green light from federal regulators under the Trump administration. 

At the same time, the network remains embroiled in an eye-popping $20 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump himself, who claims the show manipulated an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last fall to paint her in a more favorable light.

Trump has claimed the network cut down Harris’ ‘word salad’ answer to a question about the Israel-Hamas conflict. By doing so, he claims the network was helping the Democratic nominee secure the White House. 

Employees at the network, though, have said they were simply trying to fit Harris’ answer into their one-hour broadcast.

Owens, 58, who had been with CBS News for decades and served as only the third executive producer in 60 Minutes’ 57-year history since 2019, walked away from the show last week. 

Bill Owens, 58, had been with CBS News for decades and served as only the third executive producer in 60 Minutes’ 57-year history since 2019

Owens walked away from the show last week. It is broadcast from the CBS Broadcast Center

In his resignation, Owens cited corporate interference as the breaking point, saying it had ‘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.’

Owens – a respected figure who recently helped overhaul CBS’s Evening News – went on to promise that ’60 Minutes will continue to cover the new administration,’ and ‘future’ ones as well. 

‘The show is too important to the country,’ Owens ultimately declared, weeks after sources told DailyMail.com how the bigwig was ‘feeling the pressure’ brought by the Trump lawsuit.

He reportedly added during a ’60 Minutes’ staff meeting last Tuesday: ‘It’s clear the company is done with me.

‘It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,’ Owens said. 

The reverberations inside CBS News were immediate. 

Lesley Stahl, one of the program’s most senior correspondents with 35 seasons under her belt, publicly echoed Owens’ concerns last week, telling Variety that she had been ‘made aware of interference in our news processes and calling into question our judgment.’ 

Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the network, claiming it deceptively edited an October 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris

CBS continues to field a lawsuit filed by the president centered around an October interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on the once-prestigious program 

Stahl added bluntly: ‘That is not the way that companies that own news organizations should be acting.’

Paramount has not publicly addressed the internal revolt, and representatives for the company did not respond to media inquiries following Pelley’s on-air remarks.

However, it’s believed former CBS News President Susan Zirinsky, a network veteran, has been brought back into the fold to pre-screen 60 Minutes stories – a move seen by many inside the newsroom as an unmistakable signal of top-down control.

Meanwhile, the network’s battle with Trump rages on. 

The former president has repeatedly lashed out at 60 Minutes, taking to social media to accuse CBS of bias and threatening that the network should ‘pay a big price’ for its aggressive coverage.  

Just last month, an insider familiar with the situation told DailyMail.com how CBS is under pressure not only the administration but also [the network’s billionaire owner] Shari Redstone‘ to settle the suit.

For the deal to go through, however, Redstone and Ellison would need permission from Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr – who previously ordered the network to turn over the unedited version of Harris’ interview. 

Trump has alleged that 60 Minutes deceptively edited Harris’ responses in a high-profile October interview to soften her remarks about Israel, charges the network has flatly denied.

Despite this, ’60 Minutes’ has reported on some tough stories about the Trump administration almost every week since the inauguration in January, many of them reported by Pelley. 

On Sunday, 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had the latest, interviewing scientists about cutbacks at the National Institutes for Health.

Trump was particularly angered by the show’s telecast two weeks ago, saying on social media that CBS News should ‘pay a big price’ for going after him.

In an environment already fraught with political tension and legal peril, Pelley’s on-air comments represent an act of journalistic defiance rarely seen in the television industry – and one where such disputes are almost always handled behind closed doors.

Legendary CBS exec Bill Owens revealed he is leaving 60 Minutes Tuesday after ‘losing his journalistic independence.’ He had served as the program’s executive producer since 2019

Jake Tapper launched a scathing attack on CBS owner Shari Redstone on his show last week 

Tapper accused Redstone (pictured) of bending the knee to President Donald Trump

CNN’s Jake Tapper launched a scathing attack on CBS owner Redstone for ‘bending the knee’ to Trump.

Tapper sided with the 60 Minutes staff, calling the edits to the show ‘editorial discretion’ as he hit out at Redstone, who he said ‘stands to make a fortune if this multi-billion dollar deal, this merger, goes through.

‘And it seems as if Shari Redstone is likely to bend the knee to Trump and settle this allegedly frivolous lawsuit,’ Tapper told his audience. 

The Lead host then went on to read a comment from an unidentified 60 Minutes source he said he had spoken to earlier in the day. 

‘The lawsuit was baseless,’ the source said, noting that Owens ‘wouldn’t apologize. He wouldn’t bend. He fought for the broadcast and for independent journalism, and that cost him his job. It’s shameful.’

Another source reportedly told Tapper that Owens ‘had widespread support at 60 Minutes.

‘He’s dedicated his life to CBS and the broadcast and this was his last act of dedication to it,’ the source said.

‘It’s like a guy who has been battling for months against an attack, unable to defend the broadcast from inappropriate corporate influence. He pulls the pin from his last grenade. He sacrificed himself, hoping it might make our corporate overlords wake up and realize they risk destroying what makes 60 Minutes great.

‘It seems clear now, in a quest to sell the company, Shari Redstone and others will bow to presidential pressure,’ the source added, calling the news program the ‘crown jewels of American  broadcast journalism.

‘And they have no problem crushing it in their race to make a deal and make themselves richer.’

If the merger were to go through, Redstone is said to make approximately $8 billion – a point that Tapper nailed home as he concluded, ‘Hope the money’s worth it, Shari.’

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