Trump vs the media: Fallout from the President’s attack on CBS ’60 Minutes’

The ongoing battle between President Donald Trump and CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’ show continued over the weekend as a prominent CBS figure offered his take.

Long-time host Scott Pelley called out Paramount, the corporate owners of CBS News, for impinging on journalistic independence. Paramount has been accused of pandering to the Trump administration to ensure that a pending sale to Skydance Media can go through.

“Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways,” Pelley explained on Sunday’s broadcast. “None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill [Owen, former executive producer] felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”

Pelley continued: “Stories we pursued for 57 years are often controversial—lately, the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill 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.”

The controversy stems from Trump’s claims that a Kamala Harris episode of 60 Minutes, aired the month before the presidential election, was unfairly edited to present an overly positive impression of the candidate.

CBS has insisted that the interview was “not doctored or deceitful” but Trump went ahead with a $20 billion lawsuit against the entity. The lawsuit claimed: “CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public.”

Owens left 60 Minutes due to concern over the editorial direction amid increased pressure from Trump. In a note to staff, Owens wrote: “Over the past months, it has 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.”

“The show is too important to the country. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer.”

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