CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced on Monday that she is stepping down from the news network, making her the second person to depart from CBS amid a lawsuit from President Donald Trump.
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon wrote in a memo to CBS News staff, obtained by HuffPost. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.”
Meanwhile, Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, is trying to complete an $8 billion merger with media production group Skydance Media, which requires federal approval from the Federal Communications Commission, headed by Trump appointee Brendan Carr. Carr hasn’t approved the merger yet and Paramount is reportedly in talks to settle the $20 billion lawsuit with Trump — putting Carr in an immense position of power over both the merger and settlement talks.
Trump sued CBS last year for $20 billion over its interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming the network purposely cut parts of her “60 Minutes” interview to make her look more favorable.
Bill Owens, who stepped down as one of the top producers of “60 Minutes” last month, said the show had lost its journalistic independence.
“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,” Owens said in the memo. “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.”
At the end of a “60 Minutes” broadcast last month, Scott Pelley, a correspondent on the show, said Paramount had begun to “supervise” the show “in new ways.”
Toward the end of the season of “60 Minutes” that concluded Sunday, Shari Redstone, controlling shareholder of Paramount Global, reportedly started to keep tabs on which stories were about Trump, according to Semafor. Redstone has denied the claim.
George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS, thanked McMahon in a separate memo, obtained by HuffPost, but he did not address McMahon’s comment about not agreeing with the company’s path forward.
“On a personal note, I want to thank Wendy for her partnership over the past four years,” Cheeks wrote. “Under her leadership, the competitive position and culture at our television stations have improved dramatically, and we’ve expanded local news significantly. Our streaming news platforms — national and local — are stronger and growing, with digital extensions now in place for several of our flagship CBS News broadcasts.”