60 Minutes Producer Responsible for the Kamala Harris Propaganda Edit Resigns

CBS wanted some oversight over his partisan propaganda decisions, and he demanded a free "independent" hand to propagandize for the Democrat/globalist party as he saw fit.

And CBS wanted to exercise oversight because it desperately needs to be bought out, and they have to clear the decks of all the legal liabilities they have looming over them.

Top Producer of '60 Minutes' Quits, Saying He Lost Independence

The news program has faced mounting pressure from both President Trump and its corporate ownership at Paramount, the parent company of CBS News.

CBS News entered a new period of turmoil on Tuesday after the executive producer of "60 Minutes," Bill Owens, said that he would resign from the long-running Sunday news program because he had lost his journalistic independence.

In an extraordinary declaration, Mr. Owens -- only the third person to run the program in its 57-year history -- told his staff in a memo that "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."

"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," he wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The New York Times.

"60 Minutes" has faced mounting pressure in recent months from both President Trump, who sued CBS for $10 billion and has accused the program of "unlawful and illegal behavior," and its own corporate ownership at Paramount, the parent company of CBS News.

Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, is eager to secure the Trump administration's approval for a multibillion-dollar sale of her company to Skydance, a company run by the son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison. She has expressed a desire to settle Mr. Trump's case, which stems from what the president has called a deceptively edited interview in October with Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on "60 Minutes."

Legal experts have dismissed that suit as baseless and far-fetched, and Mr. Owens said in February that he would not apologize as part of any prospective settlement.

Many journalists at CBS News -- the former home of Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace -- believe that a settlement would amount to a capitulation to Mr. Trump over what they consider standard-issue gripes about editorial judgment.

In his memo on Tuesday, Mr. Owens pledged that "'60 Minutes' will continue to cover the new administration, as we will report on future administrations." He added: "The show is too important to the country. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer."

Perpetually moralizing woke scold Jake Tapper rushed to offer more sanctimonious preening.

"And it seems as if Shari Redstone is likely to bend the knee to Trump and settle this allegedly frivolous lawsuit," Tapper said, noting Paramount is currently trying to push through a merger with fellow Hollywood giant Skydance, which will need approval from Trump's government regulators to go through.

"And that is the context of Shari Redstone's likely bending of the knee. Hope the money's worth it, Shari," Tapper quipped in comments first highlighted by Mediaite.

He's such a dismal faggot. I can't wait until he's fired.

CBS did some more lawsuit-clearing work. A writer, you may remember, was rejected for a full-time staff position on the CBS show SEAL Team, even though he was considered a good writer who had written well-received scripts for the show as a freelancer. He was rejected because, get this, he was white, and the show decided to hire and promote less-qualified DEI "writers" with little or no writing experience.

CBS has now settled that lawsuit for an undisclosed sum-- and has agreed to end its illegal racial discrimination practices.

America First Legal has achieved another significant milestone in its fight to dismantle unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies across corporate America. Paramount Global has reversed course and terminated its DEI initiatives following AFL's lawsuits challenging discriminatory employment practices at Paramount and its subsidiary, CBS.

Following Paramount's change to DEI policies, AFL has also secured the amicable resolution of a discrimination claim against Paramount and CBS on behalf of its client, former "SEAL Team" script coordinator and writer Brian Beneker. AFL filed the lawsuit against Paramount Global, CBS Entertainment, and CBS Studios on February 29, 2024, alleging that the companies engaged in unlawful discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by denying Mr. Beneker employment and career opportunities based on his race, sex, and sexual orientation.

Mr. Beneker alleged that Paramount and CBS had imposed racial quotas in their writers' rooms. In 2020, George Cheeks, then-President and CEO of CBS and now co-CEO of CBS and Paramount Global, publicly stated that he "set a goal that all writers' rooms on the network's primetime series be staffed 40 percent BIPOC in the 2021-22 season; 17 out of 21 shows hit or exceeded that target." CBS also set a target that "half of all writers will be nonwhite" by "the 2022-2023 broadcast season."

Paramount has now reversed course on these targets. Specifically, it has:

Stopped setting numerical goals related to race, ethnicity, sex, or gender. Stopped collecting data on the race, ethnicity, sex, or gender of applicants. Removed a five percent funding bonus for programs advancing DEI goals.

As alleged in Mr. Beneker's complaint, he began as a script coordinator for SEAL Team during its first season in 2017. Mr. Beneker wrote a freelance script for its second season and continued to write freelance scripts with co-writers for four episodes across four separate seasons of the show. Despite this substantial writing experience, he was repeatedly denied promotions to a full-time SEAL Team staff writer. During his time as script coordinator across six seasons of SEAL Team, at least six minority writers -- black, female, or gay -- were hired, many of whom had no writing credits and limited experience. Mr. Beneker asked the showrunner, who generally has the authority to hire writers, why he wasn't hired for open writing positions, and the showrunner stated that he did not "check any diversity boxes." Through his lawsuit, Mr. Beneker sought to draw attention to the invidious DEI hiring practices he and many other white, male, heterosexual writers have encountered over the past several years.

Now that Paramount and CBS have publicly announced the termination of DEI policies, Mr. Beneker has agreed to voluntarily dismiss his claims following an amicable resolution with the companies.

posted by Ace at 02:20 PM

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