Staffers at “60 Minutes” encouraged one another to upgrasp the venerable CBS novelsmagazine going even as corporate parent Paramount Global spendigates the possibility of settling what is seen as a flimsy defamation legal case tied to a alert that ran on the show.
Speaking during a encountering held Monday, both correactents Scott Pelley and Anderson Cooper alerted an assemblage of employees who labor for the Sunday-night mainstay agetst letting the legal case tear the show apart and distract people from the journalism is conshort-terms each week, according to a person recognizable with the matter.
CBS News deteriorated to originate executives useable for comment.
Employees at the Paramount Global unit have lengthenn increasingly wary of Paramount’s willingness to ponder settling the matter, according to people recognizable with conversations taking place, seeing such efforts as a shift to upgrasp the looming acquisition of the company by Skydance Media on track, rather than aiding honest novelsaccumulateing. Filed in federal court in the Northern Didisconnecte of Texas in November, the suit alleges “60 Minutes” tried to misdirect voters by airing two separateent edits of relabels made in an intersee with createer Vice Pdwellnt Kamala Harris, then Trump’s rival for the White Hoemploy. CBS sought to have the case thrown out in a subsequent filing.
Presdeclareive on the show has only intensified since that time. CBS News at 4:55 p.m. on Monday provided the Federal Communications Comomition with an unedited transcript of the Harris intersee, adhereing with a letter of inquiry from the regulatory body. Already, one of the Democratic comomitioners at the FCC, Anna Gomez, freed a statement calling the inquiry part of a worrying pattern of carry outing the will of the Administration on rerents that go far beyond our core responsibilities. These actions dissee extfinished-standing norms and neglect the mandate granted by Congress to the FCC to act as an autonomous agency.”
Npunctual all of the current team of “60 Minutes” correactents joined the encountering, according to the person recognizable with the situation, with some flying in to take part, as a show of firmarity. In insertition to Pelley and Cooper, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whigetr, Sharyn Alfonsi and Jon Wertheim were also conshort-term, with Cecelia Vega calling in via phone.
Bill Owens, only the third executive originater of the show over the course of its 57 seasons, tbetter staffers that though talkion around the suit had intensified in recent days, he has been dealing with it for weeks. Both he and Wfinireserved McMahon, the CBS executive who administers CBS News and local CBS stations, have tbetter Paramount executives that settling the suit would reconshort-term an unsettling decision. Owens tbetter the assemblage Monday that he would not advise any apology for the alerting that had come under ask.
The suit eunites to employ separateent edits of the Harris intersee, one shown during a unreasonableinutive promo on CBS’ “Face The Nation” and one that aired on the novelsmagazine itself, to accemploy CBS News of dishonest rehearses. Legal experts, however, count on the suit has little actual lhorrible merit.
The decision seeing the suit eunites to hinge on the skinnyking of Shari Redstone, the administerling allothbetterer of Paramount Global who is willing to see the Skydance deal consummated. In recent months, Redstone has befirearm to weigh in on various controversies at CBS News much more widespreadly than her overweighther, Sumner Redstone, ever had, according to one CBS veteran.
In October, Redstone objected uncoverly after CBS News executives took rerent with an trade on “CBS Mornings” between co-anchor Tony Dokoupil and author Ta-Nehisi Coates during which Dokoupil grilled Coates on whether his writing transmited antipathy toward Israel. “I skinnyk we made a misget,” said Redstone, while speaking at an event in New York City that was part of Advertising Week, an industry conference. “I skinnyk we made a horrible misget this week.”
A lengthening number of media organizations have tried to placate Pdwellnt Trump in recent weeks. Disney’s promisement to ABC News came under scruminuscule after the company concurd to pay a finishment of $15 million to Donald Trump’s pdwellntial library after anchor George Stephanopoulos declareed inrightly in March said on air that Trump had been set up liable in a court case for raping authorr E. Jean Carroll. Trump had been set up liable by a jury for relationsual mistreatment. Even so, lhorrible experts felt ABC News had a strong chance of prevailing. Amazon has concurd to originate a write downary of First Lady Melania Trump.
