The former executive producer of 60 Minutes eviscerated CBS News’ Trump-friendly boss Bari Weiss after she was accused of trying to kill off the network’s flagship show.
Bill Owens, who quit 60 Minutes last April because of the threat to its editorial independence, addressed the explosive remarks from correspondent Scott Pelley earlier in the day in which he told Nick Bilton, the magazine show’s new executive producer, that Weiss was “murdering” 60 Minutes.
While accepting the Gabe Pressman Truth to Power Award at the New York Press Club’s annual dinner on Monday, Owens praised Pelley as someone who “can smell a fraud from a mile away” while launching other scathing attacks on Weiss and Bilton.
“He [Pelley] stood up the way that I did a year ago, and I couldn’t be prouder of him, and I know all the people at 60 Minutes couldn’t be prouder of him,” Owens said. “So in a way, I’ll accept this award today on behalf of my friend Scott and all the people at 60 Minutes.”
Owens described Weiss—who had no experience in television news production before she was parachuted into the editor-in-chief role by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison—as merely an “opinion writer who was best known for being an ideologue.”
He also called out the handling of what CBS News staff dubbed “Black Thursday,” which saw the firing of several figures from the network, including correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi and executive producer Tanya Simon.
“They were fired by people who don’t even know what we do. They don’t actually care,” Owens said.
The speech from the former executive producer is the latest example of those with ties to 60 Minutes calling out Weiss and her plans to overhaul the long-running show.
On Monday, Pelley trashed Weiss and Bilton to his face during a tense staff meeting.
“She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that,” Pelley said, according to The New York Times.
“She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the Evening News have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”
Pelley was seemingly referring to Weiss’ decision to promote Tony Dokoupil to the prestigious Evening News slot, which has frequently left the show failing to meet the industry benchmark of 4 million viewers.
Other controversies overseen by Weiss include pulling an “Inside CECOT” segment about the notorious El Salvador prison used to house Trump administration deportees just before it was due to air, and assigning anchors from across the network to conduct high-profile interviews rather than the show’s usual correspondents.
An insider also attacked Weiss for not attending Monday’s crunch meeting herself and instead sending Bilton and her deputy, Charles Forelle, to face off with the irate 60 Minutes team.
“Bari may have six bodyguards, but she seems afraid to stand by her man Nick and face the grilling at 60 Minutes,” a television news executive told Status. “No other explanation for sending him to slaughter today and not being there.”
Elsewhere during his Monday night speech, Owens said that neither he nor 60 Minutes is “perfect” and that “We’ve made mistakes.”
“We’ve always owned up to them, but I can tell you there’s a rigor in how 60 Minutes approaches every story that isn’t what this crew is looking to do.”
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS News for comment.
