Bill Owens, executive producer of television’s most popular and influential newsmagazine since 2019, said in a note to staff that 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,” he wrote. “It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer.”
At the same time, CBS parent Paramount Global, run by Shari Redstone, is seeking approval for a merger with Skydance Media, founded by Larry Ellison. They are reportedly in mediation to settle the lawsuit with Trump, a prospect that has been bitterly opposed by Owens and others at “60 Minutes.”
It’s the same as all the times you hear about small companies “making it” because they managed to get bought out. IMO, just like how I don’t think success is using money as a high score, I don’t think “fighting fascism” means washing your hands of anything to do with it.
I think there’s some distinction there. The founder selling out is one thing. But private equity, VC, etc all want a return on their investment and once you IPO, you become a fiduciary. Those companies produced a tool and sold it to a customer that by definition is required to be unethical.
But I agree that fighting implies an active component to it.