Veteran 60 Minutes Producer Resigns Over Israel’s Gaza Genocide Censorship
New York (Quds News Network)- Veteran 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens resigned from the CBS news show last week after its parent company, Paramount, began interfering with coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza and the Trump administration.
On Sunday night’s episode of 60 Minutes, anchor Scott Pelley read a statement about the departure of the executive producer, who was with the show for over 25 years.
“Stories we have covered for the last 57 years are often controversial, lately the Israeli-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories have been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism required.”
“He did it for us and for you,” he said.
Pelly added that Paramount was attempting to complete a merger that requires approval from the Trump administration.
60 Minutes directly calls out its parent company, Paramount, following the resignation of executive producer Bill Owens pic.twitter.com/KL9XSM35se
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 28, 2025
Last week, US President Donald Trump attacked 60 Minutes, saying it aired two inaccurate stories about him, and he has pressed the Federal Communications Commission to take action.
This comes after Trump sued the show in late 2024 for “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference”, following an interview with his presidential candidate opponent, Kamala Harris. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
In Owens’ resignation letter, he said that in the last few months it was made clear that he “would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it” or make “independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes.”
“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,” Owens wrote, adding that “the show is too important to the country, it has to continue, just not with me as the Executive Producer.”
