Veteran 60 Minutes reporter Lesley Stahl has spoken out about the ongoing lawsuit against CBS by President Donald Trump, expressing her concerns over how her network bosses are handling the situation.
Appearing on The New Yorker Radio Hour on Friday (May 30), Stahl touched on the recent resignations of longtime 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens and CBS News president Wendy McMahon. She also said she was “angry” with Paramount Global chairwoman Shari Redstone’s approach to the Trump lawsuit.
“To have a news organization come under corporate pressure—to have a news organization told by a corporation, ‘do this, do that with your story, change this, change that, don’t run that piece.’ I mean, it steps on the First Amendment, it steps on the freedom of the press,” Stahl said, per Fox News Digital. “It steps on what we stand for. It makes me question whether any corporation should own a news operation. It is very disconcerting.”
Owens stepped down as 60 Minutes producer in April, citing an increasing lack of ability “to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.”
Trump is suing CBS News for what he claims was biased reporting on 60 Minutes, specifically an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, which Trump alleges was edited in a way to mislead voters in the 2024 presidential election. Paramount Global, the parent of CBS News, is looking to merge with Skydance Media, a deal that reportedly requires the green light from federal regulators under the Trump administration.
Stahl, who described Trump’s lawsuit as “frivolous”, revealed there were talks of a mass staff walkout following Owens’ departure. However, she noted how Owens urged his former colleagues not to quit on his behalf. “He explicitly asked us not to resign,” she shared.
“The pain in my heart is that the public does not appreciate the importance of a free and strong and tough press in our democracy,” Stahl continued. “Even the Founding Fathers recognized that we need to have a strong fourth estate to hold our elected officials accountable, and to continue to cleanse the system. The public doesn’t seem to want what we do to be part of our public life.”
Stahl said she believes Paramount will ultimately settle with Trump; the President reportedly recently rejected a $15 million settlement. However, she admitted that she is “already beginning to think about mourning, grieving” for what the future might hold for 60 Minutes.
“We will hopefully still be around, turning a new page and finding out what that new page is going to look like,” she stated.
60 Minutes, Sundays, 7/6 c, CBS
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