The head of “60 minutes” told the show on Monday that he would not apologize from President Trump as part of a potential regulation in a lawsuit brought by the president against their network, CBS, according to people with knowledge of knowledge The comments.
The comments from Bill Owens, the executive producer who supervises the long -term news program, came as the parent company of CBS, Paramount, settlements with Mr Trump. The president accuses the network of cheating an interview with his rival, the democratic candidate for President Kamala Harris. Many legal experts have described the lawsuit as far -fetched and unfounded.
“There have been reports in the media about a scheme and/or apology,” said Mr. Owens, according to two people who heard his comments. “The company knows that I will not apologize for everything we have done.”
Many Paramount managers believe that a settlement would increase the chance that the Trump administration would approve a hanging merger of millions of dollars with another company, and Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, supports the effort.
But the move has caused deep suffering in CBS News and especially on “60 minutes”, who broadcasts the interview with Mrs. Harris in October that is central to the court case. Journalists there believe that an arrangement would be an extraordinary capitulation because the processing of the Harris interview was in accordance with standard journalistic practice.
In the prime-time version, Mrs. Harris seemed to give a different answer to one question than the answer she gave in a preview of the interview that was broadcast the day before. CBS said that Mrs. Harris gave a long answer and that it chose to air different parts at different times.
During the meeting on Monday, held at the “60 minutes” office in Midtown Manhattan, Mr Owens spoke with various correspondents from the show-including Anderson Cooper, Lesley Stahl and Bill Whitaker-Samen with other on-Air journalists and crew members. Some traveled to New York for the occasion.
Owens said that CBS was planning on Monday to send an unprocessed transcript and camera cafés from the Harris interview to the Federal Communications Commission. The agency, which is led by Brendan Carr, a Trump -appointed, formally asked for the network of the network last week.
“The operation is fine; Let's place that in bed so that we can continue with our lives, “Mr. Owens said about the transcript, according to the people who have heard his comments.
Owens said he had not spoken with Mrs. Redstone about the prospect of a settlement.
A Paramount spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
