Paramount Global non-executive chairwoman Shari Redstone has warned that the news media must present “facts” and “not opinions” on the tail of the resignation of embattled 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens.
Speaking to TheWrap, Redstone insisted that the media has an important role in America and it isn’t merely to indulge its “free speech.”
“There is nothing controversial about telling the truth,” Redstone explained. “There’s nothing controversial about getting the real story out there. And I think companies have not only an opportunity, but a tremendous responsibility, to use the resources that they have to tell these stories and to get them to as many audiences, let people decide how they feel about something and how they react to something, but give them the facts.”
She also said that “freedom of the press” can be misused by partisans who only tell one side of a story.
“I don’t think there’s ever a time you have to compromise what it is that you say and do, but freedom of the press involves telling both sides of the story, giving the facts, not giving opinions. And I think that’s our responsibility as a media company,” she continued.
Redstone also said that the media seemed to be better in the days of Walter Cronkite.
“The days of Walter Cronkite, where, whatever it is, people believed in the truth, people really crave the information they need to be independent and make their own judgments. That’s what freedom of speech is,” she insisted.
Shari Redstone and Tom Cruise at the premiere of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” held at Rose Theater, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall on July 10, 2023 in New York, New York. (Lexie Moreland/Variety via Getty Images)
Redstone’s comments came only hours after 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned from the show claiming he was being interfered with by his superiors.
“Over the past months, 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.” Owens claimed as he announced his resignation, according to the New York Post.
“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 concluded.
Owens’ vacating his post comes as President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS bears down on the troubled network.
In November of last year, the President filed suit against CBS for a “deceptive” interview with Kamala Harris that Trump contended was severely edited and was aimed solely at defeating his presidential campaign.
Trump’s lawsuit alleges that CBS was acting an adjunct to Harris’s campaign and the filing concerned “CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public.”
In February, a federal judge denied a motion filed by CBS to dismiss the lawsuit against its 60 Minutes program as the Trump team upped its ante by demanding $20 billion in damages, up from its initial $10 billion.
Amid all this fallout, there are conflicting stories about Redstone’s internal reactions to Trump’s lawsuit. Some reports say that Redstone has been putting heavy scrutiny on 60 Minutes to make sure the program stops over indulging its left-wing partisanship and wanted Owens to be removed from his position. But other reports, such as that from The Wrap, insist that Redstone has no role with and taken no actions against 60 Minutes.
Owens has not been much of a success at CBS, though. His efforts to revamp the CBS Evening News has crashed and burned and he has been accused of being a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.
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