Elliott Cowand Jr / Shutterstock.com
CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon announced May 19 that she is stepping down from her roles, the latest episode in a long conflict between CBS News, its parent company, Paramount Global, and President Donald Trump.
According to CNBC, McMahon wrote in a memo to employees that the past few months have been “challenging” due to conflicts within the company.
“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership,” she wrote.
According to FOX News, McMahon’s exit follows a $20 billion lawsuit filed against Paramount Global by Trump after CBS News appeared to heavily edit a “60 Minutes” interview last year with then-Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the November election.
Paramount Global’s relationship with Trump and CBS News is further complicated by a planned multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media, according to FOX News. The Trump administration must approve the merger. Shari Redstone, Paramount Global’s controlling shareholder, is in favor of settling the lawsuit with Trump to move forward with the transaction.
CBS News staff members, including former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens, oppose settling the lawsuit. Owens resigned in April ahead of the merger and potential settlement, saying that Paramount Global had begun to overly scrutinize his work to ensure no more conflicts arose with the Trump administration.
“Our parent company Paramount is trying to complete a merger,” Scott Pelley, a “60 Minutes” correspondent, had said on air at the end of the April 27 episode, according to CNBC. “The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he had lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”
“60 Minutes” had proved to be a point of contention between McMahon and Paramount Global as well, according to CNBC, as McMahon reportedly had to fight to get the show to air certain stories. In addition to conflicting with Redstone about the Harris “60 Minutes” settlement, the two have also disagreed about a controversial interview given by CBS News morning anchor Tony Dokoupil, who discussed the Israel-Hamas war with Jewish convert and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
