Ex-60 Minutes and CBS News chiefs explain 2025 exits in Miami
Bill Owens and Wendy McMahon, the two leaders who quit CBS News during its legal fight with Donald Trump, have now given their fullest account of why they walked away.
They spoke at the inaugural Jupiter Festival in Miami, according to a Variety report published on 9 October 2026. Owens was the executive producer in charge of 60 Minutes. McMahon was president and CEO of CBS News. Both resigned in mid-2025.
Owens had been at CBS News for nearly 37 years. He said he left because of corporate interference in editorial decisions. He described “interference” and “calls for editorial censorship” from above, from ownership through corporate leadership.
The dispute centred on a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. The show ran a short promo clip of the interview before the 2024 election. Trump claimed the edit made Harris appear more favourable. CBS rejected that claim, saying the interview was not “deceitful” and had “fairly represented” her answers.
Trump sued CBS and Paramount over the edit. Paramount later prepared a $16 million settlement with Trump while it was seeking approval for its sale to David Ellison’s Skydance. After Trump took office in 2025, Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the US broadcast regulator, pressed CBS News to hand over the full transcript and camera feeds. Those materials were then published on the FCC website.
McMahon resigned less than a month after Owens. She said she did not agree with the apology and settlement with Trump. She left weeks later.
She also said she opposed the idea of appointing an ombudsman, an independent standards editor who handles complaints about coverage. An ombudsman was later installed after the Ellison takeover. Owens had announced on 22 April 2025 that he would step down as the top producer of 60 Minutes, saying he could no longer make independent decisions, as reported at the time by Reuters. McMahon stepped down in May 2025, telling staff she and the company did not agree on the path forward.
Both exits came before Bari Weiss was tapped as McMahon’s successor. Their Miami session was billed as “The Future of News, According to the People Who Have Lived It,” part of a 2026 Jupiter Festival programme on the forces reshaping media, entertainment and sport.
For viewers, this matters because it explains a gap at the top. Two newsroom leaders left within weeks of each other. Their jobs decide what gets investigated, what airs and who gets hired to make it.
