The head of “60 minutes” told the demonstration staff on Monday that he would not apologize as part of any future settlement in a lawsuit brought by President Trump Against their network, CBS, according to people with knowledge of observations.
The comments from Bill Owens, the executive producer supervising the long -term news program, came as a parent company of CBS, Paramount, continued to continue settlement talks with Mr Trump. The president blames the misleading network of an interview with his opponent, the candidate for the president, Kamala Harris. Many legal experts have described the lawsuit as distant and unfounded.
“There have been references to the media about a settlement and/or apology,” Mr Owens said, according to two people who heard his observations. “The company knows I won’t apologize for anything we’ve done.”
Many Paramount executives believe that a settlement will increase the chances that Trump’s administration will approve a pending merger of many billions of dollars with another company, and Shari Redstone, the Paramount controller, supports the effort.
But the move has caused deep discomfort within CBS News and especially in “60 minutes”, which reports the interview with Ms Harris in October. Journalists there believe that a settlement would be an excellent capitulation because the processing of the Harris interview was in accordance with formal journalistic practice.
In the primary edition, Ms. Harris seemed to give an answer to a question, which was different from the response she gave in a preview of the interview the previous day. CBS said Ms. Harris had given a long answer and that she had chosen to air different sections at different times.
At the meeting on Monday, held at the “60-minute” office at Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Owens spoke to several demonstration correspondents-including Anderson Cooper, Lesley Stahl and Bill Whitaker-with other crew members and crew members. Some traveled to New York for the occasion.
Mr Owens said CBS was planning Monday to send an unprocessed transfer and cameras of the Harris interview to the Federal Committee of Communications. The organization, led by Brendan Carr, a Trump’s appointment, officially requested these materials from the network last week.
“The processing is absolutely fine. Let’s put it in bed so that we can continue with our lives,” Mr Owens said of the copy, according to the people who listened to his observations.
Mr Owens said he had not spoken to Ms Redstone about the prospect of a settlement.
A Paramount spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
