‘60 Minutes’ chief leaves CBS amid harassment accusations
This action today is not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently. However, he violated company policy and it is our commitment to uphold those policies at every level. David Rhodes, CBS News President
JEFF Fager, the executive producer of the fl agship CBS news programme “60 Minutes,” has left the network.
His exit follows articles by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker that included accusations that Fager inappropriately touched employees, and a report by The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple that Fager tolerated years of alleged abusive conduct by a senior producer.
“This action today is not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently,” CBS News President David Rhodes said in a memo. “However, he violated company policy and it is our commitment to uphold those policies at every level.”
It is unclear what specific company policy the memo references.
Fager said in a separate statement that the allegations in the New Yorker are “false” and that the decision by CBS was unrelated.
“They terminated my contract early because I sent a text message to one of our own CBS reporters demanding that she be fair in covering the story. My language was harsh and, despite the fact that journalists receive harsh demands for fairness all the time, CBS did not like it,” Fager said. “One such note should not result in termination after 36 years, but it did.”
Fager, a former CBS News chairman, has also been accused of dissuading employees from reporting incidents to human resources. He told Wemple at The Post, “I have never discouraged anyone from going to HR.”
The departure comes at a time of intense public scrutiny of CBS, including the recent resignation of its CEO, Leslie Moonves, once among the most powerful and well- compensated media executives.
Several weeks ago, CBS brought in outside law fi rms to conduct investigations following an initial New Yorker article largely focused on misconduct allegations against Moonves. The report also included anonymous accounts from former employees that Fager inappropriately touched employees at company parties.
A second New Yorker article published on Sunday included more allegations against Moonves of sexual assault, harassment and intimidation. A former CBS intern, Sarah Johansen, also told Farrow that Fager groped her at a work party. “I really felt like this was one of the most sexist places I’ve ever worked,” she said.
Moonves said in a statement that “untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me that are not consistent with who I am.”
Fager became a decorated journalist during his 36 years at CBS News, and just last year wrote a book chronicling the history of the venerated programme “60 Minutes” to mark its 50th anniversary.
An executive producer of “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather” in the late 1990s, Fager took over the same role at “60 Minutes” before becoming chairman of CBS News in 2011. He returned as full-time executive producer at “60 Minutes” in 2015, and this autumn would have marked his 15th as chief of the news magazine programme.
Bill Owens will manage “60 Minutes” as the company searches for a replacement, Rhodes said in his memo, adding the interim CEO of CBS, Joe Ianniello, “is in full support of the decision and the transition to come.” — WP-Bloomberg