For decades, “60 Minutes” has reigned at the top of television news, bringing in hundreds of journalistic awards, not to mention weekly ratings for CBS that are the envy of the industry. The success has allowed “60 Minutes” to operate independently from the larger network news division to which it belongs.
But that independence came at a cost: The show proved unable to prevent inappropriate conduct by some of its top executives, according to lawyers hired by the CBS Corporation board of directors to investigate the workplace culture of the program.
In a draft of a report for the board, investigators wrote that “the physical, administrative and cultural separation between ‘60 Minutes’ and the rest of CBS News permitted misconduct by some ‘60 Minutes’ employees.”
The executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Jeff Fager, was fired in September after he threatened a CBS News reporter looking into allegations about his behavior. The investigators wrote that the firing was justified, adding that Mr. Fager had “engaged in certain acts of sexual misconduct” with colleagues and failed to stop misbehavior by others.
They also said the misdeeds during Mr. Fager’s run as executive producer, which began in 2004, were less severe than under his powerful predecessor, Don Hewitt, who died in 2009.
Mr. Hewitt, who created the program in 1968 and produced the show for 36 years, is a journalistic legend. But investigators revealed that CBS continues to pay out a settlement to a woman who claimed that Mr. Hewitt sexually assaulted her on repeated occasions and destroyed her career. The settlement, reached in the 1990s, has been amended multiple times, including this year. In total, CBS has agreed to pay the former employee more than $5 million.
The investigators’ report will be presented to the CBS board next week, during a period of reckoning for the company. CBS forced its longtime chief executive, Leslie Moonves, out of his job in September after he faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied.
The board hired two law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton and Covington & Burling, to conduct the investigation into the allegations against Mr. Moonves, CBS News and “60 Minutes.” They were asked to determine, in part, if Mr. Moonves had violated his employment agreement. That would allow the company to fire him for cause and withhold his $120 million severance.
The draft copy of the report says the investigators “believe that the board would have multiple bases” on which to claim Mr. Moonves was fired for cause, The Times reported this week. The copy was drafted in late November and could be adjusted before being presented to the board.
Read more The Nytimes
