There are a number of ways to frighten a politician. I could recite a few, but there’s nothing more frightening then telling an elected official that “‘60 Minutes’ wants to talk to you.” For almost 60 years, the show has been more than a television program. It is one of the few that has held powerful corporations, governments and individuals to account for their conduct. Like it or not, “60 Minutes” has been the conscience of the nation.
During its time on our television screens, the show has exposed the tobacco industry’s lies, the failures of the Veterans Administration and the abuses of Wall Street, to name just a few of its in-depth investigations. It has done so week after week, in prime time, watched by millions of Americans who might never have read an investigative newspaper series but would sit down on a Sunday night and absorb a piece of journalism that changed what they knew, and sometimes what the country knew.
That institution, in any meaningful sense, is now gone. What has taken place over the past year is a cautionary tale about what happens when corporate fear meets political intimidation and what is lost when the two converge. The chain of events that got us here started in April 2025, when Bill Owens resigned at executive producer of “60 Minutes.” He was only the third person to hold that job in 57 years. That was followed by the resignation of CBS President Wendy McMahon.
The reason for both departures was that Paramount, the parent company of CBS, was seeking federal approval for its merger with Skydance Media. The Trump administration had leverage over the deal, and it was clear that it was prepared to use it. Then CBS settled a lawsuit with the president with a payment of $16 million. The optics should have been a tipoff of what was yet to come.
What happened next confirmed everyone’s worst fears. Bari Weiss became editor in chief of CBS News, installed by the new owners. While Weiss is a competent writer, she knew nothing about television news. Last month she fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent in the show’s history. That was followed by numerous other layoffs of longtime staffers. It’s worth noting that, months earlier, Weiss pulled a segment off the air that dealt with Trump administration deportees held in a Salvadoran prison. It eventually ran, but that sent another signal.
The final touch in the dismantling of a journalistic institution was the firing of Scott Pelley, who helped make “60 Minutes” what it was. Pelly is the modern-day version of what Walter Cronkite was in his time, and the loss of his voice is a loss for all of us who believe in investigative journalism.
So why does this matter beyond the television industry? Investigative journalism is a mechanism by which citizens of a democracy learn what their government and their corporations are actually doing, as opposed to what they are told they’re doing.
What do weekly newspapers have to do with this type of reporting? Willamette Week, the Village Voice and the Riverdale Press are just a few of the weeklies that have won Pulitzer Prizes.
Consider what happens when a weekly newspaper is sold. If a new owner has different priorities, different allegiances or a fear of generating controversy, it’s the beginning of the end of fair coverage for their readership. When a new owner takes over, the staff remains for a time. The nameplate stays the same, but the readers may sense the change before they can articulate it.
Identity and credibility aren’t assets that appear on a balance sheet, but they are one of the most fragile assets a paper possesses. You might have noticed that the Herald has both Republican Peter King and Democrat Jerry Kremer as columnists. That’s because the owner values all opinions.
The dismantling of “60 Minutes” because of political pressure and corporate self-interest is a message to newsrooms all over America. It is a reminder that the public can’t afford to ignore what takes place before their eyes. We need good and honest journalism, and should be supportive of those who practice it.
Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He currently chairs the Capitol Insight Group, a government relations firm. Comments? jkremer@liherald.com.
