CBS Braces for Explosive Tell-All by Former ’60 Minutes’ Boss

Former 60 Minutes boss Bill Owens is reportedly preparing to unload on CBS News and Paramount in a blistering new tell-all — and insiders are already bracing for the fallout.

Owens, who spent more than three decades at CBS News before abruptly walking away from 60 Minutes in 2025, is said to be working on a memoir that will take direct aim at the network’s leadership, its handling of Donald Trump’s lawsuit over Kamala Harris’ 2024 interview, and the dramatic rightward shift critics claim has rattled one of television journalism’s most respected institutions.

The planned book is already raising eyebrows inside media circles, not only because of what Owens may reveal, but because he is reportedly still receiving a multimillion-dollar separation payout from CBS. According to reports from the New York Post and Puck News, his exit agreement included a non-disparagement clause, meaning the wrong accusation or too-sharp passage could potentially spark a legal fight.

So far, no lawsuits have been filed.

Owens is expected to dig into Trump’s lawsuit over the editing of then-Vice President Harris’ 60 Minutes interview during the 2024 election, as well as the controversial settlement that followed. According to Breaker Media, Owens privately described the network’s approach as “perhaps the worst legal strategy ever employed by the worst-run media company in the history of America.”

He also reportedly suggested that top brass at the company had begun putting politics ahead of journalism — an explosive charge at a time when CBS News is already under intense scrutiny.

Owens left CBS in April 2025, months before Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News and began pushing through a sweeping overhaul that critics say has changed the tone and direction of the network.

In a memo to staff at the time, Owens made clear he no longer believed he could run 60 Minutes with the independence the program had long been known for.

“Over the past months, it has … become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience,” Owens wrote, according to NBC News.

“So, having defended this show — and what we stand for — from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward,” he added.

For many inside the industry, Owens’ resignation was seen as a warning flare. Now, his reported memoir could turn into a full-blown reckoning.

Weiss officially took the reins as editor-in-chief in October 2025 and has since made major changes to programming and personnel. Supporters have framed the shakeup as an attempt to broaden CBS News’ appeal and make the network appear less left-leaning. But critics inside and outside the building have painted a very different picture, accusing leadership of watering down aggressive journalism in an effort to appease conservative viewers and avoid angering Trumpworld.

In May, Anderson Cooper also left his role at 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years, adding to the sense that the legendary newsmagazine was entering a turbulent new era.

One source previously claimed there were fears that Weiss could give the show a full “MAGA shake-up.”

“A lot of journalists inside the building believe the show is being softened and repositioned to appeal to a more conservative audience, with personalities and story choices that are far less confrontational toward MAGA politics than they would have been a few years ago,” the source claimed. “Among staff, people are openly describing it as a MAGA-style rebrand of one of television news’ most respected institutions.”

The backlash has not been limited to anonymous staffers.

Longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley was reportedly fired after a heated clash with new executive producer Nick Bilton, and leaked audio later revealed just how furious he had become over the network’s direction.

“She’s murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place,” Pelley said of Weiss, according to audio recordings obtained by outlets including The New York Times. “She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”

He also took aim at Weiss’ credentials and warned that her changes to CBS Evening News had already been disastrous.

“She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job,” Pelley said. “The changes that she’s made at the Evening News have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”

Now Owens may be preparing to put his own version of events in writing — and if the early reports are any indication, he is not planning to go quietly.

For CBS News, the timing could hardly be worse. The network is already facing questions about whether one of the last pillars of old-school investigative television is being reshaped to fit a more politically cautious, Trump-era media landscape.

A tell-all from the man who once ran 60 Minutes could drag that internal war into the open — and force CBS to confront whether its most famous news brand is being modernized, compromised, or politically defanged.