Bill Owens Steps Down as ‘60 Minutes’ Chief, Citing Loss of Editorial Independence

He says the editorial constraints he now faced made it impossible for him to lead the program as before.

Bill Owens takes part in a panel discussion at the Showtime Winter TCA Tour at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2013. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Bill Owens, the longtime executive producer of the CBS program “60 Minutes,” announced on April 22 that he is stepping down, saying it has become clear he can no longer run the show with full editorial independence.

“The fact is that ‘60 Minutes’ has been my life,” Owens wrote in a farewell note to staff obtained by The Epoch Times. “Over the past months, it has also 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.”