Author: Bruce Lindner on FB
If you missed last night's 60 Minutes segment on the Trump administration's war on truth, here's the link. But I think a little back story is called for, for those who haven't been following the story.
It was just a few weeks ago that 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens resigned from the program. The reason he quit, was because CBS's parent company, Paramount Global, is in the process of an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, but in order to consummate that deal, they need the approval of the FCC, currently under the aegis of the Trump administration.
So the president of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, doesn't want to rock the boat. So her office (according to Owens) put pressure on him to go easy on any exposés on the Trump administration, lest it sink Paramount's Skydance deal.
Pretty simple: We have to cave, just like all those high-profile legal firms did, in order to conduct business as usual. Profits first, integrity can suck it.
Except that was a bridge too far for Bill Owens, so he resigned. And on the following week's 60 Minutes broadcast, Scott Pelley told the back story to the world, citing "interference from above" and ending his announcement with; "None of us are happy about it."
That took guts.
Fast forward to today. Paramount Global's pressure campaign has utterly failed, at least for now. Say what you want about 60 Minutes, but they're clearly not playing upper management's game. This follow-up story was a thumb in Wendy McMahon's eye. Or possibly a collective middle finger from the entire 60 Minutes team.
We're on the knife's edge of losing our Democracy folks, and if the Fourth Estate crumbles, that'll be the death of TRUTH. If Trump ever gives an illegal order to the military (such as invading a fellow NATO country's sovereign territory) and the Joint Chiefs carry it out without question, in my opinion, that's when we can close the book. That would be end game for the U. S. of A.
I've seen several posts from friends over the past few weeks about boycotting 60 Minutes or CBS over this story. I would implore you to reconsider, especially after last night's story. They are CLEARLY not giving in to McMahon's (and Trump's) pressure. They deserve our respect for how they've stood up to power.
It's a hell of a thing to accuse your bosses of corruption (ask me how I know). In the case of 60 Minutes, Wendy McMahon and Paramount Global have ALL the power. They can make or break someone's career with the stroke of a pen. All the writers, producers, investigators and journalists have, is their integrity and a desire to report the unvarnished truth. At the moment, the latter group just scored a goal. But that doesn't mean the people "upstairs" won't retaliate in some fashion.
In my own case, when I went to war with my employer back in the '80s over their corruption, it consumed six years of my life. And I can admit it now, I suffered from several years of PTSD as a result—at a time when my toddler daughter needed a full-time dad the most. So taking on corruption is a BFD. But the consequences of NOT calling it out wherever it lurks is untenable. And on the international stage, potentially catastrophic.
So in the end, 60 Minutes **HAS** to win this war for truth, political pressure notwithstanding. Failure isn't an option. If they fail, America fails. That's not hyperbole.
What's the worst that can happen if one man who insists on getting his way by intimidating the media isn't put in check? Ask the people of early 20th century Germany how that worked out for them.
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