Another Head Rolls at CBS

'60 Minutes' chief Jeff Fager is out amid harassment allegations
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 12, 2018 2:12 PM CDT
Another Head Rolls at CBS
In this Sept. 12, 2017 file photo, "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Jeff Fager poses for a photo at the "60 Minutes" offices, in New York.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Another CBS bigwig is out following the bombshell New Yorker article that led to Les Moonves' departure from the network. Jeff Fager, longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes, was also named in the article, with women accusing him of allowing a culture of harassment in his division as well as sometimes touching employees inappropriately himself. But in a memo to staffers announcing Fager's departure Wednesday and obtained by CNN, CBS News president David Rhodes said the move "is not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently. However, he violated company policy and it is our commitment to uphold those policies at every level."

Fager himself expands on the alleged policy violation, telling Page Six and the Hollywood Reporter he was fired over a text message. "The company’s decision had nothing to do with the false allegations printed in the New Yorker. Instead, they terminated my contract early because I sent a text message to one of our own CBS reporters demanding that she be fair in covering the story," he says. "My language was harsh and, despite the fact that journalists receive harsh demands for fairness all the time, CBS did not like it. One such note should not result in termination after 36 years, but it did." Ronan Farrow, who reported the original New Yorker article, published a follow-up Sunday that included new allegations against both Moonves and Fager. (More CBS stories.)

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