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Jeff Fager, the veteran executive producer of "60 Minutes," is stepping down amid accusations of improper conduct in the infamous news magazine.
"Jeff Fager is leaving the company immediately," CBS News President David Rhodes said in a note to his staff on Wednesday.
Rhodes said that Fager's long-time # 2, Bill Owens, would manage the "60 Minutes" team while a search is underway "for a new executive producer of the program".
Rhodes said in his memo that "this action is not directly related to the allegations published in the press reports, which continue to be the subject of an independent investigation.However, it violated the company's policy and we are committed to respecting them at all levels. "
CBS News declined to say what the Fager of the "corporate policy" had violated. But in a statement to CNN, Fager said that CBS "terminated my contract earlier because I sent an SMS to one of our CBS reporters demanding that it be fair by covering the bill." # 39; s history. "
"My language was hard and, despite the fact that journalists receive severe demands for fairness all the time, CBS did not like it," he said in the statement. "Such a note should not result in termination after 36 years, but it has been."
The allegations against Fager, reported by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker, included unwanted touching. Fager firmly denied the allegations.
When the story was released in July, he said that Farrow's sources – "some people," he said – had an "ax to grind".
But Mr. Farrow had many sources, including six former employees who said that "the Fagers, although drunk at company parties, would touch employees in ways that put them in harm's way. ;easy".
Farrow also cited "nineteen current and former employees" who stated that Fager "had allowed harassment in the division".
In the same story, Farrow has published allegations of harassment and aggression on the part of CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves, a close ally of Fager.
Both men were provocative after the publication of the story. They remained at their posts while the law firms hired by CBS were investigating the allegations.
Farrow continued to report. He has heard from other women who have made serious charges against the Moonves. The story of Farrow, published Sunday, also included a new allegation against Fager.
Moonves had already started talks with CBS. At the end of Sunday, he was officially eliminated as CEO.
CBS News sources said that there was a consensus that the network could not intervene in the Fager case before the Moonves case was settled. After all, Moonves was the ultimate boss.
On Monday, the day after the announcement of Moonves, Fager was not at work – a fact that made heart ache in "60 Minutes" and CBS News.
On Wednesday, Rhodes' note cited the name of the company's interim CEO, Joe Ianniello.
He said "Ianniello fully supports this decision and the coming transition".
CNNMoney (New York) First published September 12, 2018: 1:42 ET
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