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One Big Happy 60 Family: Bill Owens, Wendy McMahon, Cecilia Vega, and Scott Pelley at the CBS fall schedule celebration on May 2, 2024, in LA. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty Images)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, Former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens is gearing up for a tell-all book, unloading on his ex-employer that he now calls “the worst-run media company in the history of America.”
Owens doesn’t hold back in a copy of the 22-page book proposal obtained and reviewed by Breaker. The Paramount/Trump settlement, Sharri Redstone, Bari Weiss, and David Ellison all cop a lashing from Owens’ acid tongue. In tonight’s edition, we share a glimpse from the proposal where Owens tells us what he really, really thinks.
Plus, we have a scene report from the launch party for Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s “Regime Change,” which is sold out on Amazon. Swan took the opportunity to address the packed room, taking aim at politicians “cheering on the collapse of what they call legacy media,” before pushing back and explaining what “legacy” means to him. Read more from Swan’s speech, including a tribute to his co-author Haberman, below.
Finally, it’s Thursday, which means Journo (and Comms) Jobs is back. Tonight we have opportunities at Condé Nast, Bloomberg, CBS, The Atlantic, The New York Post, and Hearst Magazines.
Mentioned tonight: David Ellison, Larry Ellison, Bari Weiss, George Cheeks, Shari Redstone, Bob Bakish, Scott Pelley, Nick Bilton, Tony Dokoupil, Sloan Harris, A.G. Sulzberger, Joe Kahn, Tina Brown, Emma Tucker, Pamela Williams, Dr Norman Swan, Betsy Woodruff, Dareh Gregorian, Clyde Haberman, Nancy Haberman, Zach Haberman, Dean Baquet, Jonathan Jao, Jonathan Karp, Gary Ginsberg, Chris Christie, Ari Melber, Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, Gayle King, Al Roker, Stella Bugbee, Vanessa Friedman, M. Gessen, Lydia Polgreen, Jacob Bernstein, Risa Heller, John Berman, Elie Honig, Katie Rosman, Tim Alberta, Preet Bharara, Mark Mazzetti, Jim Rutenberg, Tammy Haddad, Oli Coleman, Danielle Rhodes Ha, Charlie Stadtlander, Carl Swanson, Lis Smith, Katy Tur, Sam Dolnick, Julie Bloom, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jesse Rodriguez, Rebecca Kutler, Steven Rubenstein, Jon Kelly, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Josh Dawsey, David McCraw, Jake Silverstein, Aidan McLaughlin, Charlotte Klein, Michael Grynbaum, Ben Mullin, Suzanne Craig, Amy Entelis, Virginia Mosley, Tom Nides, Molly Jong-Fast, Audrey Gelman, Annie Karni, Carolyn Ryan, Jesse Angelo, Kasie Hunt, Shane Goldmacher, Lisa Lerer, Pamela Williams, Mark Warren, Stu Loeser, Michael O’Connor, Ruby Cramer, Dick Stevenson, Greg Greeley, Russ Buettner, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Andrew Zucker, Peggy Noonan, Matt Purdy, Bradley Singer, Oliver Darcy, Sarah Wynn-Williams, Brendan Carr, Alice Brooker, Qasim Akhtar, Charlotte Tobitt, Stephanie Williams, Jack Neel, David Gilmour, Tucker Carlson, Adeel Hassan, Larry Sanger, Foo Yun Chee, Emily Glazer, Annie Linskey, Jessica Toonkel, Mike Vrabel, Dianna Russini, Ken Belson, and more.
60 Confessions
(Exclusive.) It has been the big media storyline of 2026: Bari Weiss' “reign of error” running CBS News. From the disastrous rollout of Tony Dokoupil as “Evening News” anchor to Nick Bilton’s appointment to run “60 Minutes.”
Now, a new book promises to blow the lid off the inner workings of the Tiffany Network.
Breaker has learned that former “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Bill Owens is writing a memoir about his 37-year career at CBS News and “60 Minutes.”
“I found out about the Paramount settlement with President Trump - perhaps the worst legal strategy ever employed by the worst-run media company in the history of America, while in Spain,” Owens’ 22-page book proposal, obtained and reviewed by Breaker, opens.
“Ironically, at a wellness retreat center that is run exceptionally well. After ten days of reading, writing, no phone, exercise, and a reset at said retreat, I headed to a town where the Atlantic kisses the Mediterranean on the mouth.”
Owens, only the third executive producer of “60 Minutes”, writes that Paramount had … “set up an internal spy ring that the Vichy government would have admired,” referencing the regime that collaborated with Nazi Germany. He alleges scripts and story plans were being…
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.
Make Reporting Great Again
Three Amigos: Breaker shares a laugh at the Regime Change book party with New York Times editor at large Matt Purdy and Times magazine EIC Jake Silverstein who masterfully helped Breaker land this Times magazine cover story.
On Wednesday, Breaker headed to the New York Times building for a book party to celebrate Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s sold-out “Regime Change.”
There had already been one case of mistaken identity this month, when a fedora-clad Bret Stephens was mistaken for Breaker at the Sulzberger BBQ. Keen to avoid a similar mix-up, we left Breaker HQ with our government-issued identification in hand.
Safely past security, the very well-attended evening celebrated the launch of the game-changing book, a critical review of the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Swan used the opportunity to share his thoughts on …
Support fearless independent journalism.
The rest of this newsletter is for paid subscribers.
⁘ Unlock full access to our twice-weekly newsletter and archive.
⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.