60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens shocked the media world when he resigned on Monday, citing concerns about independent editorial decision-making in a world that has become increasingly hostile to anti-administration ideas during Donald Trump’s second presidency.
But while surprising, Owens’s exit wasn’t exactly unprecedented. He is just the latest high-profile media figure to step down in protest of what they claim is administrative overreach, whether protesting one of Trump’s actions or those taken by their employers, who have bowed to presidential demands amid fears for their bottom lines.
Owens quit with “60 Minutes” network CBS embroiled in a lawsuit brought by Trump that claimed the newsmagazine engaged in “unlawful and illegal behavior.” With other editorial outlets, including ABC, settling defamation cases brought by Trump to the tune of millions of dollars, Owens said he felt he was no longer being allowed to make decisions on what was best for the show and its viewers vs. the corporate bottom line for CBS parent Paramount.
“So, having defended this show—and what we stand for—from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward,” Owens told his staff in a memo.
Other Media Figures Resigning Because of Trump
Owens likely won’t be the last to resign in protest of Trump or a policy decision stemming from Trump’s actions. Here are 10 other high-profile media stars who have also quit as an act of dissent since before Trump earned a second term last November.
1. Shonda Rhimes (Kennedy Center)
Arguably the most influential and one of the most profitable producers in television, Shonda Rhimes resigned her position as treasurer of the Kennedy Center’s board in February after Trump installed himself as the chairman. While Rhimes did not call out Trump by name in her resignation, she posted a quote by John F. Kennedy on Instagram about artistic independence.
2. Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post)
After 15 years at the Washington Post, columnist Jennifer Rubin left in January, decrying the loss of editorial independence at traditional media outlets that have been bought up by billionaires like Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who now owns the Post. She released a statement saying she was co-founding a new media venture, saying, “We need an alternative, truly independent outlet that is unafraid of the administration and unwilling to equivocate or bend the knee.”
3. Mariel Garza (Los Angeles Times)
The editorials editor who had worked at the paper for nearly a decade tendered her resignation after the paper’s billionaire owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong (Rubin is not wrong), squashed the editorial page’s endorsement of presidential candidate Kamala Harris over Trump in October.
4. Ben Folds (National Symphony Orchestra)
Ben Folds served as the artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, which performs at the Kennedy Center. The headman of Ben Folds Five resigned in February following Trump’s decision to gut the Kennedy Center board, citing “recent developments” in an Instagram post about his decision.
5. Renée Fleming (Kennedy Center)
Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover sure caused a lot of drama. In addition to Rhimes’s and Folds’s exits (and comedian Issa Rae’s decision to cancel a show at the performing arts center), Renée Fleming also quit the board. The famed opera singer voiced her respect for Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, whom Trump fired, and said out of respect for Rutter, she was also leaving.
6. Jim Acosta (CNN)
Frequent Trump critic and target Jim Acosta, one of CNN’s highest-profile personalities, resigned on the air after the network announced it was moving him to a less-prominent timeslot, a move many believed was made to avoid Trump’s wrath. During his final episode, Acosta urged his fellow people in media not to “bow down” to “tyranny.”
7. David E. Hoffman (Washington Post Editorial Board)
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David E. Hoffman resigned from the Washington Post’s editorial board in October, along with two other prominent journalists. They were protesting owner Bezos’s decision to block the Post’s endorsement of Harris. That also prompted more than 200,000 subscription cancellations.
8. Ruth Marcus (Washington Post)
For more than four decades, Ruth Marcus worked for the Washington Post Opinion page. When Bezos announced plans in March to refocus the editorial section by refusing to publish anything deviating from “the pillars of individual liberties and free markets,” Marcus wrote a column criticizing that move and tying it to kowtowing to Trumpian views. Her column was spiked, and Marcus resigned.
9. Harry Litman (Los Angeles Times)
In December, former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general Harry Litman said he would stop writing for the Los Angeles Times op-ed section, where he had been a contributor for 15 years. He decried Soon-Shiong’s editorial influence, writing, “I don’t want to continue to work for a paper that is appeasing Trump and facilitating his assault on democratic rule for craven reasons.”
10. Karen Attiah (National Association of Black Journalists)
Journalist Karen Attiah, the co-chair of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) 2024 conference, resigned her position when the organization said in July it would host then-candidate Trump for a Q&A. She explained on X that she was disappointed the organization gave Trump a “platform” without consulting her.
