Sexual misconduct allegations at CBS have dominated headlines in the last year, but that behavior may have a long history.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the company continues to pay a settlement to a woman who accused “60 Minutes'” founding executive producer Don Hewitt of sexually assaulting her and destroying her career.
Hewitt died in 2009, but The Times reported that CBS continues to pay the unidentified woman a substantial —and growing — settlement. The settlement was reached initially in the 1990s, according to The Times, for $450,000 in exchange for her silence. That sum was amended six times, including once in 2018, bringing it to a total exceeding $5 million — “plus annual payments of $75,000 for the rest of her life.”
The revelation appears in a draft report on workplace culture at “60 Minutes” for the CBS board, according to The Times. The Times said Thursday that the draft report says, “the physical, administrative and cultural separation between ’60 Minutes’ and the rest of CBS News permitted misconduct by some ’60 Minutes’ employees.”
CNN has not reviewed a copy of the draft report.
The man who replaced Hewitt as leader of the newsmagazine, Jeff Fager, was fired in September amid accusations of inappropriate conduct.
Fager firmly denied the allegations.
The specific reason for Fager’s dismissal, however, stemmed from a text he sent to Jericka Duncan — one of the CBS reporters who had been covering the fallout from Ronan Farrow’s investigation of Fager and former CBS CEO Les Moonves.
The Times said the investigation’s report is set to be presented to the CBS board next week.
