Richard Zoglin, the original author of the “60 Minutes” 50th anniversary retrospective, was removed from the project over his pursuit of questions about workplace sexism on the CBS News program, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Three unnamed sources told the Times that Zoglin was told by “60 Minutes” executive producer Jeff Fager that he was focusing too much on the negative aspects of the show, to the detriment of the book. Zoglin left the project after completing more than a dozen interviews.
Fager’s byline now appears on the book, “Fifty Years of 60 Minutes,” published in October.
“After working on the project for a short while, Richard decided he didn’t like being a writer for hire,” publisher Simon & Schuster said in a statement to the Times. “At the same time, Jeff Fager, who had been with ’60 Minutes’ for decades and lived through some of its most dramatic moments, was asked to be the author for the project.”
As outlined in the Times report, the Sunday news program has repeatedly been criticized for its treatment of women, most notably around the departures of its female correspondents, including Meredith Vieira and Katie Couric.
Last month, Charlie Rose, co-host of “CBS This Morning” and a “60 Minutes” correspondent, was fired by the network after he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. CBS said on Tuesday that Rose’s remaining in-progess segments would be reshot and reassigned.