Jeff Fager tells staff he's back at "60 Minutes"
Jeff Fager, the executive producer of "60 Minutes," told staff on Friday that he is back at work, as an investigation continues into alleged sexual misconduct and an abusive culture at the show.
He came into the office on Friday and addressed the "60 Minutes" staff, according to multiple sources. A CBS spokesperson declined to comment.
Fager was reportedly expected back from summer vacation last Monday, but delayed his return.
Allegations against Fager became public in a report on July 27 by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker, which also detailed allegations against CBS CEO Les Moonves.
On Thursday, a report in The Washington Post said that a senior producer at "60 Minutes" allegedly engaged in abusive behavior toward staff, and that Fager led a culture that tolerated it.
CBS Corporation has hired two law firms to conduct investigations into both Moonves and the culture at CBS. CBS News is a division of CBS Corporation.
In the New Yorker story, journalist Ronan Farrow reported that 19 current and former employees said Fager protected men accused of misconduct, including men who reported to him. One former female senior producer told Farrow that Fager promoted another senior producer who had been physically abusive toward her and advised her against taking her concerns to human resources. She also claimed that Fager told her to apologize to the other producer to "mitigate conflict in the office."
The Washington Post on Thursday claimed that sources corroborated that account. Fager told The New Yorker he never advised someone not to go to HR. The Washington Post cited a "senior official" who said that Fager did not request that the female producer apologize.
Six former employees told Farrow that Fager had touched employees in ways that made them uncomfortable at company parties, and in one instance made a drunken advance toward a junior staffer. Fager denied the allegations to The New Yorker, saying "they never happened."
Fager previously served as chairman of CBS News and became executive producer of "60 Minutes" in 2003. He has been at CBS News for more than 35 years.
In a statement to The New Yorker, Fager said, "It is wrong that our culture can be falsely defined by a few people with an axe to grind who are using an important movement as a weapon to get even, and not by the hundreds of women and men that have thrived, both personally and professionally, at '60 Minutes.'" Fager said that the accusations are "false, anonymous, and do not hold up to editorial scrutiny."
Correction: This story has been updated to say that Fager is back at work as of Friday. An initial version said that he would return full-time on Monday.
