'60 Minutes' Boss Fager Fired by CBS for Policy Violation

Jeff Fager, the executive producer of the CBS News program “60 Minutes” and former head of news, is leaving the company in the latest fallout from sexual-harassment allegations that have engulfed the network.

Fager is leaving because he “violated company policy, and it is our commitment to uphold these policies at every level,” CBS News President David Rhodes said in a statement.

The 36-year CBS veteran has been at the center of allegations that CBS’s news division fostered a culture of harassment. In a New Yorker story, he was accused of ignoring and abetting bad behavior by two male producers at “60 Minutes.” Rhodes said Wednesday his exit is “is not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently.”

In a statement sent to CNN’s Brian Stelter, Fager said his ouster had nothing to do with the New Yorker story.

“They terminated my contract early because I sent a text message to one of our own CBS reporters demanding that she be fair in covering the story,” he said, according to Stelter. “One such note should not result in termination after 36 years, but it did.”

CBS has figured prominently in coverage of sexual harassment in the workplace. Its chief executive officer, Leslie Moonves, was forced out last weekend after the New Yorker reported that more women had come forward alleging they were assaulted by the executive. In November, the company fired longtime TV personality Charlie Rose over allegations of harassment.