CBS releases 'harsh' text fired 60 Minutes producer sent to reporter

Jeff Fager.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

When CBS News president David Rhodes announced Wednesday that 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager was out at the network, he said it wasn't due to a woman recently accusing Fager of sexual harassment, but rather because he "violated company policy."

Later in the day, the CBS Evening News shared with viewers the text message that crossed the line, sent from Fager to national correspondent Jericka Duncan. Duncan has been reporting on the misconduct allegations rocking CBS, and asked Fager for comment Sunday after The New Yorker published an article that included an accusation of sexual harassment against Fager. Fager warned Duncan that if she repeated "these false accusations without any of your own reporting to back them up, you will be responsible for harming me. Be careful."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.