Ex-60 Minutes boss Bill Owens blasts CBS News leaders, praises Scott Pelley

Former “60 Minutes” chief Bill Owens blasted CBS News, saying it’s run by people who “don’t even know what we do and don’t actually care,” and heaped praise on correspondent Scott Pelley for challenging his bosses in a headline-grabbing meeting.The comments came Monday night at the New York Press Club’s annual dinner in Manhattan, where Owens — who resigned from the network last year amid tanking ratings for “CBS Evening News,” which he attempted to overhaul — accepted an award.“These remarks were written last night, and then Scott Pelley happened today,” he joked at the start of his speech.He went on to decry last week’s layoffs of staff including “60 Minutes” correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.“They were fired by people who don’t even know what we do and don’t actually care,” said Owens, who called CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss “an opinion writer best known for being an ideologue” — the latest in a stream of criticism directed at her from ex-employees.The broadsides came just hours after an explosive confrontation between Pelley and newly installed “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton during a staff meeting.Sources told The Post that Pelley accused Weiss of “murdering ’60 Minutes'” and belittled Bilton’s credentials, prompting the exec to end the meeting abruptly.Owens praised Pelley for the episode.“Scott can smell a fraud from a mile away.He stood up the way I did a year ago and I couldn’t be prouder of him,” he said.“And I know all of the people at ’60 Minutes’ couldn’t be more proud of him.”Owens concluded by defending the culture of “60 Minutes” and criticizing the new direction of CBS News, where Weiss took the helm last fall with a mandate to bring balance to the network.He described the network and “60 Minutes” as “institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed.”“Look, I’m not saying ‘60 Minutes’ is perfect....