When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Go On Vacation

“Obviously this has been a tough week,” said CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl, at a meeting of the Television Critics Assn. in Beverly Hills. It’s been especially trying for Jeff Fager, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” who is extending his vacation as one review into the workplace culture of CBS News nears conclusion, and another gets started. Fager, along with fellow executive Les Moonves, came across as world class male chauvinists in an investigative piece in last week’s New Yorker. Fager was portrayed as a drunken boor at company parties, and fingered for protecting men that were accused of misconduct and sexual harassment who reported to him directly. Last spring CBS hired the Proskauer Rose firm to investigate CBS News. The precipitating factor was an allegation that Charlie Rose, “60 Minutes” contributor and anchor of “CBS This Morning,” had hit on young female assistants who worked for him. That investigation appears to be in the final stages, but on Aug. 1 the CBS board retained both the Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton firms to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against its chairman and chief executive, Leslie Moonves, as well as Fager and the CBS News unit.