About
"When you cover the White House, you are no longer in control of your life at all, you're at the mercy of the President's schedule 100%."
In her one-hour interview, Lesley Stahl talks about discovering her passion for journalism and her early years in television, including working as a producer at CBS affiliate WHDH in Boston. She discusses how she came to work for CBS News in the early 1970s as a Washington reporter and touches on the stories she covered, notably the Watergate scandal. She references the challenges of being a woman in the male-dominated news business of the time. She recounts how she came to be appointed as White House correspondent at CBS during the Carter administration and gives her impressions of its treatment of the press (in comparison to the subsequent Reagan administration). She speaks in some detail about her longtime association with the news magazine series 60 Minutes, outlining the process by which she puts a story segment together and giving her impressions of executive producers Don Hewitt and Jeff Fager. Finally, she discusses her work as moderator of Face the Nation, saying of her interviewing style: "I tried to be tough, I wanted to be tough. I think that's what they paid me to do. I wanted to make news and I think I was tenacious." Karen Herman conducted the interview on September 14, 2006 in New York, NY.
Highlights
Lesley Stahl on consciously trying to convey authority as a reporter
Lesley Stahl on the jobs women had at NBC News, when she started in 1967
Lesley Stahl on coverage of Watergate by network television and on Watergate burglary trial judge John Sirica's importance in the "assault" on President Nixon
Lesley Stahl on advice for beginning journalists
Lesley Stahl on her interviewing style
Full Interview
Chapter 1
On her background; on how debates at home may have had an influence on her becoming a journalist; on abandoning a medical career and having an epiphany about becoming a journalist; on her first job in television, at NBC, on the 1968 election research team
On her year at NBC's London bureau and leaving to work for CBS affiliate WHDH in Boston; on gaining experience at WHDH; on getting hired at CBS' Washington D.C. news bureau in the early 1970s and how affirmative action played a part in her hiring; on being told to re-do an on-camera piece without smiling (and it having to do with exuding authority as a woman); on being assigned the "unimportant" Watergate break-in story as a rookie reporter and what a break it was for her career; on her on-camera look
On tenacity in journalism; on her "apprenticeship" at CBS as a reporter in Washington D.C.; on being positioned at Gerald Ford's house during Nixon's resignation; on encountering sexism within news crews; on coverage of Watergate by the media and on Watergate burglary trial judge John Sirica's importance in the "assault" on President Nixon; on her personal and professional life following the Watergate story and her co-anchoring of the morning news from Washington D.C.
Chapter 2
On her promotion to CBS' White House Correspondent circa 1978, covering the Carter Administration; on how the resistance of the Carter Administration to her becoming CBS White House correspondent ended up working in her favor in terms of developing richer contacts; on her 'favorite' breaking story of her career, regarding President Carter's grain embargo of the USSR in 1980
On being brought on to 60 Minutes in 1991; on the process of doing a story for 60 Minutes
On her experience as moderator of Face the Nation; on memorable interviews she did on Face the Nation; on her interviewing style; on how women have "arrived" in broadcast journalism; on advice for beginning journalists; on her career to date
Chapter 3
On an encapsulation of her career to date (cont'd)
Shows
60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl on being brought on to 60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl on having to "audition" for 60 Minutes, on a story about the Romanian adoption system
Lesley Stahl on the process of doing a story for 60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl on the talent of 60 Minutes creator/executive producer Don Hewitt
Lesley Stahl on submitting ideas to the executive producer of 60 Minutes
Lesley Stahl on working with 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager
Lesley Stahl on the competitiveness yet camaraderie of the correspondents on 60 Minutes
Face the Nation
Lesley Stahl on her experience as moderator of Face the Nation, and the approach the show took when she started in the early 1980s
Lesley Stahl on memorable interviews she did on Face the Nation, including George Schultz and Margaret Thatcher
Lesley Stahl on her interviewing style
Topics
Historic Events and Social Change
Lesley Stahl on consciously trying to convey authority as a reporter
Lesley Stahl on encountering sexism within news crews when she was a rookie reporter for CBS in Washington D.C. in the 1970s
Lesley Stahl on being told to re-do an on-camera piece without smiling (to exude more authority) while a correspondent for CBS in Washington in the 1970s
Lesley Stahl on getting hired at CBS' Washington D.C. news bureau, and how affirmative action played a part in her hiring
Lesley Stahl on the jobs women had at NBC News when she started in 1967
Lesley Stahl on women in broadcast journalism during her day
Jimmy Carter
Lesley Stahl on how she found the Reagan Administration less "emotional" than the Carter Administration as CBS' White House Correspondent
Lesley Stahl on her start as CBS White House correspondent, covering the second half of Jimmy Carter's presidency
Representation on Television
Lesley Stahl on consciously trying to convey authority as a reporter
Lesley Stahl on encountering sexism within news crews when she was a rookie reporter for CBS in Washington D.C. in the 1970s
Lesley Stahl on being told to re-do an on-camera piece without smiling (to exude more authority) while a correspondent for CBS in Washington in the 1970s
Lesley Stahl on getting hired at CBS' Washington D.C. news bureau, and how affirmative action played a part in her hiring
Lesley Stahl on the jobs women had at NBC News when she started in 1967
Lesley Stahl on women in broadcast journalism during her day
Richard M. Nixon
Lesley Stahl on coverage of Watergate by network television and on Watergate burglary trial judge John Sirica's importance in the "assault" on President Nixon
Lesley Stahl on being assigned the "unimportant" Watergate break-in story as a rookie reporter and what a break it was for her career
Ronald Reagan
Lesley Stahl on how she found the Reagan Administration less "emotional" than the Carter Administration as CBS' White House Correspondent
Lesley Stahl on memorable interviews she did on Face the Nation, including George Schultz and Margaret Thatcher during the Iran Contra Scandal
Television and the Presidency
Lesley Stahl on coverage of Watergate by network television and on Watergate burglary trial judge John Sirica's importance in the "assault" on President Nixon
Lesley Stahl on being assigned the "unimportant" Watergate break-in story as a rookie reporter and what a break it was for her career
Lesley Stahl on the personal toll of covering the White House as a correspondent
Lesley Stahl on memorable interviews she did on Face the Nation, including George Schultz and Margaret Thatcher during the Iran Contra Scandal
Lesley Stahl on her start as CBS White House correspondent, covering the second half of Jimmy Carter's presidency
Women
Lesley Stahl on consciously trying to convey authority as a reporter
Lesley Stahl on encountering sexism within news crews when she was a rookie reporter for CBS in Washington D.C. in the 1970s
Lesley Stahl on being told to re-do an on-camera piece without smiling (to exude more authority) while a correspondent for CBS in Washington in the 1970s
Lesley Stahl on getting hired at CBS' Washington D.C. news bureau, and how affirmative action played a part in her hiring
Lesley Stahl on the jobs women had at NBC News when she started in 1967
Lesley Stahl on women in broadcast journalism during her day
Professions
Journalists & News Producers
Lesley Stahl on tenacity in journalism
Lesley Stahl on consciously trying to convey authority as a reporter
Lesley Stahl on her interviewing style
Lesley Stahl on advice for beginning journalists
Lesley Stahl on the personal toll of covering the White House as a correspondent
Lesley Stahl on how the resistance of the Carter Administration to her becoming CBS White House correspondent ended up working in her favor in terms of developing richer contacts
Genres
News and Documentary
Lesley Stahl on the process of doing a story for 60 Minutes
People
George Schultz
Lesley Stahl on memorable interviews she did on Face the Nation, including George Schultz and Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Lesley Stahl on memorable interviews she did on Face the Nation, including George Schultz and Margaret Thatcher
Richard C. Wald
Lesley Stahl on her year at NBC News' London bureau and leaving to work for CBS affiliate WHDH in Boston (on advice from NBC News President Richard C. Wald)
Mike Wallace
Lesley Stahl on being approached by Mike Wallace for 60 Minutes