60 Minutes


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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About

In 1967 Don Hewitt conceived of his new program, 60 Minutes, as a strategy for addressing issues given insufficient time for analysis in two minutes of the Evening News but not deemed significant enough to justify an hour-long documentary. 60 Minutes was born, then, in an environment of management tension and initial ambiguity regarding its form. Bill Leonard, CBS vice president for News Programming, supported the new concept, but Richard Salant, president of the News Division, argued it countered that unit's commitment to the longer form and risked taking the hard edge off television journalism. In the end Salant acquiesced.

Hewitt's direction remained flexible and uncertain, with design for the program possibly including any number of "pages" and "chapters" lasting one to twenty minutes, and spanning breaking news, commentary, satire, interviews with politicians and celebrities, feature stories, and letters to the editor. CBS proclaimed the ground-breaking potential of this magazine form, announcing that no existing phrase could describe the series' configuration, and that any attempt to gauge (or predict) demographic appeal based on comparisons with traditional public affairs programming was a limited prospect. Yet, by the Spring of 1993 the series success was so established within the history of network programming that CBS and 60 Minutes had competition from six other prime-time magazine programs.

From September 1966 through December 1975, network management shifted the scheduling position of 60 Minutes seven times. Its ratings were very low according to industry standards, although slightly higher than those of CBS Reports when aired in the same time slot, but critical response remained positive. In today's competitive environment, where "unsuccessful" programs are quickly removed from the schedule, the series would not remain on the air. But in the early 1970s the CBS News Division sought a more engaging weekly documentary form.

Almost three decades later Hewitt flippantly claimed 60 Minutes destroyed television by equating news with the profit motive; news organizations sought money in magazine and entertainment news programs, reducing their long-standing, and expensive, commitments to breaking news. But Hewitt set the groundwork. His blunt statements suggesting that success depends on marketing, and his continuous refinements of the product often generated controversy. Audiences must experience stories in the pit of their stomach, the narrative must take the viewer by the throat, and, noted Hewitt, when a segment is over it's not significant what they have been told--"only what they remember of what you tell them." Hewitt predicted high ratings if 60 Minutes packaged stories, not news items, as "attractively as Hollywood packages fiction." Such stories require drama, a simplified structure, a narrative maximizing conflict, a quick editing pace, and issues filtered through personalities. Although the series profiled celebrities, politicians, and popular or well-known people in numerous fields, the stress on personality meant that a human being would be positioned in the story in a manner inviting the public to "identify with" or "stand against."

The 60 Minutes correspondents narrated and focused these "mini-dramas." Several of the show's journalists had established positions as personalities before 60 Minutes, but with the program's growing success and significance, the correspondents reached international celebrity status, becoming crusaders, detectives, sensitive and introspective guides through social turmoil, and insightful probers of the human psyche. A confrontational style of journalism, pioneered by Mike Wallace, grew and was embraced by a more confrontational society. In the 1970s certain correspondents seemed to speak for a public under siege by institutional greed and deceit.

Through it all Hewitt remained sensitive to balancing the series at any one time with varying casts. Wallace's role remained consistent as the crusading detective, played, as the series began, opposite Harry Reasoner's calm, analytical and introspective persona. As correspondents were added--Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Meredith Vieria, Steve Kroft, and Lesley Stahl--Hewitt developed complimentary personas. The correspondents became part of his "new form" of storytelling, allowing the audience to watch their intimate involvement in discovering information, tripping up an interviewee, and developing a narrative. As a result, the correspondents are often central to Hewitt's notion of stories as morality plays, the confrontation of vice and virtue.

The most explosive segments of 60 Minutes, for example, accuse companies, government agencies, or organizations of massive deceit, of harming public welfare. Correspondents, often in alliance with an ex-employee or group member, have confronted the Illinois Power Company, Audi Motors, the Worldwide Church of God, tobacco companies, Allied Chemical Corporation, the U.S. Army, adoption agencies and land development corporations. Smaller entities and individuals, such as owners of fraudulent health spas, used car dealers, or clothing manufacturers, often put faces and names on compelling images of deceit. Because of these investigative segments, the series was the focus of consistent examination by the press concerning such issues as journalism ethics and integrity. 60 Minutes has been taken to task for having correspondents or representatives use false identities to generate stories, establishing sting operations for the camera, confronting the person under inquiry by surprise, and revealing new documents without prior notice to a cooperative interviewee in order to increase the shock value of the information. By raising these issued the series focused attention on emerging techniques of broadcast journalism. But even when stories relied on more thoughtful critical analysis they could shake the foundations of institutions and have strong and lasting effects. Morley Safer's 1993 story arguing that the contemporary art world is filled with "junk" sparked more than two years of defense and response from different members of the art community.

In spite of widespread knowledge of these strong techniques, individuals still subject themselves to interviews, offering the audience an opportunity to anticipate who will win the battle. Indeed, part of the appeal of 60 Minutes is whether the possibility of getting a corporate perspective across is worth the risk encountered by company representatives when facing the penetrating (aggressive) questioning and fact-finding by the correspondent. The consequences and repercussions of appearing on the program can be severe. Stark revelations by eyewitnesses have lead to extensive damage and bankruptcy of companies, even to death threats. One person, after disclosing odometer tampering in the automotive industry had his house blown up.

The high stakes involved in such public confrontations led Herb Schmertz, former vice president of the Mobil Oil Corporation, to write a guide for corporate America instructing companies and individuals how to prepare and withstand an interview by 60 Minutes' correspondents. But public figures still appear, seeking to enhance their position or rectify a situation. In doing so they risk unexpected changes in the direction of public opinion, as demonstrated by Ross Perot's drop in approval ratings after raising questionable topics in his interview.

The series continues to establish historical markers regarding legal issues of press freedom, and some cases have set precedents for legal aspects of broadcast journalism. One reason for this continuing involvement is that for each segment, the outtakes, transcribed interviews, editors' notes, and relevant documents are archived and entered into a database at CBS. Following the segment entitled "The Selling of Col. Herbert," for example, Col. Anthony Herbert initiated a defamation suit against producer Barry Lando. The suit was dismissed after ten years, but not before the Supreme Court decision giving Herbert's lawyers the right to "direct evidence" about the editorial process. Specifically, they were given access to film outtakes and editors' notes that could establish malicious intent by illustrating the producer's "state of mind." Dr. Carl Galloway's slander suit against Dan Rather and 60 Minutes went to court after Rather left the show to anchor the Evening News, but when Rather, and the series' production process, were scrutinized on the witness stand the examination raised questions about the power of editing to construct specific images of an individual.

In these and other cases, 60 Minutes continues, intentionally and unintentionally, to be at the center of struggles concerning the rights of the press. Risks taken by the series have the potential to harm the image and credibility of CBS as well as that of the program, and such concerns have conditioned CBS and the broadcast industry to a rapid response to legal challenges.

But 60 Minutes has also become one of most analyzed programs concerning television's effect on viewer behavior. When a story endorsed moderate consumption of red wine to prevent heart disease, sales of red wine jumped significantly. Although the use and gradual discontinuation of Alar on apple crops received moderate coverage by the press, 60 Minutes addressed the issue of this use of the cancer causing agent in 1989. The story, and other media reports contributing to what became a national hysteria, cost the agriculture industry over 100 million dollars. The series' scrutiny of companies even led to tangible effects on their stocks. During one two year period, stocks rose an average 14% for companies negatively profiled on 60 Minutes. Market insiders, aware of the upcoming story, bought to increase shares, knowing that the market had previously responded to the companies' problems.

Critics, researchers, and the public continue to investigate the reasons behind the longevity of 60 Minutes as a popular culture phenomenon. The series' timeliness, its bold stand on topics, its confrontations with specific individuals all provides audiences with the pleasure of knowing accountability does exist. For some the program compels with its crusades, as in the case of Lenell Geter, freed from life imprisonment after his case was explored and analyzed. For others the appeal comes with vigorous self-defense, as when Senator Alfonso D'Amato (Republican, New York) poured out his wrath in a 30-minute response to claims that he misused state funds.

Point/Counterpoint, a program feature from 1971 to 1979, illustrated that two opposing positions can remain unreconciled, and served, in three-minute debates between left- and right-wing critics, to agitate viewer emotions with ideological battles. The segment's popularity probably explains why, in 1996, Hewitt added a similar "commentator" section, resurrecting the art of speaking what the public may think but dare not say with such force. And the series' perennial "light" moment, "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" confirms the value of personal opinion on otherwise mundane matters.

60 Minutes is also able to generate news about itself and thus keep the series attractive by humanizing its trials and tribulations. For over two decades the producers, correspondents, and Hewitt have played out issues in public. Twice, producer Marion Goldin quit the program after accusing the unit of sexism. Hewitt charged Rooney with hypocrisy for criticizing CBS owner, Lawrence Tisch, on air instead of quitting. Wallace has been reprimanded for using hidden cameras to tape a reporter who agreed to help him with a story. And when the series dropped to number 13 in the 1993-94 Nielsen ratings (after being first for two years), the drop became a "story." Hewitt and others blamed CBS, Inc. for losing affiliates in urban areas and for allowing the FOX network win the bid for Sunday afternoon football, 60 Minutes' long-time lead-in program.

When Dateline NBC, a similar news magazine, was programmed opposite 60 Minutes in the spring of 1996, the press covered the move as a battle for the hearts and minds of the audience. But for several months before the direct competition, Hewitt began to revamp the series, adding brief hard news segments, announcing production of new stories throughout the summer, adding a "Commentary" section, and tracking down new and unfamiliar topics. Although the series has been criticized for following compelling stories broken by magazines such as The Nation, instead of breaking news, the strategy meets Hewitt's mandate to impact a large audience. Entering its fourth decade, then, 60 Minutes continues to shift strategy and change in form. The one constant is that the program's producers still believe in validating its journalistic integrity through its popularity on American television.

-Richard Bartone

REPORTERS

Mike Wallace (1968-2006)

Harry Reasoner (1968-70, 1978-91)

Morley Safer (1970-2016)

Dan Rather (1975-81)

Andrew Rooney (1978-2011)

Ed Bradley (1981-2006)

Diane Sawyer (1984-89)

Meredith Vieira (1989-91)

Steve Kroft (1990-)

Lesley Stahl (1991-)

PRODUCER

Don Hewitt

PROGRAMMING HISTORY

CBS
September 1968-June 1971   Tuesday 10:00-11:00
January 1972-June 1972    Sunday 6:00-7:00
January 1973-June 1973   Sunday 6:00-7:00
June 1973-September 1973   Friday 8:00-9:00
January 1974-June 1974   Sunday 6:00-7:00
July 1974-September 1974    Sunday 9:30-10:30
September 1974-June 1975   Sunday 6:00-7:00
July 1975-September 1975   Sunday 9:30-10:30
December 1975-   Sunday  7:00-8:00

FURTHER READING

Campbell, Richard. "60 Minutes" and the News: A Mythology for Middle America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.

Coffey, Frank. "60 Minutes": 35 Years of Television's Finest Hour. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1993.

Fury, Kathleen, editor. Dear 60 Minutes. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

Goodman, Walter. "How 60 Minutes Holds its Viewers' Attention." The New York Times, 22 September 1993.

Hewitt, Don. Minute by Minute. New York: Random House, 1985.

Madsen, Axel. "60 Minutes": The Power and the Politics of America's Most Popular TV News Show. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1984.

Moore, Donovan. "60 Minutes." Rolling Stone (New York), 12 January 1978.

Punch, Counterpunch: "60 Minutes" vs. Illinois Power Company. Washington, D.C.: Media Institute, 1981.

Reasoner, Harry. Before the Colors Fade. New York: Knopf, 1981.

Rosenberg, Howard. "60 Minutes: Time Out for a Correction." Los Angeles Times, 23 August 1993.

_______________. "Child Abuse: A Compound Travesty." Los Angeles Times, 21 May 1986.

"The 60 Minutes Team Tells: The Toughest Stories We've Ever Talked." TV Guide (Radnor, Pennsylvania), 19-25 January 1991.

"60 Minutes" Verbatim: Who Said What to Whom--The Complete Text of 114 Stories with Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, and Andy Rooney. New York: Arno Press, 1980.

Shales, Tom. "Still Ticking at 25: The Great Granddaddy of Magazine Shows." The Washington (D.C.) Post, 13 November 1993.

Shaw, David. "Alar Panic Shows Power of Media to Trigger Fear." Los Angeles Times, 13 September 1994

Spragens, William C. Electronic Magazines: Soft News Programs on Network Television. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1995.

Stein, Harry. "How 60 Minutes Makes News." The New York Times, 6 May 1979.

Wallace, Mike, and Gary Paul Gates. Close Encounters. New York: Morrow, 1984.

Highlights
Ed Bradley on one of his best pieces for 60 Minutes, his 1981 interview with Lena Horne
02:41
Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes' coverage of the Vietnam War
10:32
Morley Safer on significant stories on 60 Minutes - comparing interviewing Katharine Hepburn and Jackie Gleason
02:40
Jeff Fager on becoming executive producer of 60 Minutes in 2004
04:18
Lesley Stahl on the competitiveness yet camaraderie of the correspondents on 60 Minutes
01:01
Don Hewitt on the first episode of 60 Minutes, and on the spate of 60 Minutes clones
04:38
Who talked about this show

Robert G. Anderson

View Interview
Robert G. Anderson on getting hired for 60 Minutes by Don Hewitt
01:24
Robert G. Anderson on Don Hewitt's vision for 60 Minutes
05:05
Robert G. Anderson on a profile he did about Jay Leno for 60 Minutes and Don Hewitt's guidance methods
07:03
Robert G. Anderson on a 60 Minutes story he did with Ed Bradley called "Stray Voltage," and how his approach differed from Mike Wallace and himself
02:48
Robert G. Anderson on the approval process a story would go through on 60 Minutes, and on "Cream Puff" - a story he did with Steve Kroft
Robert G. Anderson on the hidden camera work he did on 60 Minutes, and on the "Granbo" story and a hearing aid scam story
03:08
Robert G. Anderson on the legal implications of 60 Minutes' undercover stories
02:04
Robert G. Anderson on the 60 Minutes piece "The Archbishop" (Robert Sanchez) of New Mexico who was accused of molesting children, and on what Mike Wallace contributed to the story
11:29
Robert G. Anderson on the post-production involved on a 60 Minutes story, and on the difference between 60 Minutes and the Evening News
04:34
Robert G. Anderson on the editors at 60 Minutes
03:56
Robert G. Anderson on the 60 Minutes piece on Dr. Kevorkian and the issue of doctor-assisted suicide
06:44
Robert G. Anderson on the 60 Minutes piece "Death by Doctor" about Dr. Kevorkian, and the response to it
02:16
Robert G. Anderson on a 60 Minutes story he produced on smoking, "Smoke but no Fire"
01:32
Robert G. Anderson on Mike Wallace's disappointment in CBS not airing a 60 Minutes piece he worked on about the tobacco industry
03:01
Robert G. Anderson on Mike Wallace's interview with the then-President of China, Jiang Zemin, for 60 Minutes
03:58
Robert G. Anderson on the 60 Minutes story "The Lost Commandos"
05:30
Robert G. Anderson on the 60 Minutes story "Going Home"
02:31
Robert G. Anderson on the 60 Minutes story "Catastrophe" about the tsunami in Japan in 2011 with correspondent Scott Pelley
05:35

Lowell Bergman

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Lowell Bergman on producing the 60 Minutes story on Brown & Williamson tobacco which served as the basis for the feature film "The Insider"
15:13
Lowell Bergman on producing the 60 Minutes story "Three Days in Beirut"
08:25
Lowell Bergman on going to work for 60 Minutes
05:51
Lowell Bergman on the process of producing stories for 60 Minutes
04:47
Lowell Bergman on working with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes
13:39
Lowell Bergman on the big stories he covered for 60 Minutes
01:55
Lowell Bergman on producing news stories from dangerous places
02:38
Lowell Bergman on the decision to kill his 60 Minutes  piece on Brown & Williamson tobacco
09:29
Lowell Bergman on CBS' decision to finally air the 60 Minutes piece on Brown & Williamson tobacco
06:09
Lowell Bergman on his decision to leave 60 Minutes
08:28
Lowell Bergman on the feature film "The Insider"
06:54
Lowell Bergman on the impact "The Insider" had on his career
06:19

Wade Bingham

View Interview
Wade Bingham on going to work for 60 Minutes and on the 60 Minutes close up and ambush interview
08:04
Wade Bingham on 60 Minutes executive producer Don Hewitt
02:46
Wade Bingham on working with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes
01:29
Wade Bingham on working with Marion Goldin and various other behind the scenes people at 60 Minutes
04:23
Wade Bingham on the correspondents of 60 Minutes including Morley Safer, Harry Reasoner, Diane Sawyer, Ed Bradley, and Dan Rather
05:34
Wade Bingham on the 60 Minutes story on fake universities produced by Marion Goldin and reported by Mike Wallace
10:20
Wade Bingham on the 60 Minutes Gulf of Tonkin story reported by Harry Reasoner
01:55
Wade Bingham on the 60 Minutes profile of Henry Kissinger
03:46
Wade Bingham on the 60 Minutes profile of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
04:01
Wade Bingham on the 60 Minutes profile of James Michener reported by Diane Sawyer
03:44
Wade Bingham on the 60 Minutes story about Hawaiian Airlines
03:11
Wade Bingham on his retirement from 60 Minutes, and on the show's change from using film to using videotape
03:34

Mili Lerner Bonsignori

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Mili Lerner Bonsignori on Don Hewitt asking her to edit the pilot of 60 Minutes
01:29

Ed Bradley

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Ed Bradley on becoming the host for CBS Reports, and his first brush with 60 Minutes
01:26
Ed Bradley on being hired at 60 Minutes
02:38
Ed Bradley on coming up with story ideas at 60 Minutes
00:41
Ed Bradley on Don Hewitt
01:04
Ed Bradley on his diverse interests in story ideas, and 60 Minutes' support of that
01:41
Ed Bradley on convincing people to appear on 60 Minutes
01:06
Ed Bradley on realizing the reach of 60 Minutes after airing the "boat people" story in 1979
01:09
Ed Bradley on why 60 Minutes continued to shoot with film long after the advent of videotape
00:59
Ed Bradley on how 60 Minutes has changed, and watching the show on Sundays
01:32

Charles Grodin with Emerson College

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Charles Grodin on expressing himself via his 60 Minutes commentaries and through other avenues
04:20

Andy Rooney with Emerson College

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Andy Rooney on the "Andy Rooney" persona he developed on 60 Minutes
02:12
Andy Rooney on dealing with the business aspect of his job on 60 Minutes
01:56

Anderson Cooper

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Anderson Cooper on being a correspondent on 60 Minutes and what makes a good interview 
04:39
Anderson Cooper on the legacy of 60 Minutes
01:11

Hugh Downs

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Hugh Downs on differences between 20/20 and 60 Minutes
05:15

Linda Ellerbee

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Linda Ellerbee on the how television news became a business, in part due to 60 Minutes
05:26

Jeff Fager

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Jeff Fager on changes at CBS when Laurence Tisch became CEO in 1986 and how they affected 60 Minutes
03:26
Jeff Fager on a conflict between then-CEO of CBS Laurence Tisch and 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt over the story of tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Winger, who alleged that the tobacco industry knew the addictive and deadly nature of cigarettes
04:02
Jeff Fager on why he was excited by working at 60 Minutes and how Don Hewitt's philosophy informed the program
03:12
Jeff Fager on how Don Hewitt's philosophy of news influenced him as producer of 60 Minutes
02:36
Jeff Fager on producing Steve Kroft's first story for 60 Minutes and producing a story that Don Hewitt hated
03:18
Jeff Fager on producing hard news versus entertainment stories: he prefers "entertaining stories" on CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes
01:24
Jeff Fager on the production of 60 Minutes: pitching stories and how he approves or rejects story ideas
04:22
Jeff Fager on how producing and correspondent teams are paired on 60 Minutes
01:41
Jeff Fager on Mike Wallace's style as a 60 Minutes correspondent, particularly his "ambush" interviews
02:11
Jeff Fager on what journalists can learn about conducting interviews from Mike Wallace and his work on 60 Minutes, as well as his admiration for Ed Bradley and Charlie Rose
02:13
Jeff Fager on competition for stories on 60 Minutes between Mike Wallace and Morley Safer and other correspondents and producers
02:29
Jeff Fager on the process of developing stories for 60 Minutes
03:27
Jeff Fager on the process of editing and occasionally reshooting stories on 60 Minutes
03:53
Jeff Fager on 60 Minutes employing a person who checks the transcripts of all interviews done for the show to check for accuracy and context
01:45
Jeff Fager on the network's input into 60 Minutes stories
00:56
Jeff Fager on producing stories on the Gulf War for CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes
03:01
Jeff Fager on leaving 60 Minutes to become executive producer of CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
02:35
Jeff Fager on why and how 60 Minutes II came about, and the initial reaction to the show
03:09
Jeff Fager on the differences between 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II
00:40
Jeff Fager on 60 Minutes II and CBS News coverage of 9/11
04:55
Jeff Fager on the Abu Ghraib story on 60 Minutes II
09:00
Jeff Fager on the 60 Minutes II "Memogate" scandal, which centered on President George W. Bush's military service
04:35
Jeff Fager on hiring Dan Rather as a correspondent on 60 Minutes following his dismissal as anchor of CBS Evening News
03:08
Jeff Fager on becoming executive producer of 60 Minutes in 2004
04:18
Jeff Fager on working with Ed Bradley at 60 Minutes when Fager became executive producer of the show
02:02
Jeff Fager on working with Mike Wallace at 60 Minutes when Fager became executive producer of the show
01:31
Jeff Fager on working with Morley Safer at 60 Minutes when Fager became executive producer of the show and his favorite Safer pieces
02:59
Jeff Fager on the tragic losses 60 Minutes has suffered over the years and how he strives to replace correspondents (some of whom he considers irreplaceable)
06:23
Jeff Fager on the creation of 60 Minutes Overtime, 60 Minutes' online companion and the 60 Minutes app
07:11
Jeff Fager on balancing his roles as Chairman of CBS News and executive producer of 60 Minutes
01:06
Jeff Fager on the controversial 2013 60 Minutes story on Benghazi
06:31
Jeff Fager on diversity at 60 Minutes and hiring Bill Whitaker as a correspondent on the show
02:31
Jeff Fager on Charlie Rose's interviews of Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad on 60 Minutes and airing Putin's interview on the same night as an interview with Donald Trump
04:09
Jeff Fager on the longevity of 60 Minutes
02:00
Jeff Fager on what has kept him at 60 Minutes for nearly 34 years
02:43
Jeff Fager on the most difficult and the most exciting part about being executive producer of 60 Minutes
01:27
Jeff Fager on the best advice he received on producing a story, from Don Hewitt
01:42
Jeff Fager on his proudest career achievement: running 60 Minutes
00:38
Jeff Fager on stories and interviews he's looking forward to on 60 Minutes
01:31

Paul Michael Glaser

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Paul Michael Glaser on appearing on 60 Minutes to discuss his wife Elizabeth Glaser's struggle with HIV/AIDS
01:41

Marilu Henner

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Marilu Henner on appearing on 60 Minutes to discuss her memory
04:33

Don Hewitt

View Interview
Don Hewitt on being dismissed from CBS News in 1964, and on the creation of 60 Minutes
04:36
Don Hewitt on the first episode of 60 Minutes, and on the spate of 60 Minutes clones
04:38
Don Hewitt on Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, and on the success of the show
02:13
Don Hewitt on the monetary success of 60 Minutes
01:37
Don Hewitt on the correspondents of 60 Minutes including Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, and Harry Reasoner
01:35
Don Hewitt on Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes, and on finally having female correspondents on the show
01:44
Don Hewitt on Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes, and on the Brown & Williamson Tobacco affair on the show
01:24
Don Hewitt on the then-future of 60 Minutes, and on the audience of the show
03:01

Steve Kroft

View Interview
Steve Kroft on why 60 Minutes was a good fit for him
02:35
Steve Kroft on his working relationship with Don Hewitt on 60 Minutes
01:54
Steve Kroft on finding his way on 60 Minutes
02:12
Steve Kroft on the competition for stories on 60 Minutes
04:19
Steve Kroft on his 60 Minutes interview with Bill and Hillary Clinton
04:42
Steve Kroft on competition among correspondents on 60 Minutes
01:43
Steve Kroft on working with the producers of 60 Minutes
04:40
Steve Kroft on covering TWA Flight 847 for 60 Minutes
03:10
Steve Kroft on covering Chernobyl for 60 Minutes
02:35
Steve Kroft on interviewing Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1992 for 60 Minutes
05:33
Steve Kroft on covering the Gulf War for 60 Minutes 
02:53
Steve Kroft on various stories he's covered for 60 Minutes
06:52
Steve Kroft on interviewing Clarence Thomas for 60 Minutes and dealing with criticism of his interviews
05:19
Steve Kroft on interviewing President Obama for 60 Minutes
04:10
Steve Kroft on interviewing President Obama after the death of Osama bin Laden
03:15
Steve Kroft on his personal favorite 60 Minutes reports
03:11
Steve Kroft on the types of stories he covers for 60 Minutes
02:05
Steve Kroft on the limitations of the 60 Minutes format
03:58
Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes coverage of 9/11
01:13
Steve Kroft on how technology has changed reporting on 60 Minutes
02:25
Steve Kroft on his celebrity and his political views
03:21
Steve Kroft on keeping control of his interviews and interviews he wishes he could do
02:49

Sheila Nevins

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Sheila Nevins on being asked to produce 60 Minutes  
01:33

Horace Newcomb

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Horace Newcomb on being interviewed for 60 Minutes by Morley Safer, who asked him, "Television. Why bother?"
03:06

Dan Rather

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Dan Rather on 60 Minutes
15:47

Andy Rooney

View Interview
Andy Rooney on his "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" segment on 60 Minutes
04:48
Andy Rooney on the genesis of his on-camera pieces for 60 Minutes
04:20
Andy Rooney on his workweek on 60 Minutes, and on working with executive producer Don Hewitt
08:37
Andy Rooney on some of the controversies on 60 Minutes
06:52
Andy Rooney on controversial comments he made about homosexuals and African-Americans for which he was suspended from 60 Minutes
06:02

Morley Safer

View Interview
Morley Safer on joining 60 Minutes
06:17
Morley Safer on the success of 60 Minutes
05:11
Morley Safer on the premise of 60 Minutes and Don Hewitt's role in conceiving the idea for the program; on Mike Wallace and other correspondents; on significant stories he covered
27:02
Morley Safer on significant stories on 60 Minutes - The Music of Auschwitz
05:15
Morley Safer on significant stories on 60 Minutes - Casa Verde
02:07
Morley Safer on significant stories on 60 Minutes - comparing interviewing Katharine Hepburn and Jackie Gleason
02:40
Morley Safer on the 60 Minutes segment "Returning to Vietnam
07:25
Morley Safer on the witholding of a segment about the tobacco industry on 60 Minutes
02:05

Judith Sheindlin

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Judith Sheindlin on her appearance on 60 Minutes and why she agreed to do the piece
08:13

Bob Simon

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Bob Simon on working on 60 Minutes and how he came to be on the program
04:00
Bob Simon on the 60 Minutes story "The Traitor" and an interview with Muqtada al Sadr
04:01
Bob Simon on his favorite 60 Minutes news stories: "Curveball" with WMD informant Rafid Alwan, and "Selling the Iraq War"
01:37
Bob Simon on the legacy of 60 Minutes: "the best news broadcast in America"
01:19

Lesley Stahl

View Interview
Lesley Stahl on being brought on to 60 Minutes
02:10
Lesley Stahl on having to "audition" for 60 Minutes, on a story about the Romanian adoption system
02:14
Lesley Stahl on the process of doing a story for 60 Minutes
03:17
Lesley Stahl on the talent of 60 Minutes creator/executive producer Don Hewitt
01:48
Lesley Stahl on submitting ideas to the executive producer of 60 Minutes
00:34
Lesley Stahl on working with 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager
01:33
Lesley Stahl on the competitiveness yet camaraderie of the correspondents on 60 Minutes
01:01

William Tankersley

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William Tankersley on CBS Standards & Practices' interactions with news programs 
02:12

James Wall

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James Wall on stage-managing some 60 Minutes telecasts
04:35

Mike Wallace

View Interview
Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes' coverage of the Vietnam War
10:32
Mike Wallace on joining 60 Minutes at the behest of Don Hewitt
02:08
Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes' coverage of Watergate
01:40
Mike Wallace on the first episode of 60 Minutes, and Harry Reasoner leaving the show
02:27
Mike Wallace on what he expected from 60 Minutes when he started on it, and on how stories are selected
04:58
Mike Wallace on working with Harry Reasoner on 60 Minutes
03:01
Mike Wallace on working with Morley Safer on 60 Minutes
04:07
Mike Wallace on his 60 Minutes piece on Brown & Williamson tobacco, produced by Lowell Bergman, and on Don Hewitt's objections to it
02:35
Mike Wallace on his 60 Minutes interview with Ayatollah Khomeini
04:34
Mike Wallace on how his notoriety impacted his interviews, and on 60 Minutes legacy with the American public
03:48

Joseph Wershba

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Joseph Wershba on the differences between Fred Friendly and Don Hewitt of 60 Minutes as producers
02:38
Joseph Wershba on producing the H.L. Hunt story for Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes
05:53
Joseph Wershba on the legacy of See It Now, anchored by Edward R. Murrow and produced by Fred Friendly, and on 60 Minutes
03:07
Joseph Wershba on the creation of 60 Minutes by Don Hewitt, and on early stories
05:34
Joseph Wershba on 60 Minutes being an investigative show, and on Mike Wallace covering Northern Ireland
09:12
Joseph Wershba on coming up with, or being assigned stories for 60 Minutes, and on stories he was not allowed to do
08:19
Joseph Wershba on 60 Minutes story on The Gulf of Tonkin incident
04:14
Joseph Wershba on dealing with advertisers on 60 Minutes
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Joseph Wershba on the confrontational style of 60 Minutes
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Joseph Wershba on the "macho" attitude that pervaded 60 Minutes
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Joseph Wershba on some of the most important stories during his time at 60 Minutes, and on budgeting his stories
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Joseph Wershba on producing the James Michener story for 60 Minutes
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Joseph Wershba on producing 60 Minutes story on Japanese Internment during World War II
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Joseph Wershba on producing the Jimmy Hoffa story for 60 Minutes, reported by Morley Safer
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Joseph Wershba on producing the Henry Durham story for 60 Minutes
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Av Westin

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Av Westin on comparing 20/20 and 60 Minutes
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