60 Minutes
60 Minutes | |
---|---|
Genre | News magazine |
Created by | Don Hewitt |
Presented by | See Correspondents section |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 56 |
No. of episodes | 2500+ |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Camera setup |
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. In 2002, 60 Minutes was ranked number six on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time",[1] and in 2013, it was ranked number 24 on the magazine's list of the "60 Best Series of All Time".[2] In 2023, Variety ranked 60 Minutes as the twentieth-greatest TV show of all time.[3] The New York Times has called it "one of the most esteemed news magazines on American television".[4]
The program began in 1968 as a bi-weekly television show hosted by Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner. The two sat on opposite sides of the cream-colored set, though the set's color was later changed to black, the color still in use. The show used a large stopwatch during transition periods and highlighted its topics through chroma key—both techniques are still used. In 1972, the program began airing from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, although this time was sometimes disrupted by broadcasting of NFL games on Sundays. Since then, the show has generally kept the Sunday evening format, although the start time has occasionally been shifted. The program generally starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. If sports programming is airing that afternoon, 60 Minutes starts at 7:30 p.m. Eastern or at the game's conclusion.
The show is hosted by correspondents who do not share screen time with each other. Full-time hosts include
Broadcast history
Early years
The program employed a magazine format similar to that of the Canadian program
Initially, 60 Minutes aired as a bi-weekly show hosted by Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner debuting on September 24, 1968, and alternating weeks with other CBS News productions on Tuesday evenings at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The first edition, described by Reasoner in the opening as a "kind of a magazine for television," featured the following segments:
- A look inside the headquarters suites of presidential candidates Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey during their respective parties' national conventions that summer;
- Commentary by European writers Malcolm Muggeridge, Peter von Zahn, and Luigi Barzini Jr. on the American electoral system;
- A commentary by political humor columnist Art Buchwald;
- An interview with then-Attorney General Ramsey Clark about police brutality;
- "A Digression," a brief, scripted piece in which two silhouetted men (one of them Andy Rooney) discuss the presidential campaign;
- An abbreviated version of an Academy Award-winning short film by Saul Bass, Why Man Creates; and
- A meditation by Wallace and Reasoner on the relation between perception and reality. Wallace said that the show aimed to "reflect reality".
The first "magazine-cover" chroma key was a photo of two helmeted policemen (for the Clark interview segment). Wallace and Reasoner sat in chairs on opposite sides of the set, which had a cream-colored backdrop; the more famous black backdrop (which is still used as of 2020[update]) did not appear until the following year. The logo was in Helvetica type with the word "Minutes" spelled in all lower-case letters; the logo most associated with the show (rendered in Square 721 type with "Minutes" spelled in uppercase) did not appear until about 1974. Further, to extend the magazine motif, the producers added a "Vol. xx, No. xx" to the title display on the chroma key; modeled after the volume and issue number identifications featured in print magazines, this was used until about 1971. The trademark stopwatch, however, did not appear on the inaugural broadcast; it would not debut until several episodes later. Alpo dog food was the sole sponsor of the first program.[8]
Don Hewitt, who had been a producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, sought out Wallace as a stylistic contrast to Reasoner.[9] According to one historian of the show, the idea of the format was to make the hosts the reporters, to always feature stories that were of national importance but focused upon individuals involved with, or in conflict with, those issues, and to limit the reports' airtime to around 13 minutes.[9] However, the initial season was troubled by lack of network confidence, as the program did not garner ratings much higher than that of other CBS News documentaries. As a rule, during that era, news programming during prime time lost money; networks mainly scheduled public affairs programs in prime time in order to bolster the prestige of their news departments, and thus boost ratings for the regular evening newscasts, which were seen by far more people than documentaries and the like. 60 Minutes struggled under that stigma during its first three years.
Changes to 60 Minutes came fairly early in the program's history. When Reasoner left CBS to co-anchor
Effects from the Prime Time Access Rule and Later Years
By 1971, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) introduced the Prime Time Access Rule, which freed local network affiliates in the top 50 markets (in practice, the entire network) to take a half-hour of prime time from the networks on Mondays through Saturdays and one full hour on Sundays. Because nearly all affiliates found production costs for the FCC's intended goal of increased public affairs programming very high and the ratings (and by association, advertising revenues) low, making it mostly unprofitable, the FCC created an exception for network-authored news and public affairs shows. After a six-month hiatus in late 1971, CBS found a prime place for 60 Minutes in a portion of that displaced time, 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern (5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Central Time) on Sundays in January 1972.[10]
This proved somewhat less than satisfactory, however, because in order to accommodate CBS' telecasts of late afternoon National Football League (NFL) football games, 60 Minutes went on hiatus during the fall from 1972 to 1975 (and the summer of 1972). This took place because football telecasts were protected contractually from interruptions in the wake of the infamous "Heidi Bowl" incident on NBC in November 1968. Despite the irregular scheduling, the program's hard-hitting reports attracted a steadily growing audience, particularly during the waning days of the Vietnam War and the gripping events of the Watergate scandal; at that time, few if any other major network news shows did in-depth investigative reporting to the degree carried out by 60 Minutes. Eventually, during the summers of 1973 through 1975, CBS did allow the program back onto the prime time schedule proper, on Fridays in 1973 and Sundays the two years thereafter, as a replacement for programs aired during the regular television season.
It was only when the FCC returned an hour to the networks on Sundays (for news or family programming), which had been taken away from them four years earlier, in a 1975 amendment to the Access Rule, that CBS finally found a viable permanent timeslot for 60 Minutes. When the family-oriented drama Three for the Road ended after a 12-week run in the fall, the news magazine took its place at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time (6:00 p.m. Central) on December 7, 1975 and has been aired at that time since then, making it not only the longest-running prime time program currently in production, but also the television program (excluding daily programs such as evening newscasts or morning news-talk shows) broadcasting for the longest length of time at a single time period each week in U.S. television history.[citation needed]
This move, and the addition of then-
The program sometimes does not start until after 7:00 p.m. Eastern, due largely to
Starting in the 2012–2013 season, in order to accommodate a new NFL scheduling policy that the second game of a doubleheader start at 4:25 p.m., CBS changed the scheduled start time of 60 Minutes to 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (or game conclusion) for Eastern and Central Time Zone stations which are receiving a game in that window. The start time remains at 7:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific (or game conclusion if a late single game is airing in the eastern markets) on stations which are not broadcasting a late game in a given week (or for Western time zones even if a Doubleheader airs) .[12] In the 2023-2024 season, the show began to have occasional 90 minute episodes.[13]
Radio broadcast and Internet distribution
60 Minutes is also simulcast on several former
Format
60 Minutes normally has three long-form news stories without superimposed graphics. There is a commercial break between two stories. Each story is introduced from a set with a backdrop resembling pages from a magazine story on the same topic. The program undertakes its own investigations and follows up on investigations instigated by national newspapers and other sources. Unlike its competitor 20/20, as well as traditional local and national news programs, the 60 Minutes journalists never share the screen with (or speak to) other 60 Minutes journalists on camera at any time. This creates a strong psychological sense of intimacy between the journalist and the television viewer.[citation needed]
Reporting tone
60 Minutes blends the journalism of the seminal 1950s CBS series See It Now with Edward R. Murrow (for which Hewitt served as director in its first years) and the personality profiles of another Murrow program, Person to Person. In Hewitt's words, 60 Minutes blends "higher Murrow" and "lower Murrow".[15]
"Point/Counterpoint" segment
For most of the 1970s, the program included Point/Counterpoint, in which a liberal and a conservative commentator debated an issue. This segment originally featured James J. Kilpatrick representing the conservative side and Nicholas von Hoffman[16] for the liberal, with Shana Alexander[17] taking over for von Hoffman after he departed in 1974.[16] The segment was an innovation that caught the public imagination as a live version of competing editorials. In 1979, Alexander asked Hewitt to raise the $350 a week pay; Hewitt declined, and the segment ended.[16]
Point/Counterpoint was lampooned by the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live, which featured Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd as debaters, with Aykroyd announcing the topic, Curtin making an opening statement, then Aykroyd typically retorting with, "Jane, you ignorant slut" and Curtin responding "Dan, you pompous ass";[18][19] in the film Airplane! (1980), in which the faux Kilpatrick argues in favor of the plane crashing stating "they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into"; and in an earlier sketch comedy film, The Kentucky Fried Movie, where the segment was called "Count/Pointercount".
A similar concept was revived briefly in March 2003 featuring
Andy Rooney segment
From 1978 to 2011, the program usually ended with a (usually light-hearted and humorous) commentary by Andy Rooney expounding on topics of wildly varying import, ranging from international politics, to economics, and to personal philosophy on everyday life. One recurring topic was measuring the amount of coffee in coffee cans.[21]
Rooney's pieces, particularly one in which he referred to actor
Rooney published several books documenting his contributions to the program, including Years Of Minutes and A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney. Rooney retired from 60 Minutes, delivering his final commentary on October 2, 2011; it was his 1,097th commentary over his 34-year career on the program. He died one month later on November 4, 2011. On November 13, 2011, 60 Minutes featured an hour-long tribute to Rooney and his career, and included a rebroadcast of his final commentary segment.
Opening sequence
The opening sequence features a 60 Minutes "magazine cover" with the show's trademark, an Aristo stopwatch, intercut with preview clips of the episode's stories. The sequence ends with each of the correspondents and hosts introducing themselves. The last host who appears (currently Scott Pelley) then says, "Those stories tonight on 60 Minutes". When Rooney was a prominent fixture, the final line was "Those stories and Andy Rooney, tonight on 60 Minutes". Before that, and whenever Rooney did not appear, the final line was "Those stories and more, tonight on 60 Minutes".
The stopwatch counts off each of the broadcast's 60 minutes, starting from zero at the beginning of each show. It is seen during the opening title sequence, before each commercial break, and at the tail-end of the closing credits, and each time it appears it displays (within reasonable accuracy) the elapsed time of the episode to that point.
On October 29, 2006, the opening sequence changed from a black background, which had been used for over a decade, to white. Also, the gray background for the Aristo stopwatch in the "cover" changed to red, the color for the title text changed to white, and the stopwatch itself changed from the diagonal position it had been oriented in for 31 years to an upright position.[citation needed]
Web content
Videos and transcripts of 60 Minutes editions, as well as clips that were not included in the broadcast are available on the program's website. In September 2010, the program launched a website called "60 Minutes Overtime", in which stories broadcast on-air are discussed in further detail.[24] Previously the show had a partnership with Yahoo! for distribution of extra content.[25]
Correspondents and hosts
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2023) |
Correspondents and commentators
- Hosts
- Lesley Stahl (host, 1991–, co-editor)
- Scott Pelley (host, 2003–)
- Anderson Cooper (2006–) (also at CNN)
- Bill Whitaker (host, 2014–)
- Sharyn Alfonsi (2015–)
- Jon Wertheim (2017–)
- Cecilia Vega (host, 2023–)
- Part-time correspondents
- Jonathan LaPook (medical correspondent, 2013–)[26]
- Norah O'Donnell (2015–)
Former correspondents and hosts
- Former hosts
- Mike Wallace † (host, 1968–2006; correspondence emeritus 2006–2008)
- Harry Reasoner † (host, 1968–1970, 1978–1991)
- Morley Safer † (part-time correspondent, 1968–1970; host, 1970–2016)[27]
- Dan Rather (part-time correspondent, 1968–1975; host, 1975–1981 and 2005–2006) (at AXS TV since)
- Ed Bradley † (part-time correspondent, 1976–1981; host, 1981–2006)[28]
- Diane Sawyer (part-time correspondent, 1981–1984; host, 1984–1989) (at ABC News since)
- Meredith Vieira (part-time correspondent, 1982–1985 and 1991–1993; host, 1990–1991)
- Bob Simon † (1996–2015)[29]
- Christiane Amanpour (part-time correspondent, 1996–2000; host, 2000–2005)
- Lara Logan (part-time correspondent, 2005–2012; host, 2012–2018)[30]
- Steve Kroft (host, 1989–2019; co-editor, 2019)[31]
- John Dickerson (2019–2021)
- Former part-time correspondents
- Walter Cronkite † (1968–1981)
- Charles Kuralt † (1968–1979)
- Roger Mudd † (1968–1980)
- Bill Plante † (1968–1995)
- Eric Sevareid † (1968–1969)
- John Hart (1969–1975) (retired)
- Bob Schieffer (1973–1996)
- Morton Dean (1975–1979) (retired)
- Marlene Sanders † (1978–1987)
- Charles Osgood † (1981–1994)
- Forrest Sawyer (1985–1987)
- Connie Chung (1990–1993) (retired)
- Paula Zahn (1990–1999)
- John Roberts (1992–2005) (at Fox News Channel since)
- WKYC in Clevelandsince)
- Carol Marin (1997–2002)[32]
- Vicki Mabrey (1999-2005)
- Katie Couric (2006–2011)
- Charlie Rose (2008–2017)
- Byron Pitts (2009–2013)[33] (at ABC News since)
- Sanjay Gupta (2011–2014) (at CNN since)
- Alison Stewart (2012)
- Clarissa Ward (2012–2015) (at CNN since)
- Oprah Winfrey (2017–2018)
Commentators
Commentators for 60 Minutes have included:
- James J. Kilpatrick ꝋ (conservative debater, 1971–1979)
- Nicholas von Hoffman ꝋ (liberal debater, 1971–1974)
- Shana Alexander ꝋ (liberal debater, 1975–1979)
- Andy Rooney ꝋ (commentator, 1978–2011)
- Stanley Crouch ꝋ (conservative commentator, 1996)
- Molly Ivins ꝋ (liberal commentator, 1996)
- P. J. O'Rourke ꝋ (conservative commentator, 1996)
- Jimmy Tingle (humorist/commentator, 1999–2000)
- Bill Clinton (liberal debater, 2003)
- Bob Dole ꝋ (conservative debater, 2003)
ꝋ = Deceased
Producers
- Executive producers
- Don Hewitt (1968–2004)
- Jeff Fager (2004–2018)
- Bill Owens (2019–)
- Other producers
- Madeline Amgott
- Joel Bach
- Lowell Bergman
- Frank Braun
- Robert Chandler
- Adam Ciralsky
- Leslie Cockburn
- George Crile III
- Shawn Efran
- Solly Granatstein
- Jim Hougan
- Neeraj Khemlani
- Jon Klein
- Peter W. Klein
- Andrew Lack
- Barry Lando
- Charles Lewis
- Lucy Spiegel
- Mary Mapes
- Jim Margolis
- Abigail Pogrebin
- Richard S. Salant
- Patricia Shevlin
- Charlene Leonora Smith
- Sanford Socolow
- Mary Ellen Synon
- Adrian Taylor
- Len Tepper
- Joseph Wershba
- Holly Williams
- Palmer Williams
- Nieves Zuberbühler
Ratings and recognition
Nielsen ratings
Season | Time (Eastern) | Rank | Avg. rating[a]/ Avg. viewers[b] |
---|---|---|---|
1968–1969 | Tuesday 10:00 p.m. | — | |
1969–1970 | |||
1970–1971 | |||
1971–1972 | Sunday 6:00 p.m. | ||
1972–1973 | Sunday 6:00 p.m. (January–June 1973) Friday 8:00 p.m. (June–September 1973) | ||
1973–1974 | Sunday 6:00 p.m. (January–June 1974) Sunday 9:30 p.m. (July–September 1974) | ||
1974–1975 | Sunday 6:00 p.m. (September 1974 – June 1975) Sunday 9:30 p.m. (July–September 1975) | ||
1975–1976 | Sunday 7:00 p.m. | ||
1976–1977 | 18 | 21.9[c] | |
1977–1978 | 4 | 24.4[d] | |
1978–1979 | 6 | 25.5 | |
1979–1980 | 1 | 28.4 | |
1980–1981 | 3 | 27.0 | |
1981–1982 | 2 | 27.7 | |
1982–1983 | 1 | 25.5 | |
1983–1984 | 2 | 24.2 | |
1984–1985 | 4 | 22.2 | |
1985–1986 | 23.9 | ||
1986–1987 | 6 | 23.3 | |
1987–1988 | 8 | 20.6 | |
1988–1989 | 5 | 21.7 | |
1989–1990 | 7 | 19.7 | |
1990–1991 | 2 | 20.6 | |
1991–1992 | 1 | 21.9 | |
1992–1993 | |||
1993–1994 | 20.9 | ||
1994–1995 | 6 | 17.2 | |
1995–1996 | 9 | 14.2 | |
1996–1997 | 11 | 13.3 | |
1997–1998 | 8 | 19.8 | |
1998–1999 | 18.7 | ||
1999–2000 | 11 | 17.1 | |
2000–2001 | 17 | 15.8 | |
2001–2002 | 14.9 | ||
2002–2003 | 19 | 13.4 | |
2003–2004 | 18 | 14.1 | |
2004–2005 | 19 | 13.9 | |
2005–2006 | 26 | 13.6 | |
2006–2007 | 13.2 | ||
2007–2008 | 23 | 12.8 | |
2008–2009 | 13 | 14.3 | |
2009–2010 | 19 | 13.3 | |
2010–2011 | 14 | 13.4 | |
2011–2012 | 13.0 | ||
2012–2013 | Sunday 7:00 p.m. OR 7:30 p.m. (if CBS has 4:25 p.m. NFL game) |
15 | 12.4 |
2013–2014 | 14 | 12.1 | |
2014–2015 | 19 | 12.4 | |
2015–2016 | 15 | 12.3 | |
2016–2017 | 12 | 12.4 | |
2017–2018 |
15 | 11.6 | |
2018–2019 |
19 | 10.7 | |
2019–2020 |
15 | 10.5 |
- ^ In households; before 1997
- ^ In millions; after 1997
- ^ Tied with Hawaii Five-O
- ^ Tied with Charlie's Angels and All in the Family
Based on viewership
60 Minutes first broke into the Nielsen Top 20 during the 1976–77 season. The following season, it was the fourth-most-watched program, and by the 1979–80 season, it was the number one show.[34] During the 21st century, it remained among the top 20 programs in the Nielsen ratings, and the highest-rated news magazine.[35]
On November 16, 2008, the edition featuring an interview with President-elect Barack Obama, earned a total viewership of 25.1 million viewers.[36]
On October 6, 2013, the broadcast (which was delayed by 44 minutes that evening due to a Denver Broncos-Dallas Cowboys NFL game) drew 17.94 million viewers; retaining 63% of the 28.32 million viewers of its lead-in, and making it the most watched 60 Minutes broadcast since December 16, 2012.[37][38]
On December 1, 2013, the broadcast (delayed 50 minutes due to a Broncos-Kansas City Chiefs game) was watched by 18.09 million viewers, retaining 66% of its NFL lead-in (which earned 28.11 million viewers during the 7:00 p.m. hour).[39]
On March 25, 2018, the edition featuring
Recognition
Emmy Awards
As of June 26, 2017[update], 60 Minutes had won a total of 138
Peabody Awards
The program has won 20
Other awards
The show received an Investigative Reporter and Editor medal for their segment "The Osprey", documenting a Marine cover-up of deadly flaws in the
Exoneration
In 1983, a report by Morley Safer, "Lenell Geter's in Jail", helped exonerate a Texas man who was wrongly convicted and imprisoned for armed robbery.[45]
Longest-running primetime show
As of 2021[update], 60 Minutes is the longest continuously running program of any genre scheduled during American network prime time. It has aired at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Sundays since December 7, 1975 (although since 2012, it moves to 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Sundays if CBS has a late NFL game).
Controversies
The show has been praised for landmark journalism and received many awards. However, it has also become embroiled in some controversy, including (in order of appearance):
Audi unintended acceleration
On November 23, 1986, 60 Minutes aired a segment
The incident devastated Audi sales in the United States, which did not rebound for 15 years. The initial incidents which prompted the report were found by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Transport Canada to have been attributable to operator error, where car owners had depressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal. CBS issued a partial retraction, without acknowledging the test results of involved government agencies.[48] Years later, Dateline NBC, a rival to 60 Minutes, was found guilty of similar tactics regarding the fuel tank integrity of General Motors pickup trucks.[49]
Jeep rollovers
A segment aired in December, 1980, concerning the alleged Jeep CJ-5 high rollover risk as demonstrated in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety testing. The demonstration was a Jeep rolling over during an extreme turn at 20 mph, something that would not cause other cars to roll over. It was deemed by 60 Minutes reporters as the "most dangerous thing on four wheels". After the show aired, many people were concerned about the safety of the vehicle, and following sales plummeted. This tarnished the reputation of the Jeep CJ; the model was discontinued in 1986. Years after the incident occurred, it was found that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety had attempted to roll the car 435 times, only having 8 rollovers. The show had also failed to mention/show that there were weights hanging on spots of the vehicle that had caused the vehicle to have a higher rollover risk.[50]
Alar
In February 1989, 60 Minutes aired a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council claiming that the use of daminozide (Alar) on apples presented an unacceptably high health risk to consumers. Apple sales dropped and CBS was sued unsuccessfully by apple growers.[51] Alar was subsequently banned for use on food crops in the U.S. by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Werner Erhard
On March 3, 1991, 60 Minutes broadcast "Werner Erhard," which dealt with controversies involving Erhard's personal and business life. A year after the 60 Minutes piece aired, Erhard filed a lawsuit against CBS, claiming that the broadcast contained several "false, misleading and defamatory" statements about him. One month after filing the lawsuit, Erhard filed for dismissal.[52] Erhard later told Larry King in an interview that he dropped the suit after receiving legal advice telling him that in order to win it, he had to prove not only that CBS knew the allegations were false but also that CBS acted with malice.[53] After numerous independent journalists exposed untruths and factual inaccuracies in the story[54][55] the segment was removed by CBS from its archives, with a disclaimer: "This segment has been deleted at the request of CBS News for legal or copyright reasons."[56]
Brown & Williamson
In 1995, former
The New York Times wrote that "the traditions of Edward R. Murrow and "60 Minutes" itself were diluted in the process,"
U.S. Customs Service
In 1997, 60 Minutes alleged that agents of the
Kennewick Man
A legal battle between archaeologists and the Umatilla tribe over the remains of a skeleton, nicknamed Kennewick Man, was reported by 60 Minutes on October 25, 1998, to which the Umatilla tribe reacted negatively. The tribe considered the segment heavily biased in favor of the scientists, cutting out important arguments, such as explanations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.[62] The report focused heavily on the racial politics of the controversy and also added inflammatory arguments, such as questioning the legitimacy of Native American sovereignty[63] – much of the racial focus of the segment was later reported to have been either unfounded and/or misinterpreted.[64]
Timothy McVeigh
On March 12, 2000, 60 Minutes aired an interview with
Viacom/CBS cross-promotion
In recent years, the program has been accused of promoting books, films, and interviews with celebrities who are published or promoted by sister businesses of media conglomerate Viacom (which owned CBS from 2000 to 2005 and since 2019; both companies' shares since 2000 were majority-owned by National Amusements even during their fourteen-year separation) and publisher Simon & Schuster (which remained a part of CBS Corporation after the 2005 CBS/Viacom split and continued on after its re-merger with Viacom), without disclosing the journalistic conflict-of-interest to viewers.[68]
Killian documents controversy
The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard from 1972 to 1973. Four of these documents were presented as authentic in a 60 Minutes Wednesday broadcast aired on September 8, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 presidential election, but it was later found that CBS had failed to authenticate the documents. Subsequently, several typewriter and typography experts concluded the documents are forgeries, as have some media sources. No forensic document examiners or typography experts authenticated the documents, which may not be possible without original documents. The provider of the documents, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, claimed to have burned the originals after faxing copies to CBS.[citation needed] The whole incident was turned into a feature-length film entitled Truth.
"The Internet Is Infected" episode and the false hacker photo
On March 29, 2009, a segment titled "The Internet Is Infected" aired on 60 Minutes, which featured an interview with Don Jackson, a data protection professional for
The photo's exact origins are unknown, but it is widely known in Finland, having been originally posted to the Finnish social networking site IRC-Galleria in the early 2000s. It spread all over Finnish internet communities, and even originated a couple of patriotically titled (but intentionally misspelled) mock sites.[70][71] 60 Minutes later issued a correction and on-air apology.[when?]
Benghazi report
After the 2012 Benghazi attack, 60 Minutes aired a report by correspondent Lara Logan on October 27, 2013, in which British military contractor Dylan Davies, identified by CBS under the pseudonym "Morgan Jones", described racing to the Benghazi compound several hours after the main assault was over, scaling a 12-foot wall and knocking out a lone fighter with the butt of a rifle. He also claimed to have visited a Benghazi hospital earlier that night where he saw Ambassador Christopher Stevens' body.
In the days following the report, Davies' personal actions were challenged.[72] The FBI, which had interviewed Davies several times and considered him a credible source,[73] said the account Davies had given them was different from what he told 60 Minutes. Davies stood by his story,[74] but the inconsistency ultimately prompted 60 Minutes to conclude it was a mistake to include Davies in their report. The show issued a correction.[75]
After the correction, a journalistic review was conducted by Al Ortiz, CBS News' executive director of standards and practices. Ortiz determined that red flags about Davies' account were missed.[76] Davies had told the program and written in his book that he told an alternative version of his actions to his employer, who he said had demanded that he stay inside his Benghazi villa as the attack unfolded. That alternative version was shared with U.S. authorities; 60 Minutes was unable to prove the story Davies had told them was true.[77]
Davies' book, The Embassy House, was published two days after the 60 Minutes report, by Threshold Editions, part of the Simon and Schuster unit of CBS. It was pulled from shelves once 60 Minutes issued its correction.[78]
On November 26, 2013, Logan was forced to take a leave of absence due to the errors in the Benghazi report.[77] Logan returned to work months later.[79]
NSA report
On December 15, 2013, 60 Minutes aired a report on the workings of
Tesla automaker report
On March 30, 2014, 60 Minutes presented a story on the
Sexual harassment
After the resignation of CBS news head Les Moonves, an investigation into sexual harassment at CBS, including 60 Minutes, uncovered evidence of long-running sexual harassment issues stemming from behavior of producers Jeff Fager and Don Hewitt.[87][88]
Florida COVID-19 vaccine rollout
In April 2021, Sharyn Alfonsi's story in 60 Minutes on
Facial recognition report
On May 16, 2021, Anderson Cooper's story in 60 Minutes on the flaws in facial recognition technology used by the police resulting in incorrect identification of people of color received backlash for denying credit to the black female researchers who pioneered the field. The segment was criticized by the Algorithmic Justice League for "deliberately excluding the groundbreaking and award-winning work of prominent black women AI researchers Joy Buolamwini, Dr. Timnit Gebru, and Inioluwa Deborah Raji".[94] The segment was called out for its hypocrisy for failing to credit black women for their pioneering work in a segment highlighting how facial recognition software often leaves out black, Asian, and female faces. CBS later issued a statement explaining that these researchers were not included due to time restrictions of the segment.[95]
Spin-offs
The main 60 Minutes show has created a number of spin-offs over the years.
30 Minutes
30 Minutes was a news magazine aimed at children that was patterned after 60 Minutes, airing as the final program in CBS's Saturday morning lineup from 1978 to 1982. It was hosted by Christopher Glenn (who also served as the voice-over for the interstitial program In the News and was an anchor on the CBS Radio Network), along with Betsy Aaron (1978–1980) and Betty Ann Bowser (1980–1982).
60 Minutes More
60 Minutes More was a spin-off that ran for one season from 1996 to 1997 on the channel
60 Minutes II
In 1999, a second edition of 60 Minutes was started in the United States, titled 60 Minutes II. This edition was later renamed 60 Minutes for the fall of 2004 in an effort to sell it as a high-quality program, since some had sarcastically referred to it as 60 Minutes, Jr. CBS News president
60 Minutes on CNBC
In 2011, CNBC began airing a 60 Minutes spin-off of its own, called 60 Minutes on CNBC. Hosted by Lesley Stahl and Steve Kroft, it aired updated business-related reports seen on the original broadcasts and offers footage that was not included when the segments first aired. It ended in 2015.
60 Minutes Sports
In 2013, CBS's sister
60 in 6
In June 2020, the show launched 60 in 6 on
60 Minutes+
In March 2021, Paramount+ premiered 60 Minutes+, a weekly spin-off aimed at a younger audience. The correspondents from 60 in 6 returned for this spin-off, as well as producer Jonathan Blakely.[106] In January 2022, the show was cancelled after 30 episodes.[107]
25th anniversary edition
For the 60 Minutes 25th anniversary program in 1993, Charles Kuralt revisited notable stories and celebrity appearances and also interviewed Don Hewitt and correspondents, both the active and some former ones.
International versions
Australia
The Australian version of 60 Minutes premiered on February 11, 1979. It still airs each Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. on the
Germany
In the mid-1980s, an edited version (approx. 30 minutes in length) of the U.S. broadcast edition of 60 Minutes, entitled "60 Minutes: CBS im Dritten" ("60 Minutes: CBS on Channel 3") was shown for a time on Westdeutsches Fernsehen[citation needed] (regional channels were also called "Channel 3" to distinguish it from ARD and ZDF, the two national channels at the time). This version retained the English-language track of the original, but also featured German dubbing.
New Zealand
The New Zealand version of 60 Minutes has aired on national television since 1989, when it was originally launched on
Brazil
This section may be confusing or unclear to readers. (August 2023) |
In 1992, the
Portugal
SIC Notícias acquired the broadcasting rights to the program in 2001. The original episodes were shown in Portugal with introductory and final comments by journalist Mário Crespo, who conducted the program until 2014. It is presently hosted by anchors of the aforementioned network on a rotational basis, who eventually adopted the previous model.
Chile
The news program of National Broadcasting of Chile (TVN), the public television network in that country, was named 60 Minutos ("60 Minutes") from 1975 to 1988, but the program had no association with the US version and no investigative reporting.[citation needed]
Other versions
- A Mexican version, which featured Juan Ruiz Healy serving as anchor, aired in the late 1970s and 1980s.[110]
- A Peruvian version aired in the early 1980s, called 60 Minutos. However, in the late 1980s there was also a similarly named series, but unrelated to the series produced by CBS News.
- The Japanese version, CBS Document, aired from 1988 to 2010. Its primary presenter was Peter Barakan. It continued in a slightly different format, under the name CBS 60 Minutes, until 2014; Barakan hosted this version as well.
- Edited reruns of 60 Minutes interviews have aired on various cable channels in the United States, including TV Land and ESPN Classic.
- In TV 9 (from 1995 to 1997) and BBTV Channel 7(from 1999 to 2001).
- In TV3 (Catalonia)for 27 seasons.
- In France, M6 launched 66 minutes in 2006, a television magazine with a similar concept and format.[111]
See also
- This Hour Has Seven Days, and W5 both of which pre-date 60 Minutes by a couple of years, are similar in journalistic style and format
- Betty Ford's August 1975 60 Minutes interview
Citations
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- ^ a b Madsen, p. 15
- ^ Madsen, p. 17
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A Federal judge today dismissed a lawsuit that apple growers in Washington State filed against CBS after "60 Minutes" broadcast a report linking the chemical Alar to cancer. The report, broadcast Feb. 26, 1989, said the use of Alar increased the risk of cancer in humans, particularly children, and cited a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
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General and cited sources
- Who's Who in America1998, "Hewitt, Don S." Marquis Who's Who: New Providence, NJ, 1998. p. 1925.
- Who's Who in America 1998, "Wallace, Mike." Marquis Who's Who: New Providence, NJ, 1998. p. 4493.
- Madsen, Axel. 60 Minutes: The Power and the Politics of America's Most Popular TV News Show. Dodd, Mead and Company: New York City, 1984.
Further reading
- Coffey, Frank (1993). 60 Minutes: 25 Years of Television's Finest Hour. Santa Monica, California: General Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 1-881649-04-0.. With introduction by Don Hewitt.