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60 Minutes

This article is about the American television program. For other television programs of the same name, see 60 Minutes (disambiguation). For the unit of time, see hour.
60 Minutes
60 Minutes:New60minutes </small>
Genre Newsmagazine
Running time 60 minutes
Creator(s) Don Hewitt
Executive producer(s) Jeff Fager
Starring See Correspondents below
Country of origin 60 Minutes:Flag of United States United States
Original channel CBS
Original run September 24, 1968–Present
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

60 Minutes is an investigative television newsmagazine on United States television, which has run on CBS News since 1968. The program was created by long time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life, and has garnered numerous awards over the years. It is considered by many to be the preeminent investigative television program in the United States.


Contents

History

60 Minutes:The opening from the mid-80s through October 29, 2006, featuring the Aristo stopwatch.
Enlarge
The opening from the mid-80s through October 29, 2006, featuring the Aristo stopwatch.

The initial run of 60 Minutes was as a bi-weekly show hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace which debuted on CBS on 24 September 1968. Don Hewitt, who had been a producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, sought out Wallace as a contrast to Harry Reasoner (Madsen, 14). 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 import but focused upon individuals in conflict with those issues, and to keep the reports to around thirteen minutes (Madsen 14). However, the initial season was troubled by lack of network confidence. In 1970, the FCC instituted a rule stipulating that local network affiliates produce their own content for half an hour on weeknights and one hour of prime time on Sunday. Because affiliates found the costs for these productions high and the advertising rates low, the FCC created an exception for network-authored news and public affairs, and this ensured a place for 60 Minutes on Sunday night, as well as a duration for it (Madsen 15).

Morley Safer replaced Harry Reasoner in 1969, and he took over the task of reporting less aggressive stories. However, when Richard Nixon began targeting press access and reporting, even Safer began to do "hard" investigative reports, and in 1970 alone 60 Minutes reported on cluster bombs, the South Vietnamese Army, Canada's amnesty for American draft dodgers, Nigeria, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland (Madsen 15).

In 1970, the "Point/Counterpoint" segment was introduced, initially featuring James J. Kilpatrick and, eventually, Shana Alexander, a three minute debate between spokespeople for the political right and left, respectively. This segment pioneered a format that would later be adapted by CNN for its Crossfire show.

By 1975, it was the top-rated show on Sunday nights in the United States (its original time slot had been on Tuesday nights). By 1982, it was one of the highest rated shows overall. Its advertising rates went from $17,000 per thirty seconds in 1975 to $175,000 in 1982 (Madsen 17).

In 1979, Channel 9 in Australia licensed a spin-off of 60 Minutes, complete with ticking clock and format, and, later, New Zealand followed suit with its own 60 Minutes.

At 87 years old, Mike Wallace is not only the oldest television personality today (tied with Helen Wagner), but one who has lasted the longest with one news show continuously, having been a part of 60 Minutes since its inception in 1968. On 14 March 2006, Wallace announced his retirement from 60 Minutes after 37 years with the program. He will continue working for CBS News as a "Correspondent Emeritus".

As of 2005, it is the only regularly scheduled television program without any type of theme music. The only theme sound is from the signature TAG Heuer stopwatch in the opening title credit and in the credit immediately before each commercial break.

Format

The format of 60 Minutes consists of three long-form news stories, without superimposed graphics. The stories are introduced from a set which has a backdrop resembling a magazine story on the same topic. The show undertakes its own investigations and follows up on investigations instigated by national newspapers and other sources.

Many topics center on allegations of wrongdoing and corruption on the part of corporations, politicians, and other public officials. Said figures are commonly either subjected to an interview, or evade contact with the 60 Minutes crew altogether, either by written notice or by simply fleeing from the approaching journalist and his camera crew. Instead of summarizing an interview or providing direct commentary on an issue, 60 Minutes prefers to air the interview itself. When the subject is hiding a secret, the viewers witness the evasion directly.

The show also features profiles. The profiles are occasionally of celebrities and offer up a biography of the figure, focusing upon the celebrity's early life story, obstacles, and choices, rather than offering a simple publicity platform. Non-celebrity profiles usually feature a person who has accomplished an heroic action or striven to improve the world.

In tone, 60 Minutes blends the probing journalism of the seminal 1950s CBS series See It Now with Edward R. Murrow (a show for which Hewitt was the director its first few years) and the personality profiles of another Murrow program, Person to Person. In Hewitt's own words, 60 Minutes blends "higher Murrow" and "lower Murrow."

For most of the 1970s, the program included the Point/Counterpoint segment in which a liberal and a conservative commentator would debate a particular issue. This originally featured James J. Kilpatrick representing the conservative side and Nicholas von Hoffman for the liberals, with Shana Alexander taking over for von Hoffman after he departed in 1974. Although discontinued in 1979, when Andy Rooney, who had previously left the show with Harry Reasoner, returned to offer commentary, the segment was an innovation that caught the public imagination as a live version of competing editorials. Point/Counterpoint was also lampooned by the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live, which featured Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd as debaters, with Aykroyd typically beginning his remarks with, "Jane, you ignorant slut".

A similar concept was revived briefly in March 2003, this time featuring Bob Dole and Bill Clinton, former opponents in the 1996 presidential election. The pair agreed to do ten segments, which were called "Clinton/Dole" and "Dole/Clinton" in alternating weeks, but did not continue into the fall television season. Reports indicated that the segments were considered too gentlemanly, in the style of the earlier Point/Counterpoint, and lacked the feistiness of Crossfire.[1]

Since 1979, the show has usually ended with a (usually light-hearted or humorous) commentary by Andy Rooney expounding on topics of wildly varying import, ranging from international politics, to economics, and to personal philosophy on every-day life. One recurring topic has been counting the amount of coffee in coffee-cans.[2] Rooney's pieces, particularly one in which he referred to actor Mel Gibson as a "wacko," have on occasion led to complaints from viewers.

On Sunday, October 29th, 2006, the opening sequence changed from a black background to white. The black background had been used for over a decade.

Correspondents

Mike Wallace is perhaps the iconic representation of the style of journalism for which the show is known and has been on the show since its inception in 1968. Wallace retired in 2006, but remains as Correspondent Emeritus and retains an office at CBS News Headquarters.

The program's correspondents and commentators have included:

Past correspondents

Commentators

Since 1978, Andy Rooney has contributed a humorous and sometimes cantankerous commentary at the end of each episode. Other commentators include:

Ratings and recognition

Based on ratings, 60 Minutes is the most successful broadcast in U.S. television history. For five of its seasons it has been that year's top program, a feat only matched by the sitcoms All in the Family and The Cosby Show. It was a top ten show for 23 seasons in a row (1977-2000), an unsurpassed record.

60 Minutes first broke into the Ratings Top 20 during the 1976-77 season. The following season it was the fourth-most-watched show, and by 1979-80, it was the number one show. During the 21st century it remains among the top 20 programs in the Nielsen Ratings, and the highest-rated news magazine.

CBS has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Peabody Awards for the segments "All in the Family", an investigation into abuses by government and military contractors; "The CIA's Cocaine", which uncovered CIA involvement in drug smuggling; and "Friendly Fire", a report on incidents of friendly fire in the Gulf War. They received an Investigative Reporter and Editor medal for their segment "The Osprey", documenting a Marine coverup of deadly flaws in the V-22 Osprey helicopter.

Controversies

The show has been praised for landmark journalism and received many awards. However, it has also become embroiled in some controversy, including:

William Westmoreland

In 1982, "The Uncounted Enemy, a Vietnam Deception", Mike Wallace reported that Westmoreland, for political reasons, withheld information from decision-makers in Washington. Westmoreland held a press conference a few days later, calling it a 'preposterous hoax,' and eventually sued for libel. TV Guide issued a report called 'Anatomy of a Smear,' detailing problems with the report, including the ignoring of contrary evidence, and video editing to change the questions Westmoreland is asked. CBS eventually settled by issuing a retraction and an apology.

Unintended acceleration

On November 23rd, 1986, 60 minutes aired a segment greenlit by Don Hewitt, concerning the Audi 5000 automobile, a popular German luxury car. The story concerned a number of incidents where the car purportedly accelerated without warning while parked, injuring or killing people. 60 Minutes was unable to duplicate this behavior, and so hired an outside consultant to modify the transmission to behave in this manner, and aired a story about it.

The incident devastated Audi sales in the United States, which did not reach the same level for another fifteen 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.[5]

A rival to 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC, would be found guilty of similar tactics years later regarding fuel tank integrity on General Motors pickup trucks.

Werner Erhard, March 3rd, 1991

A 60 Minutes broadcast of March 3rd, 1991 dealt with controversies involving Werner Erhard's personal and business life :

Perhaps the most damaging blow of all against Erhard was a March 3 "60 Minutes" television report that detailed testimony from three of his daughters, several former est leaders, and a housekeeper. Together, they accused Erhard of being a tyrant and a cult leader who declared himself to be God at staff meetings, administered a savage beating to his son, ordered his ex-wife nearly strangled to death during a two-day beating, and sexually molested one of his daughters and raped another.

The "60 Minutes" report also detailed that Erhard had bailed out of his $70-million-a-year business. Published reports say he sold his human-potential movement empire in February to a group of his employees for an undisclosed sum and put most of his possessions (including the yacht where he lived in Sausalito harbor) up for sale. The San Jose Mercury News, speculating that Erhard may have fled the country, quoted a witness who said he watched three men load boxes and steamer trunks from Erhard's warehouse into a Tokyo Express moving van.[6]

In his 1993 book Outrageous Betrayal published by St. Martin's Press, Steven Pressman detailed how Erhard filed but then withdrew a lawsuit alleging "false, misleading and defamatory statements" against CBS in the wake of the latter's 60 Minutes program:[7]

One year after the "60 Minutes" piece aired, Erhard filed a lawsuit against CBS and a variety of other defendants, claiming that the broadcast contained several "false, misleading and defamatory" statements about Erhard. However, Erhard dropped the lawsuit a few months before any court decision had been reached on its claims.[8].

Author Jane Self defended Werner Erhard's position in the 1992 Breakthru Publishing book, 60 Minutes and the Assassination of Werner Erhard.

Brown and Williamson

In 1995, former Brown and Williamson (B&W) Vice President for Research and Development Jeffrey Wigand provided information to 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman that B&W had systematically hidden the health risks of their cigarettes. (See transcription.) Furthermore, it was alleged that B&W had introduced foreign agents (fiberglass, ammonia, etc.) with the intent of enhancing the effect of nicotine. Bergman began to produce a piece based upon the information, but ran into opposition from Don Hewitt. Because of the hesitation from Hewitt, The Wall Street Journal instead broke Wigand's story. The 60 Minutes piece was eventually aired with substantially altered content, and was missing some of the most damning evidence against B&W. The exposé of the incident was published in an article in Vanity Fair by Marie Brenner, entitled The Man Who Knew Too Much.[9] The New York Times wrote that 60 Minutes and CBS had "betrayed the legacy of Edward R. Murrow." The incident was turned into a seven-times Oscar-nominated feature film entitled The Insider, directed by Michael Mann and starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino.

U.S. Customs Service

60 Minutes alleged in 1997 that agents of the U.S. Customs Service ignored drug trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego.[10] The only evidence was a memorandum apparently written by Rudy Camacho, who was the head of the San Diego branch office. Based on this memo, CBS alleged that Camacho had allowed trucks belonging to a particular firm to cross the border unimpeded. Mike Horner, a former Customs Service employee, had passed the memos on to 60 Minutes, and even provided a copy with an official stamp. Camacho was not consulted about the article, and his career was devastated in the immediate term as his own department placed suspicion on him. In the end, it turned out that Horner had forged the documents as an act of revenge for his treatment within the Customs Service. Camacho successfully sued CBS for an unknown settlement, and Don Hewitt was forced to issue an on-air retraction.[11]

Kennewick man

A legal battle between archaeologists and the Umatilla tribe over the remains of a skeleton, nicknamed Kennewick man, was reported on by 60 Minutes (October 25, 1998), to which the Umatilla tribe reacted very negatively. The tribe considered the segment heavily biased in favor of the scientists, cutting out important arguments, such as explanations of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.[12] The report focused heavily on the racial politics of the controversy and also added inflammatory arguments, such as questioning the legitamcy of Native American sovereignty [1] -- much of the racial focus of the segment was later reported to be unfounded or misinterpeted.[13]

Memogate / Rathergate

Officially known as the Killian documents, Memogate involved four historical memos used in a 60 Minutes Wednesday broadcast aired on September 8 2004, during the 2004 US presidential campaign. The memos indicated that President George W. Bush was given preferential treatment and later was excused improperly from completing his tour with the United States National Guard. Conservative American bloggers later asserted that these documents had not been verified properly by CBS. The authenticity of the documents could not be verified. Dan Rather, who narrated the segment, publicly vouched for the documents for twelve days before he reversed himself on September 20 2004 and stated that he could no longer support their authenticity and that "We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry".

Viacom cross-promotion

In recent years the show has been accused of promoting books, films, and interviews with celebrities who are published or promoted by sister businesses in the Viacom empire (2000-2005), without disclosing the journalistic conflict-of-interest to viewers.[14] However, due to media consolidation, this has become standard practice on many television news broadcasts.

60 Minutes II

Main article: 60 Minutes II

In 1999, a second edition of 60 Minutes was started in the U.S., called 60 Minutes II. This edition was later renamed 60 Minutes by CBS 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 Andrew Heyward said, "The Roman numeral II created some confusion on the part of the viewers and suggested a watered-down version" [2]. However, a widely-known controversy which came to be known as Rathergate regarding a report that aired September 8, 2004 caused another name change. The show was renamed 60 Minutes Wednesday both to differentiate itself and to avoid tarnishing the Sunday edition, as the editions were editorially independent from one another. The show reverted back to its original title with Roman numerals on July 8, 2005, when the show moved to a Friday night 8pm ET timeslot to finish its run. Its last broadcast was on September 2, 2005.

International versions

Australia

Main article: 60 Minutes (Australia)

The Australian 60 Minutes premiered on February 11, 1979. It airs on Sunday nights on the Nine Network.

Reporter Richard Carleton suffered a heart attack on 7 May 2006. He asked a question at a news conference for the Beaconsfield mine collapse, then walked out and suffered cardiac arrest. Paramedics tried to revive him for 20 minutes until an ambulance arrived, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

New Zealand

Main article: 60 Minutes (New Zealand)

The New Zealand version of 60 Minutes has aired on national television since 1989, when it was shown on TV3. In 1992 the rights were acquired by TVNZ, who began broadcasting it in 1993. The network aired the program for nine years before dropping it in 2002 for its own program, entitled Sunday. Sunday is currently the highest rating current affairs show broadcast on New Zealand television, followed by 20/20. 60 Minutes is now broadcast by rival network TV3.


See also

References

  1. ^ '60 Minutes' may veto Clinton-Dole face-offs, Peter Johnson, USA Today, 6 May 2003.
  2. ^ "A Pound of Coffee?", Andy Rooney, CBS News, July 6, 2003.
  3. ^ 60 Minutes' Ed Bradley Dead At 65. CBS News (November 9, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
  4. ^ Mike Wallace Retires From '60 Minutes,' CBS News, 14 March 2006.
  5. ^ "A Car Possessed by Demons," Ukrainian Archive, April 24, 2002.
  6. ^ "News Watch"(a column from the Christian Research Institute, Summer 1991, page 5) by William M. Alnor, Werner Erhard Flees in the Wake of Tax Liens and Child Abuse Allegations
  7. ^ Pressman, Steven, Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993, p.257-258. ISBN 0-312-09296-2
  8. ^ Pressman, Steven, Outrageous Betrayal: The dark journey of Werner Erhard from est to exile. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993, p.257-258. ISBN 0-312-09296-2
  9. ^ "The Man Who Knew Too Much," Marie Brenner, Vanity Fair, May, 1996.
  10. ^ "I'd Rather Be Blogging: CBS stonewalls as 'guys in pajamas' uncover a fraud.", John Fund, The Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2004.
  11. ^ abstract Another 60 Minutes' Apology on a Drug Smuggling Story", The Washington Post, April 13, 1999
  12. ^ "Kennewick Man issue damages relationships", Antone Minthorn, Board of Trustees Chairman Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, November 5, 1998.
  13. ^ "Who Were The First Americans?", Michael D. Lemonick, Andrea Dorfman, TIME Magazine, March 13, 2006.
  14. ^ "All in the Family: Who says 60 Minutes doesn't pay for interviews?", Bryan Preston and Chris Regan, National Review, April 2, 2004.

Book references

Categories


1968 television program debuts | 1960s TV shows in the United States | 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1980s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | CBS network shows | News television series | Nielsen Ratings winners | Killian documents

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