Fifty Years of 60 Minutes: The Inside Story of Television's Most Influential News Broadcast

by Jeff Fager

Overview

“An illuminating TV show biography” (Kirkus Reviews), the ultimate inside story of 60 Minutes—the program that has tracked and shaped the biggest moments in post-war American history.

From its almost accidental birth in 1968, 60 Minutes has set the standard for broadcast journalism. The show has profiled every major leader, artist, and movement of the past five decades, perfecting the news-making interview and inventing the groundbreaking TV exposé. From legendary sit-downs with Richard Nixon in 1968 and Bill Clinton in 1992 to landmark investigations into the tobacco industry, Lance Armstrong’s doping, and the torture of prisoners in Abu-Ghraib, the broadcast has not just reported on our world but changed it, too.

Executive Producer Jeff Fager takes us into the editing room with the show’s brilliant producers and beloved correspondents, including hard-charging Mike Wallace, writer’s-writer Morley Safer, soft-but-tough Ed Bradley, relentless Lesley Stahl, intrepid Scott Pelley, and illuminating storyteller Steve Kroft. He details the decades of human drama that have made the show’s success possible: the ferocious competition between correspondents, the door slamming, the risk-taking, and the pranks. Above all, Fager reveals the essential tenets that have never changed: why founder Don Hewitt believed “hearing” a story is more important than seeing it, why the “small picture” is the best way to illuminate a larger one, and why the most memorable stories are almost always those with a human being at the center.

“As traditional reporting is increasingly being challenged by high-decibel, opinion-drenched media, Fager highlights storytelling that conveys a deep understanding of issues and demonstrates the power of television to inform” (The Washington Post). Fifty Years of 60 Minutes is at once a sweeping portrait of fifty years of American cultural history and an intimate look at how the news gets made.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501135811
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	10/16/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	1,006,089
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jeff Fager is in his fourteenth season as the Executive Producer of 60 Minutes. In 2011 he became the first chairman of CBS News and, drawing on the values of 60 Minutes, he led a revitalization of the news division, including the turnaround of CBS This Morning. He returned full-time to 60 Minutes in 2015. Fager was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He graduated from Colgate University in 1977 with a B.A. degree in English.

Editorial Reviews

"As traditional reporting is increasingly being challenged by high-decibel, opinion-drenched media, Fager highlights storytelling that conveys a deep understanding of issues and demonstrates the power of television to inform."

The Washington Post

11/01/2017
The longest-running, prime-time TV broadcast, 60 Minutes, begins its 50th season this fall. Many Americans tune in every Sunday night to learn about the world and to be entertained. This lavishly illustrated retrospective look at the show highlights some of the major stories and personalities that have made it such a success. Fager, the current executive producer, opens this book with the decade 1988–98, when he joined the company as a producer. He then goes back to the show's beginning in 1968 and continues through 2018. This insider perspective gives a behind-the-scenes view of how stories were developed, along with the complex interactions of the talented and competitive staff. There's Mike Wallace, known for his tough interviews and prone to stealing stories from colleagues, and Andy Rooney, who was suffering from dementia when he was tricked into retiring on-air and then didn't remember what he had done. Major politicians have been regular guests on the show, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and Nancy Reagan. VERDICT Longtime viewers of 60 Minutes will appreciate this volume's pictures, story recaps, and the inside scoop on show personalities.—Judy Solberg, Sacramento, CA

Library Journal

2017-09-03
Insider accounts of 60 Minutes, published in conjunction with the program's 50th anniversary (and counting), a milestone that makes it the longest airing show in the history of TV.A mixture of professional and personal gossip, as well as accounts of controversial episodes aired during the hour each Sunday evening (as well as other time slots during the early years), the book is mostly chronological, with one major exception. 60 Minutes executive producer and former CBS news chairman Fager begins with the third decade (1988-1998) because he believes that demonstrating the saga of the program after it reached maturity is the most effective way to help readers understand both the internal dynamics and the external impacts. Following the first section, the author travels back to the first decade and then settles into chronology with decades two, four, and five. Always at the center of the saga is founder Don Hewitt (1922-2009), portrayed as a benevolent newsroom dictator who mercilessly drove the show's producers and on-air correspondents. Almost every correspondent receives attention from Fager, who tells of journalistic and personal blemishes as well as successes. Mike Wallace is clearly the most dominant of the talent portrayed here, followed by Morley Safer, Harry Reasoner, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Steve Kroft, and Scott Pelley. To his credit, the author also offers detailed insights into many of the program's producers, who are rarely seen by viewers but generate most of the story ideas and conduct most of the reporting. Fager provides an up-to-date account, noting the rise of Donald Trump and the eight pre-presidential Trump episodes on 60 Minutes, including one about how he drove up rents to perhaps illegally evict tenants in his residential buildings. The author covers so many stories—about domestic politics, corporate wrongdoing, global wars, celebrity high jinks, adoring profiles, among dozens of others—that the book is best consumed a few pages per sitting. An illuminating TV show biography that will appeal most to fans, but no need to read it all at once.

Kirkus Reviews