Fifty Years of 60 Minutes tells the inside story of the legendary program, from its almost accidental birth through five decades of in-depth reporting by talented producers and beloved correspondents. Jeff Fager series in on the stories that changed history, what the program learned from its mistakes, and the human drama that made it all possible.
Fifty Years of 60 Minutes: The Inside Story of Television's Most Influential News Broadcast by Jeff Fager is a 2017 Simon & Schuster publication.
Informative, interesting and nostalgic.
60 Minutes first aired in 1968, and incredibly, is still broadcast today. So, what is the secret to its longevity?
The journalists have been top notch from the beginning to present day. The stories are controversial, hard hitting, have exposed scams and enormous scandals, but also made room for satire, humor, and fluff pieces as well as featuring interviews with the most popular celebrities of the day.
It was perhaps the first news magazine format on television and it inspired many other similar news programs and talk show formats over the years.
But, the show got a huge boost when it was moved to Sunday nights, which gave them a huge lead in audience from NFL football. The prime spot was a ratings boon for the show, and from there the influence upon viewers was unprecedented.
This book is separated by decades- beginning with 1988- 1998- the third decade-
But, then goes back to the beginning- 1968- 1978- highlighting the best stories, the ‘behind the scene’s environment at the time, and plenty of revealing conversations, accompanied by an abundance of photographs.
One of my favorite stories involved Steve Kroft’s piece on a Houston used car wholesaler, Bill Whitlow, known as the ‘mile buster’, because he rolled back odometers, also known as ‘busting miles’, before selling cars to dealers at higher cost.
Uncovering the scam, led to one of the best punchlines in the history of the show:
KROFT: I want to show you one thing.
WHITLOW: All right.
KROFT: You know what’s back there?
WHITLOW: No.
KROFT: It’s a TV camera back there.
WHITLOW: Oh, is it?
KROFT: Yeah. Yeah, we’ve been taping this whole thing.
WHITLOW: Well, all right.
KROFT: The good news is we’re not cops.
WHITLOW: Well, I didn’t think so.
KROFT: The bad news is we’re 60 minutes.
(Whitlow was sentenced to six years in prison and blamed Steve)
Naturally, many people have automatically felt 60 Minutes to be synonymous with the tobacco story, which was much harder to get on the air than any other story and took its toll on everyone, including CBS and the entire staff on 60 minutes. It’s a fascinating piece and is one of the most memorable stories in the show’s fifty - year history.
The show was also known for its celebrity interviews which included such big names a Clint Eastwood, Tina Turner, and Beyonce, but there were also interviews with presidents, as well as many other world leaders.
The show has seen many personnel changes, experienced tragedies, and untimely deaths over the years, and has struggled with ratings, especially after they lost the coveted football lead in, but has managed to stay on the air and remains relevant.
From a personal standpoint, I remember my parents watching this program, and while it may not seem like the type of show a young person might find interesting, I often found myself very absorbed in the stories. I was always very interested in the medical and scientific breakthrough segments and of course, I enjoyed the celebrity interviews, too.
I must confess, though, that I never was a loyal viewer as an adult. I tuned in on occasion, sometimes watching it regularly, but often going years without seeing a single episode. But, even if you didn’t watch the show consistently, the segments often made headlines, and now with the ability to stream the programs from the CBS website or to watch clips on YouTube, the program can be watched at any time, the show reaches a younger audience as well as a wider range of viewership, keeping the stories at the forefront of our minds.
This book is just a little over four hundred pages, so with fifty years of material to cover, you know the author, who is the executive producer of the show, really does touch on the major highlights, the influential journalists and the most intense and fond relationships and memories. I do think that’s maybe a good thing in an age where our attention spans are not as long, but it also skimmed over an enormous amount of terrific material.
As mentioned, the photos are plentiful, both black and white and color, and is a very nice touch, as it puts names with faces in many cases.
I really enjoyed looking back on the show’s history, reliving the politics in front of the camera, but often the politics behind the camera was just as interesting, if not more.
There are many memories, great stories, some embarrassing moments, and some surprising revelations in this book. I think fans of the show will want to check this book out and even if you are only a casual fan or viewer, this book will remind you of how and why it has managed to survive all these years in such a ruthless market and perhaps renew your interest in the show.
Overall, this book is well organized, fascinating and fun to read.
60 Minutes was a staple in my house growing up in a time with limited television options, often dependent upon how well the antenna was working. Back then there was one tv and we kids had to watch whatever our parents were watching or find something else to do. In the days before news networks and round the clock news coverage, the nightly local news was 30 minutes long and largely acceptable to watch as a family. 60 Minutes rounded out our news and views of the world, supplemented by Jacques Cousteau and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. This book is a gem for any lover of the old guard through today. It really highlights the numerous tough stories taken on by these reporters, so many of which I remember seeing. It has behind the scenes information and respectful accolades for the many participants through the years. I never realized how unique this weekly news magazine was because I grew up watching it. I rarely watch now because to me, it’s not the same without Mike, Harry, Ed, Morley and of course, Andy. This made me feel nostalgic for the good old days. A 5 star retrospective with pictures and excerpts from key interviews, as well as a plethora of relevant information and photos.
"'Wille Nelson?' Mike said in disgust. 'Willie Nelson? I said Winnie and Nelson--as in Mandela!' And then with real attitude he snapped, 'Heard of them?' He ended with a classic Mike Wallace line: 'Excuse me, I didn't realize I had wandered into the toy department.' Mike then left the office and, walking down the hall, shouted back to Josh, 'Good luck with your next career move!'"
60 Minutes first aired in 1968, a year for news if ever there was one. It was brilliantly conceived as a television news magazine, covering multiple unrelated news stories in a single broadcast. Executive producer Jeff Fager offers the reader an insider’s peek; lucky me, I read it early and free thanks to Simon and Schuster and Net Galley. It’s for sale today.
60 Minutes did the stories nobody else was doing, and its correspondents were geniuses at persuading their subjects to open up and tell the world what it wanted to know. From President-elect Richard Nixon, who promised to ‘restore respect to the presidency’, to the torture of prisoners at Abu-Ghraib, 60 Minutes has been there and spoken to those that have done these things or bourn witness to them. I’ll bet I am not the only viewer that remembers the interview with the bitter, dying tobacco executive with throat cancer, rasping out what he knows on television. From Miss Piggy to the Ayatollah Khomeini, from Lance Armstrong to Khadafi, everyone has 15 minutes of fame…did they interview Andy Warhol? I’ll bet they did.
Just as on the show, the book touches briefly but meaningfully on each subject, complete with lovely color photographs, both formal and candid, and then moves on before one can become bored. The careers of the professionals that worked on the show, behind the scenes and on it, are also described. Perhaps the most poignant is when ancient Andy Rooney, past 90, developing Alzheimer’s, but still in the saddle, keeps forgetting that he is supposed to give a farewell address. He keeps returning long after he was going to get gone, and finally his son has to write cue cards for him to read on the air. Rooney seems vaguely puzzled when he discovers he has retired.
The whole thing is organized in congenial sections, decade by decade, but it’s the sort of book you can leave on your coffee table for guests to flip through. If they are adults, I can almost guarantee they’ll say, “Oh hey. I remember this!” What a wonderful ice breaker.
Five decades of 60 Minutes in 300 pages - that's a sprint! I was in high school when the series began, so this retrospective covers all my adult life and brings back lots of memories. My beef with this is that was too short. Surely 100 pages per decade would not have been too much. As it was, each story, or personality, or mistake, or triumph was mentioned briefly and then left behind as the next story was again briefly covered. But it was fun and quick to read.
It is a tremendous feeling to listen to a book that recounts the emerging stories over 50 years of one's life. This book is well written. The audio version is at times moving, poignant, and often laugh out loud funny in its delivery.
3.5 💫 Audible - the audible book animates the written book into a radio show.
Congratulations on the 60 Minute Show, a news broadcast with a vision!
This book is a historical timeline of stories shared on broadcast over 50 years. Listening to the book helped me picture of how era has changed over time and recall historical moments that took place while I was growing up.
This is a great summary of the last 50 years of 60 minutes. There is obviously not enough space for a lot of in-depth retelling of any of the segments. There are tons of pictures! I rented a hard copy from the library and I'm glad I did because of the pictures.
Stories, details, gossip verified, the backroom details of one of my favorite shows. I was captivated from the first page, took it on the treadmill and kept going through the first three chapters. My legs were crying but I was entertained.
The format is also interesting--narrative, then actual excerpts of shows, mixed with pictures and other tidbits. I wish more non-fiction books were structured this way, but I suspose one should expect the best form the producer of 60 minutes (Fager is the producer who took over over the creator Don Hewitt).
An engaging read about the history and impact of the 60 Minutes program. Unfortunately it is written by the shows current producer so it tends to emphasize the high points and gets really defensive about the low points of the show's output. Nevertheless it was fun to revisit those stories that had a lasting impact to the national dialogue, and to learn more about the personalities involved (Andy Rooney suffered from dementia towards the end of his career and kept forgetting he planned to retire).
Fager does a good job covering the major stories that 60 minutes has covered during the last 50 years. However, he glosses over Dan Rather’s lies about President Bush and ultimate firing. Nothing is mentioned about Charles Rose sexual misconduct. The show has taken a hard left turn during the last ten years, though Fager tries to define the show as politically neutral.
Fun little read but not as much insight to the process.... more anecdotal, cocktail party fodder than a view to the power and process of prime time news.
4.25/5: Incredibly enjoyable history overview of the news show over the years. After reading the Scott Pelley book, I randomly found this one recommended on libby. So there is a bit of repeats in that with the stories in this book. Love the narration of the author that intertwines with actual tape recordings of the interviews of the people through the years. Split up into 5 parts as decades from 1968-2018. Then split up into a sets of seasons. Other than the random start with decade 3, it does a great timeline of journalism through the years. The author was executive producer of 60 Minutes for 14 years and, as just the second person to run the program in its first fifty years on television, reshaped it into a more editorially vibrant, news conscious broadcast. During his entire tenure 60 Minutes was the most watched news program in America. I always felt like they had amazing journalistic integrity when I was growing up. Right now with the Scott Pelley firing and all, CBS is losing their credibility. Hopefully they can turn it around after Trump. Medium length listen at a 10.5 hour audiobook with medium paced chapters.
Table of Contents: The Beginning Decade 3: 1988 to 1998 Seasons 21–22 Season 23 Season 24 Seasons 25–26 Seasons 27–28 Seasons 29–30 Decade 1: 1968 to 1978 Seasons 1–5 Seasons 6–10 Decade 2: 1978 to 1988 Seasons 11–12 Seasons 13–17 Seasons 18–20 Decade 4: 1998 to 2008 Seasons 31–33 Seasons 34–36 Seasons 37–40 Decade 5: 2008 to 2018 Seasons 41–43 Seasons 44–46 Seasons 47–49 Acknowledgments About the Author Image Credits Index
This was easy and, like it says on the wrapper, nostalgic. I like the artistic decision to start in the 1980s instead of the more obvious approach of beginning at the beginning. That engages the typical reader with tales of coverage that they may remember.
Overall, “meh.” It is definitely about the show specifically, and not about anything larger, like say the role of journalism or of 60 Minutes specifically in the culture. This book’s takeaway on Trump vs Clinton boils down to Hillary’s team being comically fussy about selecting the cushion that was going to be sat upon by HC during the interview. And also, HC declined the opportunity to go on the show as part of the planned multi-part coverage of the 2016 campaign. Trump, meanwhile (mostly by implication), was good on TV. Good for journalism. And there you have it – the problem I have with this whole thing. It’s the fakeness of the medium. Their raison d’etre of “covering stories” leaves them prone to become tools of cynical manipulators. They put on a pretense of objectivity, but inherent truth or falsity is just not their responsibility – it boils down to “each side” making their case on TV.
Decade 3: 1988 to 1998 Decade 1: 1968 to 1978 Decade 2: 1978 to 1988 Decade 4: 1998 to 2008 Decade 5: 2008 to 2018
“Don Hewitt offered makeup to Nixon, grim-faced and cursed with a perpetual five o’clock shadow. But the Republican candidate, looking tired and sweaty, declined and lost the debate to the tanned, vigorous-looking young Democrat. It was a transformational moment. Polls indicated those who heard the debate on radio thought Nixon had won. Television’s power in forming public opinion had never been fully appreciated before. On Election Day, Kennedy edged Nixon by less than 0.17 percent of the vote. Don often said that if Nixon had listened to him, he probably would have been president.” 4
I've loved 60 Minutes for a long time: I actually programmed the VCR to record it every week when I was in college, and I would watch that, The McLaughlin Group, and Chris Matthews when I was prepping food or eating. Jeff Fager succeeded the creator of the show, Don Hewitt, so I'd recommend starting with Hewitt's memoir, Tell Me a Story, before you read this if you're interested in the show's origins.
Fager mostly goes season by season, though he jumps around chronologically at times and sometimes repeats things. He goes into more detail about each correspondent and notable stories they've covered. If you're a fan of the show, you'll enjoy this book. Audio format is recommended, since it includes numerous clips from original broadcasts.
A decade by decade look at "60 Minutes," with lots of short transcripts from many episodes. I recommend it to anyone who likes "behind the scenes" books. This book sent me back to watching the show again, after a 10-15 year hiatus, as well as searching out segments on Youtube. I was surprised at how many of the shows I remembered. My only criticism is that I wish it had spent more time on the earlier decades, but I guess it only makes sense that the author spends most of the book on the years that he was on staff.
The history of 60 Minutes came to life in this book with stories of shows that were produced, with descriptions of the reporters, writers, and producers, and with loads of pictures. Most interesting to me was the author’s frank and friendly expression of the characteristics and personalities of the interviewers we have seen for years. They are and were interesting people who knew how to make the stories they discovered fascinating and insightful to us. Of course, the book itself wouldn’t be interesting if it were not well written, so kudos to Jeff Fager and his writing ability.
Shortly after this book came out, the author, Jeff Fager, found himself ousted from his position at CBS News. It's not a gossipy tell-all, so Fager's controversies don't impact the book in any way. There are some other formerly notable journalists who fell from grace written about here--but their scandals happened after the book's publication. It's clear that Fager thought his good times were going to keep on rolling. It will be interesting to see how a future volume addresses this period of CBS news. If you're a fan of 60 Minutes, you'll enjoy this book.
This is an entertaining history of the program, especially if you're a "60 Minutes" fan, abundantly laced with pictures of the show's correspondents, producers, and subjects (interviewees). Because "60 Minutes" has dealt with many, if not most, of the key issues and events since 1968, it is also a kind of history of the past half century. An easy but worthwhile read.
For fans of the show, news, etc this is a terrific read. Long, yes, but very, very informative, interesting, fascinating, etc. An inside look at the show, the primary players, how it all comes together, the objectives. I can almost call it exciting. However there were certainly some sad parts when there were serious illnesses and then subsequent deaths. Loved all of it.
As a newspaper journalist, I enjoyed this one; even though I'm not a broadcast journalist. Smart, witty, and informative, I'm the audience the book was written for (history and journalism nerd). Jeff Fager doesn't shy away from bringing up dark or embarrassing issues from the show's history. An important read about the impact good journalism has in this country. A must-read.
Terrific read. I was given the advance reader copy by a sales rep and both my husband and I read it. We are fans of "60 Minutes" and watch often. Jeff Fager's commentary on the producers and influential reporters on the show were wonderful to learn. The good and the bad.
What an amazing insight into a show that I have followed off and on for, well for fifty years! I had forgotten some of the correspondents that have been on it over the years and it was interesting to read about them early in their careers.
Excellent recap of the amazing 50 year run of 60 minutes. Listening to the book on tape was especially enjoyable, to be able to hear excerpts through the years.