60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation.

In 2002, 60 Minutes was ranked No. 6 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.^[1]

The series will enter its 44th season in late 2012.^[2]

Broadcast history[link]

Early years[link]

The show pioneered many of the most important investigative journalism techniques, including re-editing interviews, hidden cameras, and "gotcha" visits to the home or office of an investigative subject.^[4] Imitators sprang up in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom during the 1970s, as well as on local television news.^[4]

Initially, 60 Minutes aired as a bi-weekly show hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace, debuting on 24 September 1968 and alternating weeks with other CBS News productions on Tuesday evenings at 10:00. The first edition, described by Reasoner in the opening as a "kind of a magazine for television," featured the following segments:

1. A look inside the headquarter suites of presidential candidates Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey during their respective parties' national conventions that summer;
2. Commentary by European writers Malcolm Muggeridge, Peter von Zahn, and Luigi Barzini, Jr. on the American electoral system;
3. A commentary by political columnist Art Buchwald;
4. An interview with then-Attorney General Ramsey Clark about police brutality;
5. An abbreviated version of an Academy Award-winning short film by Saul Bass, Why Man Creates; and
6. A meditation by Wallace and Reasoner on the relation between perception and reality. Wallace said that the show aimed to "reflect reality," while acknowledging the differing perceptions of it.

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 2011) 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 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; that was seen 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.^[5][6]

Don Hewitt, who had been a producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, sought out Wallace as a stylistic contrast to Reasoner.^[7] 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 thirteen minutes.^[8] However, the initial season was troubled by lack of network confidence, as the show 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 ABC's evening newscast (he would return to CBS and the show in 1978), Morley Safer joined the team in 1970, and he took over Reasoner's duties of reporting less aggressive stories. However, when Richard Nixon began targeting press access and reporting, even Safer, formerly the CBS News bureau head in Saigon and London, began to do "hard" investigative reports, and during the 1970–71 season alone 60 Minutes reported on cluster bombs, the South Vietnamese Army, draft dodgers, Nigeria, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland.^[9]

"Point/Counterpoint" segment[link]

In 1971, the "Point/Counterpoint" segment was introduced, featuring James J. Kilpatrick and Nicholas von Hoffman (later 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. This ran until 1979, when Andy Rooney, whose commentaries were already alternating with the debate segment since late 1978, replaced it. Rooney remained with the program as a regular until his last show on 2 October 2011.

Effects from the Prime Time Access Rule[link]

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz in an interview with Lara Logan, 15 April 2009

By 1971, the 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 (thus advertising revenues) low, making it mostly unprofitable, the FCC created an exception for network-authored news and public affairs. After a six-month hiatus in late 1971, CBS thus found a prime place for 60 Minutes in a portion of that displaced time, 6–7 p.m. (Eastern time; 5–6 Central) on Sundays, in January 1972.^[9]

This proved somewhat less than satisfactory, however, because in order to accommodate CBS' telecasts of late afternoon National Football League 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 Game" 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 show back onto the prime time schedule proper, on Fridays in 1973 and Sundays the two years thereafter, as a replacement for the regular season's program.

It was only when the FCC returned an hour to the networks on Sundays (for children's/family or news programming), 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 a family-oriented drama, Three for the Road, ended after a 12-week run in the fall, the newsmagazine took its place at 7/6 p.m. on 7 December. It has aired at that time since, for 36 years, making 60 Minutes not only the longest-running prime time program currently in production, but also the television program (excluding daily programs such as evening newscasts or breakfast shows) broadcasting for the longest length of time at a single time period each week in U.S. television history.

This move, and the addition of then-White House correspondent Dan Rather to the reporting team, made the program into a strong ratings hit and, eventually, a general cultural phenomenon. This was no less than a stunning reversal of the previously poor ratings performances of documentary programs on network television, as mentioned above. By 1976, 60 Minutes became the top-rated show on Sunday nights in the U.S. By 1979, it had achieved the number-one Nielsen rating for all television programs, unheard of before for a news broadcast in prime time. This success translated into great profits for CBS; advertising rates went from $17,000 per thirty seconds in 1975 to $175,000 in 1982.^[10]

The program sometimes does not start until after 7 pm, due largely to CBS's live broadcast of NFL games. At the conclusion of the game, the network will end its coverage right away and air 60 Minutes in its entirety (however, on the West Coast, because the actual end of the live games is much earlier in the afternoon in comparison to the Eastern and Central time zones, 60 Minutes is always able to start at its normal start time of 7 pm Pacific Time, leaving affiliates free to broadcast local news, the CBS Evening News, and other local or syndicated programming leading up to 60 Minutes). The program's success has also led CBS Sports to schedule the Masters Tournament, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and other events leading into 60 Minutes and the rest of the network's primetime lineup, thus (again, except on the West Coast) pre-empting the Sunday editions of the CBS Evening News and affiliates' local newscasts.

Pre-emptions since 1978[link]

The program has rarely been pre-empted since about 1978. Two notable pre-emptions occurred in 1976 and 1977, to make room for the annual telecast of The Wizard of Oz, which had recently returned to CBS after having been shown on NBC for eight years. However, CBS would, in later years, schedule the film so that it would no longer pre-empt 60 Minutes. Another exception is anytime CBS airs the Super Bowl or since 2003, alternating years where the AFC Championship Game has the 6:30 pm start time, which is played into primetime and followed by a special lead-out program.

Radio broadcast and Internet distribution[link]

60 Minutes is also aired via CBS Radio on several of their radio stations at the same time as the television broadcast (in each station's own local market), such as WCBS in New York, KNX in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, WWJ in Detroit, KCBS in San Francisco, and other stations across the country owned by CBS. An audio version of the full show without advertising is also distributed via podcast and the iTunes Store, beginning with the 23 September 2007 broadcast.^[11] The program's video also streams several hours after broadcast on CBSNews.com and CBS Interactive property CNET TV.

Schedule[link]

Format[link]

60 Minutes consists of three long-form news stories, without superimposed graphics. There is a commercial break between two stories. The stories are introduced from a set with a backdrop resembling pages from 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.

Story topics[link]

Many stories 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 camera crew. Instead of summarizing an interview or providing direct commentary on an issue, 60 Minutes prefers to air the interview itself.

Profile of the interviewee[link]

The show also features profiles that include a biography of a figure, focusing on a celebrity's life story, obstacles, and choices. Non-celebrity profiles usually feature a person who has accomplished a heroic action or striven to improve the world.

Occasionally, if a celebrity has written a book or has a current film in release, the segment featuring them will also promote the book or film. However, the celebrity in question will always be profiled in detail, and never appears on the show simply to promote his or her product.

Reporting tone[link]

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."

"Point/Counterpoint" segment[link]

For most of the 1970s, the program included the Point/Counterpoint segment in which a liberal and a conservative commentator debated a particular issue. This segment originally featured James J. Kilpatrick representing the conservative side and Nicholas von Hoffman for the liberal, with Shana Alexander taking over for von Hoffman after he departed in 1974. 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", in the motion picture Airplane!, in which the faux Kilpatrick argues in favor of the plane crashing, and in the earlier sketch comedy film by the same directors, The Kentucky Fried Movie, where the segment was called "Count/Pointercount". "Point/Counterpoint" was discontinued in 1979, when Andy Rooney, who had previously left the show with Harry Reasoner in 1970, returned to offer commentary,

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 10 segments, 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.^[12]

Andy Rooney segment[link]

From 1978 to 2011, the show 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 every-day life. One recurring topic was measuring the amount of coffee in coffee cans.^[13] Rooney's pieces, particularly one in which he referred to actor Mel Gibson as a "wacko," on occasion led to complaints from viewers. Rooney published several books documenting his contributions to the program, the best known of which are probably Years Of Minutes and A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney.

Rooney retired from 60 Minutes, delivering his final commentary on 2 October 2011. It was his 1,097th commentary over his 33-year career on the program. He died 4 November 2011, one month after his final broadcast.

Opening sequence[link]

The opening sequence features a 60 Minutes "magazine cover", with the signature Aristo stopwatch intercut with preview clips of the episode's stories. The sequence ends with each of the current correspondents and hosts introducing themselves. The last host who appears then says, "Those stories and Andy Rooney, tonight on 60 Minutes", followed by a final shot of the stopwatch. Before Rooney became a prominent fixture, and on days when he does not appear, the final line is "Those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes". Currently, the last host (usually Scott Pelley) will say "Those stories tonight on 60 Minutes".

The show is the first regularly scheduled television program in American television history to have never used theme music. The only theme sound is from the stopwatch in the opening title credits, before each commercial break, and at the tail-end of the closing credits.

On Sunday, 29 October 2006, the opening sequence changed from a black background to white. The black background had been used for over a decade. 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 its decade-old diagonal position to an upright position.

Web content[link]

Videos and transcripts of the show, as well as clips that did not make it to the broadcast are available on the show's web site. In September 2010, the show launched a web site called "Sixty Minutes Overtime", in which stories broadcast on the air are discussed in further detail.^[14]

iPad content[link]

CBS has launched a "60 Minutes for iPad" app that allows users to watch 60 Minutes on an iPad and access some of the show's archival footage.

Correspondents and hosts[link]

Current correspondents and commentators[link]

Hosts as of 2012^[update]:

• Steve Kroft (host, 1989–present, co-editor)
• Lesley Stahl (host, 1991–present, co-editor)
• Bob Simon (host, 1996–present)
• Morley Safer (part-time correspondent, 1968–1970; host, 1970–present)
• Scott Pelley (host, 2003–present)

Part-time correspondents as of 2012^[update]:

• Charlie Rose (2008–present)
• Lara Logan (2005–present)
• Sanjay Gupta (2006–present)
• Anderson Cooper (2006–present)
• Byron Pitts (2009–present)
• Alison Stewart (2012–present)

Logan will become full-time in the 2013 season.^[15]

Past correspondents and hosts[link]

Past hosts:

• Harry Reasoner † (host, 1968–1970 & 1978–1991)
• Mike Wallace † (host, 1968–2006 & 2008)
• Ed Bradley † (part-time correspondent, 1976–1981; host, 1981–2006)^[16]
• Dan Rather (part-time correspondent, 1968–1975; host, 1975–1981 & 2005–2006)
• Diane Sawyer (part-time correspondent, 1981–1984; host, 1984–1989)
• Meredith Vieira (part-time correspondent, 1982–1985 & 1991–1993; host, 1990–1991)
• Christiane Amanpour (part-time correspondent, 1996–2000; host, 2000–2005)

Past part-time correspondents:

• Charles Kuralt † (1968–1979)
• Walter Cronkite † (1968–1981)
• Roger Mudd (1968–1980)
• Eric Sevareid † (1968–1969)
• Bill Plante (1968–1995)
• John Hart (1969–1975)
• Bob Schieffer (1973–1996)
• Morton Dean (1975–1979)
• Marlene Sanders (1978–1987)
• Charles Osgood (1981–1994)
• Charlie Rose (1984–1991)
• Forrest Sawyer (1985–1987)
• Connie Chung (1990–1993)
• Paula Zahn (1990–1999)
• John Roberts (1992–2005)
• Allen Martin (1994–1995)
• Russ Mitchell (1995–1998)
• Carol Marin (1997–2002)^[17]
• Bryant Gumbel (1998–2002)
• Katie Couric (2006–2011)

† = Deceased

Commentators[link]

Commentators for 60 Minutes have included:

• James J. Kilpatrick † (Conservative debater, 1971–1979)
• Shana Alexander † (Liberal debater, 1975–1979)
• Nicholas von Hoffman (Liberal debater, 1971–1974)
• Bill Clinton (Liberal debater, 2003)
• Bob Dole (Conservative debater, 2003)
• Stanley Crouch (Commentator, 1996)
• Molly Ivins † (Liberal commentator, 1996)
• P. J. O'Rourke (Conservative commentator, 1996)
• Andy Rooney † (Commentator, 1978–2011)

† = Deceased

Producers[link]

• Don Hewitt 1968–2004 (deceased)
• Jeff Fager 2004–present

Special Contributor[link]

• Al Holbrook 1971–1978, 1982–1984

Ratings and recognition[link]

Ratings[link]

Based on ratings, 60 Minutes is the most successful broadcast in U.S. television history, since it was moved into its present timeslot in 1975. For five of its seasons it has been that year's top program, a feat matched by the sitcoms All in the Family and The Cosby Show, and surpassed only by reality TV show American Idol, which has been the No. 1 show for six consecutive seasons. 60 Minutes was a top ten show for 23 seasons in a row (1977–2000), an unsurpassed record.^[18]

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.^[18] During the 21st century it remains among the top 20 programs in the Nielsen ratings, and the highest-rated news magazine.^[19]

Recognition[link]

Emmy Awards[link]

As of 26 September 2011, 60 Minutes had won a total of 95 Emmy Awards,^[18] a record unsurpassed by any primetime show on any network. ^[18][20]

Peabody Awards[link]

The show won 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; "Friendly Fire", a report on incidents of friendly fire in the Gulf War; and "Duke Rape Suspects Speak Out", the first interviews with the suspects in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case.^[21] and "The Killings in Haditha," an investigation into the killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines.

Other awards[link]

The show received an Investigative Reporter and Editor medal for their segment "The Osprey", documenting a Marine coverup of deadly flaws in the V-22 Osprey aircraft.

Impact on innocent victims[link]

In 1983, a report by Morley Safer, "Lenell Geter's in Jail," helped free from prison a Texas man who was wrongly convicted of armed robbery.^[22]

Record of longest running show[link]

The show currently holds the record for the longest continuously running program of any genre scheduled during American network prime time; it has aired at 7 pm Eastern Time Sundays since 7 December 1975. The longer-running Meet the Press has also aired in prime time, but currently airs during the daytime, as it has for most of its history. The Walt Disney anthology television series, which premiered in 1954, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame, which has aired since 1951, have aired longer, but none of them has aired in prime time continually, as 60 Minutes has done.

Controversies[link]

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

Unintended acceleration[link]

On 23 November 1986, 60 Minutes aired a segment greenlit by Don Hewitt, concerning the Audi 5000 automobile, a popular German luxury car. The story covered a supposed problem of "unintended acceleration" when the brake pedal was pushed, with emotional interviews with six people who sued Audi (unsuccessfully) after they crashed their cars, including one woman whose six year old boy had been killed. Footage was shown of an Audi 5000 with the accelerator moving down on its own, accelerating the car, after an expert witness employed by one of the plaintiffs modified it with a concealed device to cause it to do so.^[23] Independent investigators concluded that this was most likely due to driver incompetence, where the driver let their foot slip off the brake and onto the accelerator. Tests by Audi and independent journalists showed that even with the throttle wide open, the car would simply stall if the brakes were actually being used.^[24]

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.^[25]

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.

Alar[link]

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.^[26] Alar was subsequently banned for use on food crops in the U.S. by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Timothy McVeigh[link]

On 12 March 2000, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh. At the time, McVeigh had already been convicted and sentenced to death for the bombing and subsequent death of 168 people. On the program McVeigh was given the opportunity to vent against the government.^[27] Following the program, a federal policy called the Special Confinement Unit Media Policy was enacted prohibiting face-to-face interviews with death row inmates.^[28] A federal inmate challenged the policy in Hammer v. Ashcroft, under which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the prison policy. In March 2010, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case, and the policy limiting media access to death row inmates remains in place. ^[29]

Werner Erhard[link]

On 3 March 1991, 60 Minutes broadcast an episode titled "Werner Erhard". The program dealt with controversies involving Werner Erhard's personal and business life. One 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 Erhard. One month after filing the lawsuit, Erhard filed for dismissal.^[30] 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, it would not be sufficient to prove that CBS knew the allegations were false, but that he would also need to prove that CBS acted with malice.^[31] Because of factual inaccuracies, the segment was later removed by CBS from its archives, with this disclaimer: “This segment has been deleted at the request of CBS News for legal or copyright reasons.”^[32]

Brown and Williamson[link]

In 1995, former Brown & Williamson 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 (glass fibers, 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 who, along with CBS lawyers, feared a billion dollar lawsuit from Brown and Williamson for tortious interference for encouraging Wigand to violate his nondisclosure agreement. A number of people in CBS would benefit from a sale of CBS to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, including the head of CBS lawyers and CBS News. Also, because of the interview, the son of CBS President Laurence Tisch (who also controlled Lorillard Tobacco) was among the people from the big tobacco companies at risk of being caught having committed perjury.

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.^[33] The New York Times wrote that "the traditions of Edward R. Murrow were diluted in the process,"^[34] though the movie revised the quote slightly, suggesting 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 as Wigand, Al Pacino as Bergman, and Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace. Wallace denounced the portrayal of him as inaccurate to his stance on the issue.

U.S. Customs Service[link]

60 Minutes alleged in 1997 that agents of the U.S. Customs Service ignored drug trafficking across the Mexico – United States border at San Diego.^[35] 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 piece, 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.^[36]

Kennewick man[link]

A legal battle between archaeologists and the Umatilla tribe over the remains of a skeleton, nicknamed Kennewick Man, was reported on by 60 Minutes (25 October 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.^[37] 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^[38] – much of the racial focus of the segment was later reported to be unfounded or misinterpreted.^[39]

Viacom/CBS cross-promotion[link]

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 media conglomerate (2000–2005) and publisher Simon & Schuster (which remains a part of CBS Corporation after the 2005 CBS/Viacom split), without disclosing the journalistic conflict-of-interest to viewers.^[40]

"The Internet Is Infected" episode and the false hacker photo[link]

In the episode "The Internet Is Infected" (29 March 2009) SecureWorks' Don Jackson, a data protection professional, is interviewed. Jackson himself declares in the program that: "A part of my job is to know the enemy". However, during the interview, Jackson shows a photo of Finnish upper level comprehensive school pupils and falsely identifies them as notorious Russian hackers.^[41]

In the photo, one of the children is wearing a jacket with the Coat of Arms of Finland on it. Another one is wearing a cap which clearly has the logo of Karjala, a Finnish brand of beer, on it. The principal of the school in Taivalkoski confirmed that the photo was taken about five years ago at the school.^[42]

The photo's exact origins are unknown, but it's widely known in Finland, being originally posted to a very popular Finnish social networking site, IRC-Galleria, in the early 2000s (decade). From there, due to its partly humorous radical right content, it spread all over Finnish internet communities and even originated a couple of patriotically titled (but intentionally misspelled) mock sites.^[42][43]

60 Minutes did issue a correction and on-air apology.^[when?]

Killian Documents Controversy[link]

The Killian documents controversy (also referred to as Memogate, Rathergate or Rathergate) involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73. Four of these documents were presented as authentic in a 60 Minutes Wednesday broadcast aired by CBS 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 have authenticated the documents, and this may not be technically possible without original documents. The provider of the documents, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, claims to have burned the originals after faxing copies to CBS. See the Wikipedia page under this name for full details.

Spin offs[link]

The main 60 Minutes show has created a number of spin offs over the years.

[edit] 30 Minutes

This newsmagazine was patterned after 60 Minutes and it was aimed at children. It aired as the final program in CBS's Saturday morning lineup from 1978–1982. It was hosted by Christopher Glenn (who also was the voice over the min 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)

[edit] 60 Minutes More

60 Minutes More was a spin off that ran for a single television season during 1996 and 1997. The episodes featured popular stories from the past that were expanded with updates on the original story. Each episode featured three of these segments.^[44]

[edit] 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".^[45] However, a widely known controversy which came to be known as "Rathergate", regarding a report that aired 8 September 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 to its original title with Roman numerals on 8 July 2005, when the show moved to a Friday night 8 pm ET time slot to finish its run. Its last broadcast was on 2 September 2005.

[edit] 60 Minutes on CNBC

In 2011, CNBC started airing a 60 Minutes spin-off of its own, called 60 Minutes on CNBC. Hosted by Lesley Stahl and Steve Kroft, it airs updated business reports from the original show and offers footage that the original broadcasts didn't have.

25th anniversary edition[link]

For the 60 Minutes 25th anniversary in 1993, Charles Kuralt interviewed Don Hewitt, the active correspondents, some former correspondents, and revisited notable stories and celebrities. This was later released commercially.

International versions[link]

Australia[link]

The Australian version of 60 Minutes premiered on 11 February 1979. It still airs each Sunday night at 7:30 pm on the Nine Network and affiliates.

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.

Although they have the rights to the format, as of 2007 they do not have rights to the US stories. Nevertheless, they often air them by subleasing them from Network Ten. In 1980 60 Minutes won a Logie Award for their investigation of lethal abuses at Chelmsford psychiatric hospital in Sydney.

Germany[link]

In the mid-1980s, an edited version (approx. 30 minutes in length) of the U.S. broadcast edition of 60 Minutes was shown for a time on West German television. This version retained the English-language soundtrack of the original, but also featured German subtitles.

New Zealand[link]

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.

Portugal[link]

The Portuguese version of 60 Minutes airs on SIC Notícias and is hosted by Mário Crespo.

Other versions[link]

• A short-lived Mexican version aired in the late 1970s.
• 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.
• In 2004, Brazil's Rede Bandeirantes planned a licensed localized version, but the plan was canceled.
• CBS Television Studios is rumoured to be planning licensed localized versions for several Latin American countries.^{[citation needed]}
• Edited reruns of 60 Minutes interviews have aired on various cable outlets in the United States, including TV Land and ESPN Classic.

See also[link]

• This Hour Has Seven Days, which pre-dates 60 Minutes by a couple of years, was similar in journalistic style and format

References[link]

Book references[link]

• Who's Who in America 1998, "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[link]

• Coffey, Frank (1993) 60 Minutes: 25 Years of Television's Finest Hour Santa Monica, CA: General Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 1-881649-04-0 . With introduction by Don Hewitt.

External links[link]

• 60 Minutes at the Internet Movie Database
• 60 Minutes at TV.com
• Booknotes interview with Don Hewitt on Tell Me A Story: 50 Years and 60 Minutes in Television, April 1, 2001.

U.S. version[link]

• CBS News podcast subscription page
• 60 Minutes podcast on iTunes Store

Australian version[link]

• Australia's 60 Minutes official website from Nine Network
• 60 Minutes (Australia) at the Internet Movie Database

New Zealand version[link]

• 60 Minutes (New Zealand) at the Internet Movie Database
• 60 Minutes New Zealand official page

Jack A. Abramoff
Abramoff testifying before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, September 29, 2004
Born	(1959-02-28) February 28, 1959 (age 53) Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Conviction(s)	Fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion
Penalty	5 years and 10 months imprisonment
Status	Released December 3, 2010
Occupation	Businessman and lobbyist
Spouse	Pam Alexander Abramoff

Jack Abramoff (pronounced /ˈeɪbrəmɒf/; born February 28, 1959) is an American former lobbyist, businessman, movie producer and writer.^[1][2] He was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to his conviction and to 21 persons either pleading guilty or being found guilty,^[3] including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides.

Abramoff was College Republican National Committee National Chairman from 1981 to 1985, a founding member of the International Freedom Foundation, allegedly financed by apartheid South Africa,^[4][5] and served on the board of directors of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank. From 1994 to 2001 he was a top lobbyist for the firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, and then for Greenberg Traurig until March 2004.

After a guilty plea in the Indian lobbying scandal and his dealings with SunCruz Casinos in January 2006, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison for mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion. He served four years before being released on December 3, 2010.^[6] After his release from prison, he wrote the book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist which was published in November 2011.

Abramoff's lobbying and the surrounding scandals and investigation are the subject of two 2010 films: the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, released in May 2010,^[7] and the feature film Casino Jack, released on December 17, 2010, starring Kevin Spacey as Abramoff.^[8][9]

Early life[link]

Jack Abramoff was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey into a Jewish family.^[10] His father, Franklin Abramoff, was president of the Franchises unit of Diners Club credit card company.^[5]

In 1968, when Abramoff was 10, his family moved to Beverly Hills, California, where he attended Beverly Hills High School.^[11] In high school he played football and became a weight-lifting champion.^[10] At the age of 12, after seeing the film version of Fiddler on the Roof, Abramoff decided to become an Orthodox Jew.^[12]

College and law school years[link]

As an undergraduate at Brandeis University,^[11] Abramoff served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans, which organized student volunteers for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. He graduated with a B.A. in English in 1981, taking six years to finish his degree, and earned his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.

According to Nina Easton, Abramoff gained much of his credibility in the conservative movement through his father, Franklin Abramoff. As president of Diners Club International, Abramoff's father worked closely with Alfred S. Bloomingdale, a personal friend of Ronald Reagan.^[13]

College Republican National Chairman[link]

After graduating from Brandeis, Abramoff ran for election as chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC). After a campaign which cost over $10,000 and was managed by Grover Norquist, Abramoff won the election after the chief competitor, Amy Moritz (who later, as Amy Ridenour, became a founding director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, and was involved in several trips funded by Jack Abramoff), was persuaded to drop out. Abramoff "changed the direction of the committee and made it more activist and conservative than ever before," notes the CRNC. "It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left", Abramoff was quoted as saying in the group's 1983 annual report. "Our job is to remove them from power permanently."^[14]

Norquist served as executive director of the committee under Abramoff. He later recruited Ralph Reed, a former president of the University of Georgia College Republicans chapter, as an unpaid intern. According to Reed's book Active Faith, Reed also introduced Abramoff to his future wife, Pam Alexander.

Long-standing college political alliances[link]

At the CRNC, Abramoff developed political alliances with College Republican chapter presidents across the nation, many who would later hold key roles in state and national politics and business, and some who would later interact with Abramoff as a lobbyist. Some of those relationships were at the core of the federal investigation.

At the CRNC, Abramoff, Norquist and Reed formed what was known as the "Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate". After Abramoff's election, the trio purged "dissidents" and re-wrote the CRNC's bylaws to consolidate their control over the organization. According to Easton's Gang of Five, Reed was the "hatchet man" and "carried out Abramoff-Norquist orders with ruthless efficiency, not bothering to hide his fingerprints".^[13]

In 1983, the CRNC passed a resolution condemning "deliberate planted propaganda by the KGB and Soviet proxy forces" against the government of South Africa, at a time when that country's government was under worldwide criticism for the apartheid regime.^[15]

In 1984, Abramoff and other College Republicans formed the "USA Foundation", a non-partisan tax-exempt organization which held two days of rallies on college campuses around the United States celebrating the first anniversary of the invasion of Grenada. In a letter to campus Republican leaders, Abramoff claimed:

Citizens for America[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012)

In 1985, Abramoff joined Citizens for America, a pro-Reagan group that helped Oliver North build support for the Nicaraguan Contras. Citizens for America staged an unprecedented meeting of anti-Communist rebel leaders known as the Democratic International in Jamba, Angola. This conference included leaders of the Mujahedeen from Afghanistan, UNITA from Angola, the Contras, and opposition groups from Laos. Out of this largely ceremonial conference came the International Freedom Foundation. Abramoff helped to organize, and also attended the conference.

Abramoff's membership ended on a sour note when Citizens for America's sponsor Lewis Lehrman, a former New York gubernatorial candidate, concluded that Abramoff had spent his money carelessly.^[17]

In 1986, Reagan appointed Abramoff as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.^[18]

Work in film production, and South Africa connections[link]

Abramoff spent 10 years in Hollywood. He wrote and produced, with his brother Robert, the 1989 film Red Scorpion. The film had a $16 million budget and starred Dolph Lundgren playing the Spetznaz-like Soviet commando Nikolai, sent by the USSR to assassinate an African revolutionary in a country similar to Angola. Nikolai sees the evil of the Soviets and changes sides, becoming a freedom fighter for the African side.^[19][20][21]

The South African government financed the film via the International Freedom Foundation, a front-group chaired by Abramoff, as part of its efforts to undermine international sympathy for the African National Congress.^[22] The filming location was in South-West Africa (now Namibia).^[23][24]

On April 27, 1998, Abramoff wrote a letter to the editor of The Seattle Times rebutting an article critical of him and his alleged role as effectively a Public Relations puppet of the then-apartheid South African military. Abramoff rebutted: "The IFF was a conservative group which I headed. It was vigorously anti-Communist, but it was also actively anti-apartheid. In 1987, it was one of the first conservative groups to call for the release of Nelson Mandela, a position for which it was roundly criticized by other conservatives at the time. While I headed the IFF, we accepted funding only from private individuals and corporations and would have absolutely rejected any offer of South African military funding, or any other kind of funding from any government — good or evil."^[25]

During this period in South Africa, Abramoff first met South African–born rabbi David Lapin, who would become his religious advisor, and Lapin's brother and fellow rabbi Daniel Lapin, who allegedly introduced Abramoff to Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX) at a Washington, DC dinner shortly after the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.^[26] Lapin later claimed that he did not recall the introduction.

Seattle-based lobbying[link]

In December 1994, Abramoff was hired as a lobbyist at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP, the lobbying arm of the law firm Preston Gates & Ellis LLP based in Seattle, Washington. According to The Seattle Times, following the Republican takeover of Congress in 1995, partner Emanuel Rouvelas determined that the firm "didn't have a conservative, Christian Coalition Republican with strong ties to the new Republican leadership".^[27] The traditionally Democratic-leaning firm hired Abramoff for the specific purpose of attaining these wanted ties. Abramoff was described in a press release as having close ties to Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey.

According to The Seattle Times, Abramoff used Preston Gates & Ellis to access a higher pedigree of clientele.^[28]

Choctaw Gambling[link]

In 1995, Abramoff began representing Indian tribes with gambling interests. He became involved with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. One of Abramoff's first acts as a tribal gaming lobbyist was to defeat a Congressional bill to tax Indian casinos, sponsored by Bill Archer (R-TX) and Ernest Istook (R-OK). According to Washington Business Forward, a lobbying trade magazine, "Tom DeLay was a major factor in those victories, and the fight helped cement the alliance between the two men".^[29] DeLay has called Abramoff "one of (his) closest and dearest friends".

The Washington Post, on December 29, 2005, reported: "Jack Abramoff liked to slip into dialogue from The Godfather as he led his lobbying colleagues in planning their next conquest on Capitol Hill. In a favorite bit, he would mimic an ice-cold Michael Corleone facing down a crooked politician's demand for a cut of Mafia gambling profits: 'Senator, you can have my answer now if you like. My offer is this: nothing.'"^[30]

Salon.com political writer Thomas Frank considers Abramoff to have acted as a con man.^[31][32] In an appearance with former U.S. Representative Bob Ney and former Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Neil Volz on Kojo Nnamdi's National Public Radio affiliate WAMU-FM radio show, Alex Gibney, director and writer of the 2010 film Casino Jack and the United States of Money elaborated on Abramoff's criminal modus operandi. Gibney remarked, "one of his (Abramoff's) great gifts was being able to tell people what they wanted to hear, and this was how he was able to sell things and get them into trouble."

Saipan and Northern Mariana Islands[link]

Abramoff and his law firm were paid at least $6.7 million by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) from 1995 to 2001, which made manufacture goods with the "Made in the USA" label but is not subject to U.S. labor and minimum wage laws. After Abramoff paid for DeLay and his staffers to go on trips to the CNMI, they crafted policy that extended exemptions from federal immigration and labor laws to the islands' industries. Abramoff also negotiated for a $1.2 million no-bid contract from the Marianas for "promoting ethics in government" to be awarded to David Lapin, brother of Daniel Lapin. Abramoff also secretly funded a trip for James E. Clyburn (D-SC) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In 1999 Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) went on an Abramoff-funded trip to the Marshall Islands with John Doolittle (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), delegates of Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and eight staffers.^[33]

Documentation also indicates that Abramoff's lobbying team helped prepare Rep. Ralph Hall's (R-TX) statements on the House floor in which he attacked the credibility of escaped teenaged sex worker "Katrina," in an attempt to discredit her testimony regarding the state of the sex slave industry on the island.^[34] Ms. magazine also explored Abramoff's dealings in the CNMI and the plight of garment workers like Katrina in their spring 2006 article.^[35]

Later lobbying efforts involved mailings from a Ralph Reed marketing company to Christian conservative voters and bribery of Roger Stillwell, a Department of the Interior official who in 2006 pleaded guilty to accepting gifts from Abramoff.

Naftasib[link]

Executives of Naftasib, a Russian energy company, funneled almost $3.4 million to Abramoff and DeLay advisor Ed Buckham between 1997 and 2005. About $60,000 was spent on a trip to Russia in 1997 for Tom DeLay, Buckham, and Abramoff. In 1998, $1 million was sent to Buckham via his organization U.S. Family Network to "influence DeLay's vote in 1998 on legislation that helped make it possible for the International Monetary Fund to bail out the faltering Russian economy." DeLay voted for the legislation. The money was funneled through the Dutch company Voor Huisen, the Bahamas company Chelsea Enterprises, and the London law firm James & Sarch Co.^[36][37]

The executives involved, who met DeLay during the 1997 trip, were Marina Nevskaya and Alexander Koulakovsky. Nevskaya was also involved in Abramoff's support of an Israeli military academy, as indicated by an email sent to Abramoff.^[38]

eLottery, Inc.[link]

In 1999, eLottery hired Abramoff to block the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, which he did by enlisting Reed, Norquist, and Tom DeLay's former chief of staff, Tony Rudy.^[39]

Emails from 2000 show that Susan Ralston helped Abramoff pass checks from eLottery to Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) and also to Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), in route to Reed's company, Century Strategies.^[40][41]

Abramoff joins Greenberg Traurig[link]

On January 8, 2001, Abramoff left Preston Gates to join the Government Relations division of the Washington, D.C. law firm Greenberg Traurig, which once described him as "directly involved in the Republican party and conservative movement leadership structures" and "one of the leading fund raisers for the party and its congressional candidates".^[42] With the move to Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff took as much as $6 million worth of client business from his old firm, including the Marianas Islands account. At Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff recruited a team of lobbyists known familiarly as "Team Abramoff". The team included many of his former employees from Preston Gates and former senior staffers of members of Congress.

Tribal lobbying[link]

Around the time he joined Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff's choice of lobbying clients changed to focus much more on Native American tribes. While Abramoff was a registered lobbyist for 51 clients while working at Preston Gates, with only four being tribes, Abramoff would eventually represent 24 clients for whom he was registered lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig, of which seven were tribes.

Tyco International Ltd.[link]

Former White House Deputy Counsel Timothy Flanigan left his job in December 2002 to work as General Counsel for Corporate and International Law at Tyco International. He immediately hired Abramoff to lobby Congress and the White House on matters relating to Tyco's Bermuda tax-exempt status.^[43] Flanigan stated to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff "bragged" that he could help Tyco avoid tax liability aimed at offshore companies because he "had good relationships with members of Congress".^[44]

Tyco Inc. claimed in August 2005 that Abramoff had been paid $1.7 million for "astroturfing", or the creation of a fake "grassroots" campaign to oppose proposals to penalize US corporations registered abroad for tax reasons. The work allegedly was never performed, and most of the fee Tyco paid Abramoff to lobby against the legislation was "diverted to entities controlled by Mr. Abramoff".^[44]

Lobbying for national governments[link]

Abramoff's team represented the government of Malaysia, and worked toward improving Malaysian relations with the United States, particularly with trade relations.^[45]

Abramoff also met with the government of Sudan, offering a plan to deflect criticism from American Christian groups over the regime's alleged role in the Darfur conflict. Abramoff promised to enlist Reed to assist, as well as starting a grassroots campaign to improve the image of Sudan in America.^[46]

Channel One News[link]

Abramoff was a lobbyist for the school TV news service Channel One News. From 1999 to 2003, Channel One retained him to ensure Congress did not block funds to their service. Not only did Channel One face frequent campaigns by political groups to persuade Congress to limit its presence in schools, but it also derived much of its advertising revenue from U.S. government sources, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy and military recruitment. Since Abramoff and Channel One parted ways, Channel One's advertising revenues have dropped substantially, but a cause-and-effect relationship would be difficult to establish.^[47]

Telecommunications firm[link]

On October 18, 2005, The Washington Post reported that Bob Ney, as chair of the House Administration Committee, approved a 2002 license for an Israeli telecommunications company to install antennas for the House or Representatives. The company, then Foxcom Wireless, an Israeli start-up telecommunications firm, (which has since moved headquarters from Jerusalem to Vienna, Virginia, and been renamed MobileAccess Networks) later paid Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying. It also donated $50,000 to the Capital Athletic Foundation charity that Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for some of his lobbying activities.^[48] In Michael Scanlon's plea agreement, this activity was described as public corruption.^[49]

Skyboxes, "Signatures", and Scotland[link]

Jack Abramoff's now-closed Signatures restaurant, in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Abramoff maintained four skyboxes at major sports arenas for political entertaining at a cost of over $1 million a year. Abramoff hosted many fundraisers at these skyboxes including events for politicians publicly opposed to gambling, such as John Doolittle.^[50]