CHANGE CREEPS slowly through the ninth-floor newsroom of the West 57th Street high-rise in New York that houses “60 Minutes,” CBS’ storied Sunday evening television newsmagazine.
For decades, the office assignments on Correspondent’s Row, a bank of glass-walled rooms facing the Hudson River, were sacrosanct, with the biggest space next to the executive producer belonging to Mike Wallace.
But Wallace’s office has been largely empty since the 91-year-old became correspondent emeritus three years ago. In August, executive producer Jeff Fager decided that it was time for Steve Kroft, the longest serving of the full-time correspondents, to inherit the space.
“This is hallowed ground,” Kroft said recently, still surrounded by boxes, the office walls empty save for a row of gleaming Emmys lining a shelf.
What may seem like minor office shuffling is freighted with the symbolism of a generational shift at “60 Minutes,” which began its 42nd season recently.
While Fager stresses that the broadcast is an ensemble effort, he acknowledged that Kroft, 64, who got his start sending dispatches from Vietnam, has emerged as the face of the program, in part because of his reports on the financial crisis and his much-watched interviews with candidate and President Barack Obama. “I don’t think anyone can tell a story better,” Fager said.
Transitional period
Kroft’s rising profile is not the only change on the broadcast, the most-watched news program on TV and arguably the only one that still commands a mass audience on a regular basis. For all of its endurance, “60 Minutes” has entered a transitional period. This will be the first season without creator Don Hewitt, who died in August at age 86. Hewitt was a lively presence in the newsroom, even after his retirement in 2004.
Also, the ranks of correspondents have grown with younger contributors, bringing team of reporters to 10. The influx troubles veterans, who fret that the program’s identity is being blurred.
“I think that the public gets a little confused sometimes,” said correspondent Lesley Stahl, sitting in her office down the hall from Kroft.
That’s only amped up the famously intense competition among the staff.
“We are all trying to find the most compelling stories on Earth, and I think that’s something that drives the energy of the broadcast,” correspondent Scott Pelley said.
The addition of young new contributors is an acknowledgment that there’s a limit to “60 Minutes'” reach. For the last decade, the median age of viewers has hovered around 60. That’s a year younger than that of the three evening newscasts, but several years older than other network newsmagazines, according to Nielsen. One of the show’s most recognizable figures is 91-year-old essayist Andy Rooney.
“The cultivation of this new cast of characters is an attempt to lure a younger audience,” said Richard Campbell, director of Miami University’s journalism program and the author of “60 Minutes and the News: A Mythology for Middle America.”
The risk, he added, is a dilution of the brand once represented by Wallace and the late Ed Bradley.
A growing audience
The show has long been CBS News’ most prestigious property, and last season it managed a rare feat, reversing a nearly decade-long trend of ratings declines. The audience grew to an average of 14.3 million people, up 10 percent from the year before and the biggest in seven years. The increase came as most other newscasts lost audience, including both “CBS Evening News” and ABC’s “World News.” Viewers came not only for Kroft’s Obama interviews but Katie Couric’s interview with Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger and Pelley’s sit-down with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The boost in ratings was particularly sweet for a program that has stayed true to the format that Hewitt hit on four decades ago: a weekly menu of meaty interviews, exhaustive investigative pieces and whimsical features.
One of the few big changes was last season’s conversion to high definition. In a modern flourish, producers also added a boom camera in the studio that zooms in on the correspondents as they introduce their pieces, seated on a stool instead of a chair.
“Whatever the ethos of this broadcast was, it still is, and I think that’s the most important thing,” said correspondent Morley Safer, 77, who joined the program in 1970. Competitors such as NBC’s “Dateline” and ABC’s “20/20,” originally modeled after “60 Minutes,” now largely pursue crime stories and celebrity interviews. They average about half the audience of “60 Minutes.”
Not all its competitors enjoy the consistent time slot or the lift “60 Minutes” gets from its NFL game lead-in. But the program’s fervent embrace of hard news has made it the most sought-after platform in television.
Now the pressure is on “60 Minutes” to keep delivering those kind of must-watch hours without the benefit of a historic presidential election.
“More than ever, people are looking for us to have a big story on Sunday,” Fager said. “With that, you create certain expectations.”
Great expectations
On a recent afternoon, Fager anxiously was mulling which pieces should be featured in the season-premiere episode. The no-nonsense producer scanned a rundown that included a story by Kroft about the earning potential of dead celebrities. For all the program’s success last season, Fager worries about losing its perch.
“I fear it all the time,” he said. “I know that we have a huge amount of support from CBS, but you can’t ever take that for granted. We’re in the business of drawing audience. You’re only as good as your next broadcast.”
He was leaning toward an exclusive with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, whose classified assessment about the need for more troops was recently leaked. The piece is classic “60 Minutes”: an in-depth profile with a powerful figure, timed for maximum impact.
Fager, who worked as a producer for Kroft and Safer before serving as executive producer of “CBS Evening News” and “60 Minutes II,” said he plans to make Afghanistan a major focus on the program this season, eager to challenge the conventional wisdom that the public has tired of the war. Several correspondents spent time in the battlefield this summer, but the McChrystal piece was done by David Martin, the network’s national security correspondent, part of Fager’s effort to broaden the number of faces on the program by drawing from the entire news division.
This season, he brought aboard chief national correspondent Byron Pitts, 48, who joins chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan, 38, and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, 42, as the program’s new generation of contributors.
“They add a spark to the broadcast,” Fager said. “And it’s nice to have someone in every age group. That’s important — we have to be thinking about what’s happening in the years to come.”
The contributors
Couric, 52, and PBS interviewer Charlie Rose, 67, also contribute to the show, along with the program’s regular correspondents: Kroft, Stahl, Pelley, Safer and Bob Simon. Some staffers are unsettled by the burgeoning ranks.
“I think you can go too far in the variety of people,” Safer said. “I think to some extent, not just the die-hards, the people who view it pretty often, like the comfort of knowing the people who are reporting.”
Kroft was more blunt.
“I don’t like it,” he said. “I think the show ought to have a set cast.”
Fager said he’s not concerned that the broadcast is overbooked, noting that about 80 percent of the 100 stories produced each season are by the five main correspondents. Still, the expanded staff has intensified the competition to get on the air. Such battles descended into shouting matches during Hewitt’s time; nowadays, the atmosphere is less volatile. The mood in the 75-person newsroom is one of brisk efficiency.
“There’s very, very little blood,” Pelley said. “It’s a friendly competition, but each and every one of us really likes to win.”
Stahl said she’s relieved that the internal jockeying is no longer accompanied by “screaming and yelling” that marked Hewitt’s tenure. “Jeff runs a calmer shop,” she said. ”
That’s not to say Hewitt isn’t missed.
Last season, he made a point of popping in the office every Monday to congratulate the staff on the previous night’s broadcast.
“There really is a little bit of him in all of us,” said Fager. “I think the reason we’re able to maintain our consistency is because he taught us so well.”
