'60 Minutes' team discusses 50 years of tradition, groundbreaking journalism at NPC

In the words of Don Hewitt, the founding producer of “60 Minutes,” the secret to the news magazine’s success can be found in four words: “Tell me a story.”

That simple formula has been followed by the venerable CBS News program since its launch in 1968 and still guides its correspondents and producers 50 years later. "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Jeff Fager and "60 Minutes" Correspondent Bill Whitaker spent much of March 27 at the National Press Club, discussing their craft first at a master class with Young Members before an evening program in the Ballroom celebrating a half-century of “60 Minutes.”

The Ballroom event was moderated by Club Board Member Michael Freedman, a former general manager of CBS Radio Network News. It came two days after one of the most-watched episodes of “60 Minutes” in recent years, featuring Anderson Cooper’s interview with Stormy Daniels, the adult-film star who allegedly had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump a decade before he was elected president.

“We cover what’s important,” Fager said, while later admitting his initial reluctance to air the Daniels interview. “That’s what we do – we cover what’s important and make it interesting.”

Fager and Whitaker recounted some of the high points of “60 Minutes” history and sketched the sometimes-prickly personalisites of the show’s larger-than-life figures, including humorist Andy Rooney and correspondent Mike Wallace.

“You’re standing on the shoulders of giants, but you’re new each week,” said Whitaker, who joined “60 Minutes” in 2014 after three decades as a CBS News correspondent.

Fager, the show’s executive producer for almost 15 years, often invoked Hewitt, who devised the program’s format by combining the best of two early CBS programs hosted by Edward R. Murrow: “See It Now” and “Person to Person” -- hard-hitting journalism and entertaining profiles. “You start with fairness,” he said.

“You can’t go into a story wanting an outcome,” Whitaker added. “You have to let the story tell itself.”

“60 Minutes” conducts no audience research on what its viewers might want to see, Fager said. Instead, the program is built on the journalistic instincts of its staff, which Fager noted is equally balanced between women and men and is considerably younger than people might expect.

The journalists discussed some of the program’s best-known failings, including a 1995 segment on the tobacco industry that was pulled after objections from the show’s lawyers.

Still, Fager and Whitaker agreed that the show’s long record of journalistic triumphs provides a historic legacy and a foundation for the future. The success of “60 Minutes” comes with a sense of responsibility, they said, especially when some political leaders question the credibility of independent journalism. “We are very much alone in what we do on commercial television,” said Fager, who added that reporting should be considered a public service.

“I truly believe that in the end, the truth will prevail,” Whitaker said, “and that’s what we’re there for.”

After the chat with Freedman, Fager and Whitaker took questions from the audience, and Fager signed copies of his book Fifty Years of 60 Minutes.