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

Admission. I first purchased this hard copy used edition, and loved it so much that after three months of dithering, I purchased the ebook. The reason is simple: as a history buff, but also a person in media and entertainment, many of who we work with are in those two industries. This book is fascinating because it provides the behind-the-scenes for so many iconic moments in television, and it does so from the perspective of the producer, the person actually creating, developing, nurturing and editing the stories. I hate purchasing books and feeling like I already know most of the stories, and I feared this would be the case with 50 yrs of 60 min--but it was not. For example, the memorable context behind the unforgettable interview with Bill and Hillary Clinton post Monica Lewinsky, and the famed stand-by-your-man I'm not Tammy Wynette line. Fager provides the lead up to it, and what the producer told the Clintons to get them to address the question, which was essentially: you answer this once and say you did it on 60 minutes and you'll never address it again. I'd never heard that aspect related before.Another revelation was back during the Cold War with Russia. The 60 min producers had talked their way into Russia and met with a top military general. They start talking about nuclear war, bunkers etc, and to terribly summarize, they conversation leads to the general showing the members of 60 min the arsenal and when asked, answered that yes, they would sit down and have a conversation with the US. The result--incredibly--was that this moment on television opened up a dialogue with the US that included bi-directional visits to some of each countries nuclear sites.The snippets of fact and finnesse of the 60 min crew is worth every dime spent on this, new or used, hard copy or ebook. Fifty Years of 60 Minutes: The Inside Story of Television's Most Influential News Broadcast

Great book. I've always been a fan of 60 Minutes. Brings back memories.

This book is composed of five chapters, one for each decade of 60 Minutes broadcasts. For some unexplained reason, the decades are ordered #3, #1, #2, #4 and #5. I had a difficult time starting the read in Decade 3 (1988 to 1998), so I read the chapters in chronological order and found it to be much more interesting and sensible that way. I would strongly recommend this approach for others as well.Being a big fan of 60 Minutes over the years, I thoroughly enjoyed the show's ups, downs and very poignant behind the scenes story lines. A must read for prospective journalists.

An interesting history. I have just finished reading the TICKING CLOCK by Ira Rosen, a producer at 60 MINUTES. It made the book more interesting.

The book content is fabulous - I was disappointed with the cover - it was peeling at the top of the front and back cover - since it's brand new and the book is blank without the cover, it makes it look like a used book -- this was a gift for my father who is a huge fan of 60 Minutes so I was embarrassed that it looked shabby

Gave this as a gift for a friend that's obsesses over 60 Minutes. She enjoyed it.

It's another puff piece reminiscent of "Minute By Minute" by Don Hewitt published in 1985. Self-congratulatory propaganda from executive producer Jeff Fager, who has yet to come clean on the terrible mistake made in a segment on Christians in the Middle East, which was really a hit piece on Israel that aired in 2012. The show focused on the alleged suffering of Christians in Israel and the West Bank even as Christians were being driven from their homes in Iraq in huge numbers. In the segment, Bob Simon declared that an Israeli built security barrier completely surrounded Bethlehem, "turning the city of Christ's birth into what its residents call an 'open-air prison.'"It wasn't true and 60 Minutes never corrected. Fager doubled down on the error while speaking at his church, St. Mark's Episcopal Church in New Canaan, Connecticut in 2013, saying "Bethlehem is surrounded by a wall."Like I said, 60 Minutes never corrected. In the book, Fager writes ""I do believe that after you admit mistakes in journalism — and we have had our share of them over the years—you do your best to understand how the mistakes were made and start to earn back your reputation, one story at a time."Sadly, Fager and the show he leads never underwent this process in reference to the piece on Christians in Israel.Fager is trying to shepherd 60 Minutes into a new technological platform, but has yet to come to grips with a salient characteristic of this new platform: It allows people to publicize his uncorrected errors even as he proclaims just how ethical he is.

I'm a big fan of 60 Minutes, so this was a wonderful opportunity for me to get a look behind the scenes of this magnificent program. I thought there was a good bit of repetition of information and it could have probably used a better editor. But for anyone who has enjoyed this iconic program over the years, this book is well worth reading.

Love all the history in this book

Read this in three days. Very difficult to put down once you start.

Love it. Get many compliments. Great price for an everyday watch.

Christmas gift that was loved.

Gift....they said just OK.