60 Minutes is a popular Sunday-evening CBS series that began in 1967, and was the brainchild of producer Don Hewitt. The show was groundbreaking and the first of its kind— a television journalism magazine—which encompasses breaking news stories, interviews, satirical pieces and letters to the editor. Dateline NBC, 48 Hours and 20/20 are a few of the programs that have mimicked the iconic news show in its success.

Several reporters have risen to fame due to their investigative journalistic prowess. Mike Wallace, a 37 year veteran of the series, is hailed as a point-blank inquisitor, who digs deep to find the truth in a story.

Harry Reasoner founded 60 minutes, along with Mike Wallace, and was known as a steady reporter. He left the show after three years for an anchor position on the ABC Evening News, but returned in 1978, and stayed until retirement in 1991. Morley Safer replaced Reasoner and has been with the show as a correspondent and host ever since.  Other well-known reporters in the history of the program are Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Meredith Vieira, Steve Kroft and Leslie Stahl. A much-loved segment of the show is the satirical commentary that ends the show each week, from the liberal-leaning and often controversial Andy Rooney. In fact, Rooney was suspended from the series in 1990, accused of being a racist, for the following comment, “too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes [are] all known to lead… to premature death.” When CBS lost 20 percent of their viewers in only four weeks, they cut his punishment short and allowed him to return.

60 Minutes made many headlines and fell under extreme scrutiny, as it exposed Government agencies for their hidden agendas, employed the use of hidden cameras, accused car dealers and health spas of fraud, and held interviews with such a focused intensity that many lives were changed because of them, and some disastrously so, as some eye-witnesses found out when they received threats to their lives after their segments aired.

The long-standing 60 Minutes is the recipient of five Peabody Awards for distinguished achievement, a Golden Globe Award for Best TV-Series – Drama and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Broadcast Journalism. With its dramatic stories and journalistic achievements, it is no wonder that the show continues to keep the world watching, as it informs and enlightens, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we were still watching it for another decade or more.

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