"60 Minutes" Out of Time?

When something is missing within something greater, you sense a deep hole in the greater entity.  American politics without Robert Kennedy.  Rock and roll without Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon.  French cinema without François Truffaut.  

"60 Minutes" without Don Hewitt.

CBS's "60 Minutes" hasn't been the same since Hewitt, who died in 2009, retired in 2004 after 36 years of producing the news magazine show he created, and the subsequent deaths of Ed Bradley, Mike Wallace and Andy Rooney have only compounded the sense of loss as current producer Jeff Fager has tried to make it edgier and more of the times.  But Fager's tweaks have only compromised the integrity of the show; increasingly, "60 Minutes" has been getting more shallow, giving us "news" stories that feel forced and fake.

Don't take my word for it.  Consider the Lara Logan story on how the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya unfolded, which I commented on back in November 2013.  Logan herself has since turned out to be a reporter of dubious ethics, using her charm and a heavy dose of attitude to plow her way into a position of responsible journalism - an excellent New York magazine article on Logan illustrates her rise to the top - and she doesn't look to be returning to "60 Minutes" any time soon.  

But there are other issues.  Recently "60 Minutes" aired a report on the National Security Agency and how it collects and gathers data, and the report was so bland and staid, it appeared to be - no, was - trying to convince Americans how lucky we are to have such a reputable agency watching over us and protecting us from terrorism.  Yeah, the part about them watching over us wasn't reassuring.  Neither was Lesley Stahl's recent report on failed "green energy" companies and projects that took money from government programs, which ignored successful solar and wind energy companies that got government subsidies.  (To her credit, and to be fair, Stahl read letters on the air the week after from viewers complaining about the lack of coverage of the government-subsidized alternative-energy startups that did work.)  But the Scott Pelley report on British Petroleum claiming that it was being forced to pay compensation to individuals and small companies that were not affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil leak - that was the clincher.  Pelley's report overlooked the legitimate claims that have been paid under a deal BP knew would be unworkable on an increasingly large scale, which would give it the opportunity to sue to get out of said deal . . . and the report several claims that have been rejected with many more that haven't been examined yet.  While some claimants are illegitimate and should not be paid, BP wants to avoid paying anyone, and it's willing to go all the way to the Supreme Court to have the deal invalidated.  Jeff Fager's emphasis on storytelling at "60 Minutes" is on style over substance, corporate interests over public interests, and access over reportage.

Here's a trivial example of how "60 Minutes" has gotten trivialized:  The news magazine show recently did a profile on Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk and showed a Tesla Model S sedan being driven on the road, with the guttural sound of a smooth, purring engine.  Except for one thing: The Tesla is an electric car, and electric auto engines don't make noise!  The only noise you hear from a Tesla on the road - take it from one who saw one drive by while standing on a street corner - is the sound of the tires running along the pavement.

In all fairness, "60 Minutes" could cross the line occasionally under Hewitt, such as Ed Bradley's flawed report on the "unintended acceleration" of the Audi 5000 sedan in 1987, which turned about to be the result of American drivers' unfamiliarity with the positioning of the accelerator and brake pedals in German cars, and the subsequent misapplication of pedals caused by driver error - not the result of anything Audi did.  But such incidents under Hewitt were isolated at best.  No more.  By getting softer, engaging in fakery, and constantly kowtowing to corporate interests (I cannot emphasize that latter point enough), "60 Minutes" under Fager is practicing the very things that run against everything that Hewitt and his reporters held dear.  I don't like where's it's headed.

On the other hand, Soctt Pelley did an excellent profile on Liam Neeson.  The arts and entertainment stories are probably the only things keeping me tuned in to "60 Minutes" these days.