Say, what would my father say . What would he think of all of this . Obviously i cannot call him up well i guess i could whatever it hasnt worked so far. [laughter] we tend to get into a flurry of texts or emails with me my siblings and we come up with their own point of view of will, that is what doug would say. Or that is what that would say. But most often he would be rolling over in his grave. I think it has been a long time since you this kind of tension between the media and the administration. But coming back here today it actually makes me reflect on a time when i was here and what was the upper school. At that point the tension was between the media and the Vice President. And none of you remember that. And, for me at that age, i was 12, maybe . It had very distinct impression. I knew that there was a black list and my fathers name was on it. And you know, there was a lot of pressure on cbs with the pentagon and it seems, i do know i can be wrong jeff, i would love to hear your point of view. But it has not been like that until now. And now it feels quite different. With that, i mexico determines over to lisa from the library. She will formally introduce jeff. Im really looking forward to what you have to say and i promise i will share back. [applause] thank you, sarah. Thank you to you and your family and all those that had the foresight within 20 years ago to endow this lecture to this community. We are just so pleased to have you all here. Especially on this miserable afternoon. I should stop and let you know who i am. For those of you that do not know me i am lisa oldham, executive director at the canaan library. Earlier this year we contacted jeff and asked him if he would, if you dream in the calendar to be a speaker this fall but not only he had been pleased to do that but he had a book coming out around the same time. We were delighted obviously to have him left not to come and speak at the launch of this really important work. Jeff has been at cbs for 35 years. Including several years as chairman of cbs news and the last 13 as executive producer of 60 minutes. One the highest quality i think we will all agree of Investigative Journalism in the united states. Among other accolades, they have one anybody and other awards. And jeff was awarded recently and worth of the highest journalistic honor and broadcast news. Slightly out of order here. I wanted to also thank, before i pass the baton, the Country School. Who at the very last minute, enabled us to accommodate what was going to be 400 people today. Obviously the weather and some issues caused some people to miss it. But we are getting really used you in the library, having a waitlist for things. When he saw the witness was up around 200 people that wanted to come to this lecture, beyond the 200 already registered for the room, we pulled out all the stops and Country School, were very gracious at last minute let us come in. Thank you to those who helped make that happen. [applause] we are all looking a way forward to the day when we will not have to shipped venues and sent out 400 emails on the eve of an event to let you know we change the venue where we can have these types of events at the library. So, without too much further, i want to know that cspan is here recording today. And when we have questions and answers at the end, please do wait for the microphone and speak very clearly and directly into the microphone so that it can be heard when the recording is rebroadcast on cspan. I cannot say when that will be. I do not have the information yet but we will be sure to let you all know. And so, without further ado, i would like to invite jeff fager to the podium. [applause] thank you. That is very nice. It is nice to be here. So nice to be here, so many friends. 200 of the hecklers that are here. [laughter] you stay quiet today. [laughter] it is funny because i was thinking of coming to the Country School. It reminds me of andy rooney. Because his kids when here. I miss him so much he would talk about a classic cbs, he had some runins with your debt. But andy was so much off the other way he was on air. I write about him the book because he is one of those largerthanlife characters. Its funny because i think about and tell the story when people asked me what was he like. The story of being with him at a party. At the super bowl several years ago. He had makers on the rocks. If it wasnt at the bar then he would say, they never have the liquor you want [laughter] andy and i were talking. I saw a friend of mine and i said andy, this is my friend bruce. And i said bruce come on over. Bruce is the cfo of the Cbs Television network. He signs your paycheck. He signs your paycheck. And andy said without a beat, well, nobodys perfect and he walked away. [laughter] he just walked away he loves being andy rooney on and off the air. Im sure the Country School remembers him well. You know, it is an honor to do this talk. I have done this a couple of times. Because it was so special and is so special in my mind, and is the minds of people who care about what cbs should be because that was dick. I want to talk about him and the situation because im sure people want to hear about it. I just have a couple of stories about this that are worth repeating. But you know he represents to me integrity. He is really the bridge between past and present for me. As is don hewitt. It is just very different people. But dick salant, the network was founded by Edward Morrow and fred friendly, the producer. And they really were the driving force behind cbs news. They started the organization with world war ii coverage. There was no real cbs is before that. Dick salant can president and early 60s for the first time. He was president twice. A total of 16 years. Near the end of that. , he had put together what we know as the book of standards and practices. Which really put into writing, everything not friendly and morrow created at cbs news. I think that is such an important really, in terms of broadcast news, beginning radio is oneofakind. And dick salant is responsible for that. I joined cbs news in 1982. Which is only about four years after it came out. I had to read it as a condition of signing my contract to work at cbs news which was interesting. I sure as hell hope it is still the case. That is how important dick salant is for those of us that have been there for many years. Mr. Dick salant is when he was referred to as. Well after he was gone. But i want to talk a little bit about what he faced, sir mentioned there was a 60 minutes interview that mike wallace conducted that was as good as it gets. Right before, in january, before he became Vice President before nixon took over and it is a fascinating interview. But i think really the most intense pressure that came to cbs news aside from the pentagon pressures which was a difficult time that dick salant rode out. It was an interim. Where morley covered vietnam and show the soldier setting fire and light is to vietnam. And boy, were they upset upset with cbs news, upset with how we were covering the news and the war and upset with morley safer. And he said what is he a communist . And then they said no, sir. Good old morley safer i miss him so much. So many of the people in this book that i worked with for years are now gone. All of the people that started in 60 minutes. But i want to talk about the history because interesting. It really is about don hewitt as well as the others. It would not have happened if dick salant did not give it the green light. He said yes to the idea of 60 minutes. He said no first and then he said yes. But, that was a four year gap. He gave it the goahead. I want to talk about a minute. Don hewitt joined cbs news after the worker has a corresponding with stars and stripes. He really wasnt dying to be a reporter. He liked the action of this New Invention television. Some said he should get into television and this time i said what a vision . He was nowhere. The people at cbs news were not interested in television all. They were the kings of radio and they were everything. And don hewitt joined and boy were they different from them he was a kid from new rochelle. A bit of a showman. He was just crazy about this New Invention. They were elegant, battle tested, storytellers. Firstclass storytellers. And morrow gathered this group as many of you know in london, and they were incredible gentleman correspondence. That is how don always referred to them. He had television to himself. And he was more on the production side. As in directing. Take one, take two. Then he was on the editorial side. But he learned the editorial side of those greats at cbs news. He learned about journalism from that. And eventually, he became the director of the first Nixon Kennedy debates. Which were pretty fascinating. Because it was really a breakthrough moment for television. That was a turning point. Nixon did not want to wear makeup. And don suggested he should wear makeup. And don always said that cost him the election. All of the polls show that on the radio, broadcast of the debate that nixon won. Andy got clobbered on the Television Side by the tanned senator from massachusetts. Don became, after that, the First Executive producer of the cbs evening news with Walter Cronkite a halfhour. That was the biggest job at the time. Morrow was participating, so was friendly and dick salant was president. And don was this was it. But as soon as friendly became president , he called don hewitt into the office in 1964 or early 65 and he thought he was too much a showman for the flagship broadcast of cbs news. At first he told don you have your own unit. And we like to really do great things with it. And he called his wife and said i have been promoted. And he she said no don, you have been fired. And then he realized and said, oh my gosh it was the most humiliating and awful defeat in his life. And whats next, he went to do documentaries. When he called hourlong snoozers. He did not understand why does television have to be boring. And so he came up with this idea which he presented earlier but perfected it a bit. It took documentaries, cut them down to 15 minutes each and put them into one broadcast. And he showed it to everybody who would listen until they start to hide from him. That is the kind of guy he was. So intense and so full of life. Finally, he and a friend convinced dick salant to say, yes. Lets try this 60 minutes thing. They went on the air 50 years ago this september. And it finished almost dead last. It got through the year the because it got pretty good reviews and one other thing which is that don and dick salant said it should be single anchor. One person. Harry, dignified anchor, host. So different from where we are today. But he was convinced that dick salant and don hewitt that they should give mike wallace a try. Well, that is the most interesting marriage i think in our history of cbs news. Because to me, they are the lennon and mccartney of television. Don hewitt and mike wallace. Their personalities were so big. Their abilities, in terms of editing and storytelling and in terms of his vision. And mike, terms of his approach to the interview which was direct and tough and inyourface. The mike wallace interview coming in the back of the first broadcast and it is the same mike wallace. He did tone it down a touch. He never toned it down around the office. Mike wallace was a rascal through and through, a rascal. The most lovable one. I am sorry that he is not here because i love to talk about mike. His daughter is not read the book. But she promises to when she gets up the nerve. She misses him so much as i do. But he and the office of hours of 60 minutes has been in the same place now for 43 or 44 years. It was in everybodys face. And rather than tell a lot of stories, if you gained a few pounds he would be the first to tell you. He did not like your story from the night before he would say that too. I remember the time he walked into my Friends Office josh howard. I did not work with mike. I was on morley steam. We look to the people i worked with mike with respect and a little bit of pity. Because mike expected that he came before the family. And usually when they would be out on the story he would say is this really worth doing . Almost all the time. It was just so good and you just wanted to be around him at the same time. I remember he went to josh howards office and said i would like to do a story on Willie Nelson. And josh said, okay. I will put the idea into don and i will get going on it. But im curious, all the stories that we do there, they are hard stories. Why would you all of a sudden want to do a story on Willie Nelson . And i said Willie Nelson . I said winnie and nelson as in mandela. Heard of him . And my favorite line of all time excuse me, i didnt realize i just wandered into the toy department. [laughter] then from down the hall good luck with your next career move he loved josh howard that produced so many of his stories over a long period of time. You know, the most important part of the broadcast as i look back on it, don hewitt was so humiliated by what was around the evening news. 60 minutes was nothing. It was difficult and he convinced a lot of Difficult People that were on the show to come to work on 60 minutes. It was new, the reports are exciting, he was an exciting figure. But, the evening news was it. And don hewitt spent the rest of his career and 35 years running 60 minutes. Trying to prove to those journalists that he understood good journalism. They had been paying attention. That he knew what they stood for. Particularly . He did not like one bit. And fred did not like him which is why he fired him. But don hewitt, until his last days, always said, i learned more from fred friendly than anybody else in my life. And he did. And so many of those things are part of i think, what makes 60 minutes special today. Because we have changed, we have evolved significantly over the years. Almost every decade. And it is different now and i will get into that a little bit. But the fundamentals have not changed. The things that don learned from fred friendly, the things that friendly cared about, the things that dick salant cared about. These are things that we practice to this day. And they are all about different aspects of what we do. And i think they are a huge part of why we are so successful. I do not want to talk about numbers, though i care about them. This past sunday we were the most watched nonsports show of the week. I mean, i think that says something. That that many people, 13 and a halfmillion that night, were willing to give up an hour and watch 60 minutes. More than any other program on all of television that week. Except one football game. And some of those things, which are simple, are directly from fred friendly. Such as, we never underestimate the audience. Yet, at the same time we know that we know more about a story than they do. We never talk down to the viewer. We always assume they know more. And most people do. Most broadcasters. We care so much about how to tell a story. We pour ourselves into it. It has always been intense and always will be intense. Ill never forget the time i was at end don hewitt viewing. As my fifth or sixth story and is all about communist and capitalist. The story was over, the light came on and don looked at me and said where do you want it kid . Right between the eyes for and that is how come you know it was not personal. It was a great learning experience for me. Because don proceeded to help me and steve make it a much better story. And that is how we collaborated. It is a huge part of what we do. And here is the most important thing. This is what stands out to me to this day more than anything else. We never, ever do Audience Research to determine what stories to cover. Ever now that, especially in this day and age, says a lot. Because we do not know what the viewer is going to want. The onus is on us to make the story so compelling that you just have to watch it. It is one of my favorite complements on a monday morning. You hear someone say, you know, i really didnt think i was going to like that story. And i ended up liking it i think that is what its really about. It is, it separates us out to this day. Theres Something Else in Television News called, minute by minute. Which literally measures the audience permanent. There is a phrase which says, if it does not rate in that minute by minute we do not want it. It means that the marketing is making the decision about what is important and we feel that our job is to cover whats important. And make it interesting. And there is a big difference there. It is a great source of pride. Just for a moment, i would talk about the science that they use. It is nothing different from a testing, a focus group. Where they will say, would you rather see a story about the war in afghanistan or a story about gas prices . And almost inevitably, they will say would rather see the gas prices story. What i find interesting about that is that we did not do stories about the war in afghanistan. We did stories about soldiers fighting, brothers fighting by each other. There is about the enemy. Stories about friendly fire, tactics, generals. We tell stories, we do not cover issues. It is another fundamental from the very early days of cbs news. Which has lasted these 75 80 years. It is so old school and get i think we proved every week, that it works. I want to talk a little bit about the current situation. Because it is challenging for everybody in the News Business. We actually, this was on cnn this morning. They were asking me why hasnt the president done an interview with 60 minutes . And the truth is, i do not know why. There have been a little occasions where we are in discussions and it did not happen. Andy has not done a 60 minutes interview which is tough but fair interview. I actually said, and i anticipate that it will. But we have quite a bit of experience with the president. He goes back to history that we did in the year 2000. I was in charge of that story. I will never forget it. Because he was so unhappy and he said to me, you know, i cant believe what you did to me. And it was about a familiar issue. Crowd size. He literally thought we took a cutaway picture and reduced the size of the crowd. And i said don ultimately did not. We will always be fair. That was the 2000 when he was running for president in a, just a exploratory campaign. It was a press con