Steve Kroft rips ’60 Minutes’ as cutthroat, toxic – Business News
A veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent ripped the famed CBS programming as a “snake pit” stricken by “no civility.”
Steve Kroft, who spent 30 years as one of the mainstay journalists on “60 Minutes,” informed podcaster Bill O’Reilly that if he have been provided the prospect to do it again, he would reply: “No, I probably wouldn’t do it again…I hated it.”
The 80-year-old former correspondent described the celebrated newsmagazine not as a dream job, however as a brutal grind and psychological battlefield that wore him down over time.
Steve Kroft speaks with Bill O’Reilly during a current interview, the place he mentioned he “hated” his time at “60 Minutes” and described a brutal newsroom tradition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA
Kroft mentioned the job was a relentless, all-consuming slog — “24 hours a day” — with fixed journey, writing, modifying and screenings that by no means appeared to stop.
“You may get a couple hours… then getting on jets… coming back and spending three or four days writing… then starting it all over again,” Kroft informed O’Reilly’s “We’ll Do It Live” podcast on Thursday.
The tempo left little room to breathe — a nonstop cycle that he mentioned in the end made the job depressing regardless of its status.
But it was the tradition inside the newsroom that drew Kroft’s most scathing criticism.
Before becoming a member of 60 Minutes, Kroft mentioned he received a stark warning from Dan Rather concerning the show’s cutthroat tradition — recalling that Rather informed him the newsroom was crammed with “big cats” who may take you down with a single swipe, leaving you “limping for six months.”
Kroft mentioned the warning proved correct as soon as he arrived.
“There was no civility at 60 Minutes,” Kroft informed O’Reilly, describing a office the place fundamental decency was absent and suspicion was fixed.
“If there was civility… you better check your wallet,” he added, suggesting even friendliness got here with ulterior motives.
Kroft speaks with O’Reilly and displays on his a long time at “60 Minutes,” saying the job was “24 hours a day.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA
The surroundings, he mentioned, rapidly turned colleagues into adversaries.
“When I was tapped to go to 60 Minutes… not everybody was happy… you’ve all of a sudden made a bunch of enemies,” Kroft mentioned.
“It’s just… a snake pit.”
That hostility fueled a fixed sense of paranoia inside the newsroom, the place journalists have been pushed by competitors for standing and airtime, the ex-correspondent mentioned.
“Everybody knows the environment… they think that somebody is behind them… going to put a shiv in their back,” Kroft mentioned.
Kroft additionally recalled touchdown one of probably the most consequential interviews of his profession — sitting down with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton on the peak of the 1992 marketing campaign, as allegations about Clinton’s relationship with Gennifer Flowers exploded into the national highlight.
The phase got here collectively on the final minute after Clinton backed out of one other TV look — with Kroft and his workforce scrambling to secure a coveted post-Super Bowl slot that assured a huge viewers.
Steve Kroft, pictured during his tenure at “60 Minutes,” mentioned the job was a nonstop grind with “no civility” behind the scenes. 60 Minutes
The Clinton camp, nevertheless, misinterpret the scenario — anticipating a routine marketing campaign interview, not a deep dive into scandal.
Kroft opened with a deceptively easy query — “So tell me who is Gennifer Flowers and how do you know her?” — catching the candidate off guard as he denied the allegations whereas Hillary stood firmly by his facet.
Hillary Clinton later blasted Kroft for lobbing what she referred to as “mean questions,” triggering a public pushback from the show’s management and cementing the interview as a defining second within the race.
Steve Kroft interviews Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1992 for “60 Minutes,” as allegations about Gennifer Flowers dominated the marketing campaign. CBS /Landov
Kroft mentioned the interview in the end formed his view of Bill Clinton. He agreed with O’Reilly’s characterization of Clinton as “not a truthful man” — including that during the scandal-plagued marketing campaign, “if he was going to stay in this, he had to lie.”
Kroft left the show in 2019.
Bari Weiss, the newly put in editor-in-chief of CBS News, is planning a main overhaul of the show after the conclusion of this season, The Post reported earlier this week.
The shakeup follows the Paramount-Skydance merger and displays a broader push by new management to refocus this system’s editorial direction.
The modifications have rattled the newsroom, with inner clashes over editorial choices, deliberate layoffs and uncertainty surrounding prime expertise —- as Weiss and executives eye a youthful, retooled roster more aligned with the new imaginative and prescient.
The Post has sought remark from CBS News and the Clintons.
