10 Plus 1: From Page To Producer

(Catherine Herrick)
What do you do at CBS News?
I am an associate producer at "60 Minutes" where I work on Scott Pelley's team. I work alongside a producer and Scott on a wide variety of stories a year. We start by generating our own story ideas and then reporting the heck out of them. We find great characters who we hope will light up the screen and work to produce the best story possible from the time we think of the story to the Sunday night the piece goes on the air. There are major logistical details that we work out with every single story and often seemingly impossible hurdles we have to jump over. One major roll of an associate producer is to make sure that what goes on the air is fair and factual. We go over and over our scripts to make sure that everything we are reporting is absolutely accurate....even if it means changing one word or even the tense of a word a few minutes before the show gets wrapped up.What single issue should be covered more at CBS News?
Definitely more stories about Cleveland, Ohio. I am proud Midwesterner so I couldn't resist cheerleading my city! But in all seriousness, we become a little too accustomed to inside the beltway stories so it's great that the Evening News has a new beat about Faith, Family and Values. Also, I think our viewers crave personal profiles of fascinating people. I wish we could restart another newsmagazine during the week similar to "60 Minutes" that is devoted to three in-depth profiles of the people that are shaping our times from entertainers to politicians, actors to athletes, even crooks or those extremely passionate and interesting people who are doing their small part to change the world.

