All Blog Posts from Public Eye

A Break In The Dissembly Line: Gerald Ford was that rarest of presidents: One who actually liked reporters. Howard Kurtz rounds up some of the comments from journalists about the late president, including Bob Schieffer's comment that "Gerald Ford was the nicest and most decent public figure I ever covered." Ford didn't get particularly flattering coverage while in office, and his short term was not marked with great successes, but "the passage of time often brings reappraisals," Kurtz notes. "In an age of intense political polarization," he continues, "the media are now showing a deeper appreciation of Ford's regular-guy persona and his willingness to cooperate with Democratic opponents."

The Medium And The Message: This month "the Project for Excellence in Journalism kicks off an ambitious weekly study of what stories almost three dozen media sources are reporting, what news they view as important and how reporting differs among outlets," reports Peter Johnson. Included in the study are nine daily newspapers, the morning and evening newscasts, prime time cable news talk shows, headlines from national news radio, and posts by prominent bloggers. Every Tuesday, PEJ will issue a report on what has and hasn't been covered, complete with a breakdown of the differences in media and an index of top stories. Writes Johnson: "The study is intended to help consumers see how different media play top stories of the day and could help media outlets better gauge the so-called broccoli-vs.-Twinkie debate, 'the line between what they think the public needs to know and what they want to know,' PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel says."

'60 Minutes' Taking Its Time: Ed Bradley, who died of leukemia late last year, isn't getting replaced on '60' anytime soon. Instead his "workload will be spread around, and, in a unique arrangement for the CBS newsmagazine, his top producer will run a reporting unit for stories available to all on-air correspondents," the AP notes. The existing correspondents don't mind potentially doing a few more stories, writes the AP, since "they're often clamoring for airtime, anyway." Says Executive Producer Jeff Fager: "It's a long-term project to find the next full-time person who can show the abilities that are expected of a `60 Minutes' correspondent."

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Not long after Russ Mitchell was named co-anchor of “The Early Show,” he got a call from Eric Deggans, a media critic at the St. Petersburg Times. Deggans was working on a piece about diversity at CBS News, a story spurred by a spate of recent news involving African-American CBS News correspondents. First came the death of longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Ed Bradley, who passed away on Nov. 9. Less than a month later, CBS announced that René Syler would be leaving “The Early Show,” where she has been co-anchor since October 2002. A few days after that came word that Mitchell would become the hard news anchor of “The Early Show,” starting in January.

Deggans, who is black, asked Mitchell if he felt his race had something to do with him being offered the anchor job. Mitchell, who says he has never been asked such a question,* later characterized it as “insulting.”

“You'd like to think once you hit a certain level that your credentials stand on their own,” says Mitchell. “Nobody's denying who they are. I’m proud of being a black journalist. What I have a problem with, and I think anybody would have a problem with, is someone making an assumption that the only reason you got something was because of the color of your skin.”

Deggans' piece, "When it comes to color, CBS News pales," discussed what he called "the network's ongoing struggle to develop new talent" when it comes to journalists of color. (The other news networks, he claimed, have the same problem.) After noting that Bradley and other journalists were hired in the 1970s to "answer criticisms over the lack of race and gender diversity in network news," Deggans lamented the fact that "[t]hree decades later, CBS has not found the next Ed Bradley."

“It is very difficult because as I explained to several people that I talked to for this column, I'm not trying to denigrate anybody's achievements,” says Deggans. “These are questions that I feel have to be asked.” Deggans argues that African-American journalists cannot "totally remove themselves from the notion they're a symbol."

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This was the scene outside of the CBS Broadcast Center a few minutes ago, with CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus giving a press conference concerning the death of longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley. There were maybe 50 reporters gathered below the Broadcast Center awning for the occasion, and there have been reporters milling around in front of the building since the news broke this morning. You will be able to watch the video of McManus' comments soon on CBSNews.com – we will provide a link when the video goes live.

Update: Video after the jump.

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Longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent and broadcasting legend Ed Bradley died this morning from leukemia. There will be plenty of remembrances in upcoming days, but for now we wanted to direct you to Bradley's bio, as well as the early story that CBSNews.com has put up on the site.

Bradley worked with Public Eye on more than one occasion. Here he discussed with us whether or not Michael Jordan would have sat for an interview had he not had a book to sell. ("No.") Here he gave us the story behind the story of meeting two environmentalists dressed as ninjas in a Harlem townhouse. (Bradley, laughing: "I'm thinking of these two white guys walking somewhere in Harlem, dressed like that, and am just saying, whoa.") And here he is giving answers in our "10 Plus 1" feature, where he shared a story about his climb to success. "When I first started in New York at WCBS radio, the assignment editor automatically assigned any story that had a minority in it to me," Bradley said. "I objected to being typecast and told him if I didn’t get a variety of stories—as other reporters did—then I would take it up with the news director."

In his 26 years with "60 Minutes," Bradley spoke with everyone from Bob Dylan to Timothy McVeigh to Neil Armstrong. He is widely regarded as one of the best interviewers in television history, and was a larger than life presence in the corridors of CBS News. He will be sorely missed.

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In his 25 years with "60 Minutes," Ed Bradley has asked questions of everyone from Bob Dylan to Timothy McVeigh to Neil Armstrong. But this week he's kindly agreed to put himself in a different role and answer some questions from us. Below Bradley gives us his thoughts on journalism, discusses how he avoided being pigeonholed early in his career, and tells us whether or not he would ever want to anchor the "Evening News" full time.

What do you do at CBS News?

I report stories for "60 Minutes."

What single issue should be covered more at CBS News?

Foreign news.

Give us a great behind the scenes story.

I once flew to London to interview Sir Laurence Olivier. After one roll of film (about 10 minutes), he leaned over and said, “Well, that’s it partner.” I knew I didn’t have a story. I needed at least another five rolls of film and I refused to let him get out of the chair and just kept him glued there until we got what we needed. That story led to an Emmy. And, it almost didn’t happen.

Have you ever been assigned a story you objected to? How did you deal with it?

When I first started in New York at WCBS radio, the assignment editor automatically assigned any story that had a minority in it to me. I objected to being typecast and told him if I didn’t get a variety of stories—as other reporters did—then I would take it up with the news director.

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Ed Bradley has been asking questions on "60 Minutes" for 25 years. Now's your chance to ask one of him. So email us the question you'd like to ask Ed, and we'll pick one of the submissions and send it along to him. We'll be choosing the question in the next couple hours, so be sure to get your questions in as soon as possible. (A side note: Normally, we'd say you can also post the question in comments if you prefer, but our problems on that end continue, so just email it in.)

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Ed Bradley, who joined "60 Minutes" in 1981, is now in his 25th season with the program. He has 19 Emmy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy, and won the award for reports on everything from brain cancer patients to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to Chinese forced-labor camps to the effects of nuclear testing in a Kazakhstan town. Bradley, considered to be one of the best interviewers in journalism, conducted the only television interview with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. He's won Peabody awards (for subjects including an hour long special report on Africans dying of AIDS), Overseas Press Club Awards (for subjects including two "60 Minutes" reports taking viewers inside sensitive military installations), a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award (for a documentary about violence in America), Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, a Paul White Award, and a Damon Runyon Award for career journalistic excellence. He has also served as anchor.

And really, that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you have a question for Bradley – and if you don't, you're just not trying hard enough – email it to us or post it in comments below. We'll pick the best one and get his answer as part of the "10 Plus 1" interview we'll be posting later this week.

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As part of a story on "eco-terrorists" that aired yesterday, "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley interviewed Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a Los Angeles trauma surgeon who advocates assassinating animal researchers and others to slow down what he considers animal abuse. (For the inside story of Bradley's interview with another so-called "eco-terrorist" – one who dressed for the interview in ninja garb – go here.)



I asked Bradley and producer Graham Messick if they had second thoughts about giving Vlasak a national forum to advocate violence.



Messick says he did have "big second thoughts" about "giving him a soapbox." But he says the story and interview were worth doing because the FBI has said eco-terrorists are a significant terrorist threat, one that is ratcheting up its rhetoric. Therefore, Messick says, they shouldn't be ignored. And Vlasak "isn't an outsider or an interloper. He's part of the movement. And for him to be out there saying these things is important."



"It all goes to what our core mission is," he adds. "Are we going to look at phenomena and events and things happening in our country, or are we going to ignore them because we don't happen to agree with them? Nobody's ever done that about the anti-abortion movement, which got progressively more violent. Nobody's ever denied them a soapbox to espouse their views why they think abortion is murder."



Bradley, meanwhile, says he is "not concerned" about giving Vlasak a platform. "I think somebody is going to hear it anyway," he says. "What do you do – do you not report it? It's in newspapers. It's in magazines. I can't say this is too dangerous for me to report."



As for interviewing someone with extreme views, Bradley says he simply does his best to keep himself out of the story. "You've got to sit down and listen to someone who says an individual is the same as a hamster," he says. "O.K. if that's your belief. It doesn't happen to be mine. I wear leather shoes. I enjoy a steak."



"He has extreme beliefs," adds Bradley, "but he has a right to believe them."

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A few weeks ago, we brought you the story behind the "60 Minutes" story about Robert Jenkins, an army deserter who was not allowed to leave North Korea for nearly 40 years. Now we bring you the story behind this Sunday's piece on eco-terrorists – specifically, the tale of two producers, a correspondent, and a pair of environmental activists so desperate to remain anonymous that they engaged in tactics more reminiscent of spy movies than the workaday world of journalism.



"60 Minutes" producer Graham Messick, along with associate producer Michael Karzis and correspondent Ed Bradley, began working on the story in June. By September, the heavy lifting was almost finished – the team had just one interview left to do, with the FBI assistant director in charge of eco-terrorism. (The story grew out of the fact that the FBI has said eco-terrorism now represents the nation's top domestic terrorist threat.) At the time, Messick was also preparing a story about the Valerie Plame case. Towards the end of the day on Friday, Sept. 30th, he got a phone call. He heard a male voice, barely audible, and was unable to make out what the person was talking about. He asked if the call was regarding the eco-terrorist story or the Plame story. The caller "said, 'well, you may call them eco-terrorists' – he was kind of pissed off," says Messick. "So then I realized, oh s*it, this might be what I've been looking for."



Messick asked if he could call back, because the connection was so bad, but the caller refused, since the call was being "routed" to make it impossible to trace. The man on the phone, who spoke in a deep, unidentifiable monotone, said he was very active in the animal liberation movement, and told Messick he had heard that Bradley had interviewed Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a trauma surgeon from Southern California who acts a spokesperson for several extreme animal rights organizations. Vlasak advocates assassinating animal researchers and others to slow down what he considers animal abuse, though he says he does not himself commit violent actions. The caller said his was a non-violent movement, and that Vlasak did not speak for him or his colleagues. He said he would consider doing an interview to say as much and discuss his tactics. It would be, he said, the first on-camera interview by someone from the group in more than 20 years.

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On Sunday, "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley interviewed Michael Jordan. It was a wide-ranging, in-depth interview, and you would have been hard pressed to have come away from it without insights into the man Jordan has become. There was something else viewers likely took away from the interview, however: The fact that Jordan's new book, Driven From Within, was hitting bookshelves the day after the broadcast.



The book was featured first in the introduction to the piece. Here's Bradley's intro:

Michael Jordan is one of the most recognized names in the world, and among the most dominant and gifted athletes ever to play professional sports. But how does a man who has been called the most competitive person alive still compete when there are no more games to play, no more championships to win? It’s a question Jordan tries to answer in his new book, Driven from Within.

Later, Bradley prefaces a question by mentioning what he "read in [Jordan's] book." And he notes that, "Over the years, [Jordan has] written four books, including Driven From Within, which comes out tomorrow." As he says this, viewers are shown images of the book being packed for shipment. In the interest of full disclosure, Bradley also points out that "The book is published by Simon and Schuster, a sister company of CBS."



According to "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Jeff Fager, publishers increasingly look to broadcasts like "60 Minutes" as platforms to sell books. Often, subjects will refuse to be interviewed unless they can time the interview to coincide with their book's release. "A publisher can go to a news outlet and say, 'you can have that story, but you have to mention the book,'" says Fager. "It's the way a number of stories are done these days."



I asked Bradley if he thought Jordan would have done the interview if he didn't have a book to sell. He responded via email: "NO."

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