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Mike Wallace On Landing Interviews And Who Asks The Right Questions

By Brian Montopoli

May 23, 2006 / 12:56 PM EDT / CBS News

(CBS)

On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a special on the career of Mike Wallace, who is going into semi-retirement after 38 years with the show. As the retrospective illustrated, Wallace has a reputation as a tough, sometimes even "mean" interviewer, as Lesley Stahl put it. "Let's ask the questions that might be on the minds of the people looking in," Wallace said of his interview strategy. But there was at least one question on my mind that went unanswered during the special: If Wallace was known to be tough, how did he get people to keep talking to him? I asked him today.

When people think about going on "60 Minutes," Wallace said, "they know they're going to be treated fairly…if they have an idea they want to get across, or a favorite cause they want to get exposure for, they figure it's worth the price. And besides, they think, 'I can handle it.'"

I asked Wallace who in the journalism world has interview skills that he admires. "[Ted] Koppel used to do it well," he said. "To a certain degree, [Bill] Moyers does it. Anderson Cooper does it some degree. It doesn't cause as much stir as it used to. The audience is used to more candid talk because of what we've done down the years."

Wallace said the expanded media universe has changed the rules for getting interviews, but he said the "60 Minutes" name still carries weight. "There used to be three networks and PBS. Now there are 300 places to go if you want to be interviewed. But if you want the prestige of and credibility of something like "60 Minutes," there's nothing quite like it."

Still, if someone wants to follow in his footsteps, he doesn't advise starting out in his favored medium.

"Try radio," he said. "It's easier to be tough on the radio. And that's where you begin to understand what works and what doesn't work, and how you can persuade people."