60 Minutes Overtime

The Challenge of the Empty Chair: Fethullah Gulen

By 60 Minutes Staff

May 20, 2012 / 6:56 PM EDT / CBS News

The Challenge of the Empty Chair: Fethullah Gulen 03:15

Here at Overtime, we like to think we're reasonably well informed. But to be perfectly honest, we hadn't heard of Fethullah Gulen until we saw Lesley Stahl's 60 Minutes story this week.

Who exactly is Gulen? As Lesley's producer Shachar Bar-On tells Overtime Editor Ann Silvio, he's arguably one of the most important Islamic clerics in the world today -- and he lives in the Poconos! In this week's broadcast, Lesley and Shachar do an excellent job explaining Gulen and his movement, even though the man himself declined to be interviewed.

How does a journalist do her job when the main subject of the story won't talk? That's the topic of this week's Overtime piece.

Tell us what you think about Fethullah Gulen. Had you ever heard of this Turkish cleric? What do think of his movement and the charter schools he's helping to create across the United States?

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