Susan Zirinsky, the new head of CBS News, has a lot on her plate, and she is making changes quickly. One thing she seemingly does not need to worry about — for now — is the Sunday night stalwart “60 Minutes,” still a top-10 rated primetime network broadcast series when it’s not a rerun.
The program has endured, even while gradually losing its all-star lineup. Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, commentator Andy Rooney and legendary creator Don Hewitt, have died. Steve Kroft, who inherited the Mike Wallace tough-guy role, just retired. The show continues even though it’s been tarnished by #MeToo accusations that have led to the ouster of Jeff Fager, the executive producer after Hewitt, and contributor Charlie Rose.
So the timing of a new documentary, “Mike Wallace Is Here,” may either be a perfect salve, for longtime fans, or a lesson about great journalism for younger folks.
The program has endured, even while gradually losing its all-star lineup. Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, commentator Andy Rooney and legendary creator Don Hewitt, have died. Steve Kroft, who inherited the Mike Wallace tough-guy role, just retired. The show continues even though it’s been tarnished by #MeToo accusations that have led to the ouster of Jeff Fager, the executive producer after Hewitt, and contributor Charlie Rose.
So the timing of a new documentary, “Mike Wallace Is Here,” may either be a perfect salve, for longtime fans, or a lesson about great journalism for younger folks.
- 7/24/2019
- by Mary Murphy and Michele Willens
- The Wrap
In takes all of ten minutes to realize “Mike Wallace Is Here” is special. Directed by Avi Belkin, the film chronicles the half-century career of the journalist whose work has only become more invaluable since his death in 2012.
Telling the story exclusively through archival footage, Belkin was given free range inside CBS. The result is a prismatic portrait, a movie that sits at the intersection of long-form journalism and riveting documentary.
Wallace was raised in Brookline, Mass., to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. They were disciplinary and icy. He would later attribute his own jagged personality to his upbringing. The film, wisely, doesn’t get bogged down in exposition. Belkin and his editors opt for simplicity. The result is a clear-cut narrative unrelentingly focused on Wallace and his work. Everything else — family, romance, the virtues and vices that accompany daily life — go by the wayside.
Watch Video: Remembering Mike Wallace -...
Telling the story exclusively through archival footage, Belkin was given free range inside CBS. The result is a prismatic portrait, a movie that sits at the intersection of long-form journalism and riveting documentary.
Wallace was raised in Brookline, Mass., to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. They were disciplinary and icy. He would later attribute his own jagged personality to his upbringing. The film, wisely, doesn’t get bogged down in exposition. Belkin and his editors opt for simplicity. The result is a clear-cut narrative unrelentingly focused on Wallace and his work. Everything else — family, romance, the virtues and vices that accompany daily life — go by the wayside.
Watch Video: Remembering Mike Wallace -...
- 2/2/2019
- by Sam Fragoso
- The Wrap
Last week, Rep. Steve King (R-ia) told the New York Times that he doesn’t understand why the terms “white supremacy” and “white nationalism” are offensive. Though King’s racism has been well-established, House Republicans made a show of denouncing the comments and on Monday stripped King of his committee assignments. President Trump has yet to comment. Same goes for Vice President Pence, although on Friday an aide to the vice president authorized to comment on background told Rolling Stone that “Congressman King’s comments were abhorrent and unacceptable and...
- 1/18/2019
- by Ryan Bort
- Rollingstone.com
Welcome to the March 31, 2015 edition of Outrage Watch, HitFix's (almost) daily rundown of all the things folks are peeved about in entertainment. Today's top story: the Trevor Noah backlash has already begun. The just-announced new "Daily Show" host is already stirring controversy with a number of past tweets (some of them nearly five years old) that many have deemed anti-Semitic and/or sexist. The offending tweets include jokes about Israel ("South Africans know how to recycle like Israel knows how to be peaceful"), Jewish women ("[Argentinean soccer star Lionel] Messi doesn't go down easy, just like Jewish chicks") and women in general ("'Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I'm sexy!' - fat chicks everywhere"). Among those outraged is the always-outspoken Roseanne Barr, who tweeted the following on Monday evening (it has since been deleted from her page): Even Roseanne mad! Rt @therealroseanne @Trevornoah U should cease sexist...
- 3/31/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
While the Comedy Central late-night talk shows were on spring break, news of Chelsea Clinton's pregnancy rocked Stephen Colbert's Easter week world. The “Colbert Report” host took a moment during his Monday return to “put politics aside and offer the Clinton family a heartfelt congratulations — for such a shrewd political move,” as he put it. See video: Hillary Rodham Clinton Dodges a Shoe Thrown by Heckler One Fox News talking head, Lauren Ashburn, agreed with the conspiracy theory, accusing the Clinton family of using the creation of life to boost soon-to-be grandma Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential stock: “I think a lot of.
- 4/22/2014
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
Move over, James Earl Jones — CNN has a new spokesperson. Fox News contributor Lauren Ashburn made a shocking admission Sunday that she gets her breaking news from her network's competitor. “If I do want to know about news, I turn to CNN because it is 24/7!” Ashburn said candidly. Also read: Daily Download Founder Lauren Ashburn Follows Howard Kurtz to Fox News Appearing on MediaBuzz, Ashburn was commenting on host Howard Kurtz's observation that CNN has focused so much attention on the the missing Malaysian airplane, it's opened the door for misleading speculation. “CNN is well equipped to cover this kind of story because of.
- 3/17/2014
- by James Crugnale
- The Wrap
In the wake of Monday's tragic mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Fox News' Gregg Jarrett invited contributors Kirsten Powers and Lauren Ashburn on Happening Now to offer their thoughts on how the media has handled the story and its aftermath. With coverage of the shooting almost entirely faded from view just four days later, Powers suggested America may have finally become "numb" to mass shootings that have become all "too routine."...
- 9/20/2013
- by Matt Wilstein
- Mediaite - TV
Daily Download founder Lauren Ashburn is joining Fox News and Fox Business Channel as a contributor, according to her LinkedIn profile. She'll join her close friend Howard Kurtz at the channel. Ashburn's video venture came under fire in May when questions arose over Kurtz's involvement. Although the former "Reliable Sources" host and Daily Beast writer claimed he was simply an "unpaid advisor" and "freelance contributor," he frequently co-hosted the show with Ashburn -- including in biweekly appearances on PBS NewsHour -- and promoted it on his Twitter feed. Also read: Daily Download...
- 8/19/2013
- by Sara Morrison
- The Wrap
I wish I could say that Howard Kurtz's mea culpa on "Reliable Sources" was convincing. But it wasn't. Here are all my disclosures right up top: Howie is a friend and colleague of two decades. I have been a guest on his show many times. I gave him advice when he and Lauren Ashburn were starting the Daily Download. (My impression at the time was not that he was a mere adviser, but I'll leave that to him.) So you will understand how painful it is for me to observe that his...
- 5/6/2013
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
What exactly was Newt Gingrich buying with all that bling? Lauren Ashburn on a gem of a Washington mystery.
It was hard to miss the news of Newt and Callista Gingrich's eye-popping charge account at Tiffany's. Maybe you didn't read the Politico scoop or catch Bob Schieffer's riveting Face the Nation interview asking Newt, "Who buys a half million dollars of jewelry on credit?" By the next morning Gingrich's defensive answer-"Go talk to Tiffany's"- filled the airwaves and yet another political scandal was glittering across the media landscape.
Related story on The Daily Beast: The Gop's Bin Laden Jitters
In my 22 years in Washington, this is the first one I can remember involving a little blue box.
Since Callista and I frequent the same downtown D.C. hair salon, I can attest to the fact that she likes to look good. She is what women call...
It was hard to miss the news of Newt and Callista Gingrich's eye-popping charge account at Tiffany's. Maybe you didn't read the Politico scoop or catch Bob Schieffer's riveting Face the Nation interview asking Newt, "Who buys a half million dollars of jewelry on credit?" By the next morning Gingrich's defensive answer-"Go talk to Tiffany's"- filled the airwaves and yet another political scandal was glittering across the media landscape.
Related story on The Daily Beast: The Gop's Bin Laden Jitters
In my 22 years in Washington, this is the first one I can remember involving a little blue box.
Since Callista and I frequent the same downtown D.C. hair salon, I can attest to the fact that she likes to look good. She is what women call...
- 5/28/2011
- by Lauren Ashburn
- The Daily Beast
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