Don Hewitt and the Art of Truth

Don Hewitt is dead.

And I don't want to see any of those pretenders at his funeral. I don't want to hear the crocodile tears from that roster of impostors Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannitty or their sugar daddy Ailes, doing what they do most: approximating humanity. They may strut around the roost now that nobody cleans the droppings from under their kevlar-lined money-nests but there was a time not so long ago when television journalism had style, class, soul.

In 60 MInutes, Don Hewitt created a salon for the nation, an oasis in the midst of a saccharine, pop culture desert. A rarity nowadays, where the art of journalism is on display for all to see and for all to benefit. All one ever has to do is enter freely and just absorb the truth, the technique, the daring. 60 Minutes is one hour of much needed sophistication, every week.

You don't have to sell your soul or put your common sense on the shelf to get your news. It is delivered by experts, people who have been there and done it all, artists who understand that news doesn't happen in the form of a ticker-tape scrolling at the bottom of a screen but as tales told by veteran observers, people who've taken the time to explore and ponder. 60 Minutes is the art of truth.

When Hewitt left his post, his tenure was somewhat sullied by controversy. But you can't fault an old man trying to stay current, trying vainly to hold on to the waning integrity of a world his own dedication and ability had ennobled.

Hewitt encouraged excellence in his reporters and thus in his audience. Weekly, he encouraged us to question authority, to shake up our routine. But mostly, he expected us to think.

But along with inspiring, television's ever increasing gluttony can more often spawn swaggering interlopers like Fox News, which presents an audience with bile and calls it outrage, misusing the template perfected by Hewitt and 60 Minutes, abusing the trust he and his dedication to journalistic integrity had built in its audience and instead, holds a gun to the audience's head and demands "Decide!"

Hewitt could see through their ilk but could not stop their march.

Cronkite, then Hewitt. Leaving the world they improved only to have it defaced by carnival barkers and rank amateurs, manufacturing stories instead of telling them.

So, they durst not come to his funeral. Let them stay in the gutter along with their so-called journalistic standards.

So long, Don Hewitt. TV journalism, we hardly knew ye.

 

 

Comments

[SmootyBooty]

60 was a weak antidote at best. Never will forgive Hewitt for leaving Jeff Wigand by the side of the road. Hewitt was a pretender.­..

[ClarendonBold]

The "mix" and order of which three stories appeared each week on any single edition was one more element of Don's magic touch. In a business that's known for it, it's surprising how few imitators there are- the format is brilliant in its simplicity.

[Jimboy17]

Once again, Mr. Weber, a delight to read. You are as well-spoken with your accolades as with your brickbats, and seem to know when to lob one and not the other. A salon for the nation, indeed.

[RepugsOut08]

Thank you, Steven, for this fine rememberance of a life well lived.
Some posting here are nitpicking, but they either forget or don't realize, that we are unlikely to see Hewitt's like again. Or Cronkite's. Humanity's loss.
Good luck, brave new world.

[OneTop]

Thanks Steven

[ModernTimes1]

What? No smarmy irony? Adult conversation? How do they ever get ratings?

`

[JasonTabrys]

Men like Hewitt and Cronkite had an exclusive contract with this country that has since been violated by the infiltration of cable news. Integrity has fallen by the way side in favor of sex appeal and sizzle. Giants replaced by card board cut outs. Our pursuit of news and information now feels more akin to finding a needles worth of truth in a haystacks worth of frivolity and fiction.

painespeak.com

[TomR]

----
Let them stay in the gutter along with their so-called journalistic standards.
----

The likes of Hannity and Limbaugh fall back on calling themselves "entertainers" when convenient and therefore are not bound by any journalistic standards. I would have no problem with Fox News renaming itself Fox Opinion.

The American public is deserving of honesty from the fourth estate, rather than emotionally abusive and manipulative propaganda.

- Tom

[ericsongs]

Of all the wonderful things that Steven has written (this one is another fine example), I just can not get my head around - "Why would Huffpost selected this one to feature???" ______ I just don't get it!

[shadowgm]

Why does 60 Minutes work? Simple. Hewitt understood that there are - and always will be - issues that are deep and/or complex, and cannot be covered in ten-second soundbites, dumbed-down captions, Tweets, or any of the other silliness taking a spin through newsrooms.

[Ruby Steele]

The one news show I never miss if possible. As far as I'm concerned it is the gold standard of news shows. Hated to see Dan Rather go but then Charlie Rose and Lara Logan I look forward to, and the others of course.

[Nancy VanTwistern]

"SIXTY MINUTES"..­..A MUST SEE EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT FOR TWO ELDERLY PEOPLE. HAVE WATCHED IT FOR DECADES!!!!!!!

[eileenflemingWAWA]

A BIG one Don missed was an interview with the Whistler Blower of Israel's WMD Program who told me:

“Many journalists come here to the American Colony, from CNN and NY Times. They all want to cover my story, but their EDITORS say no...CNN wants to interview me; but they say they can't do it because they don't want problems with the Israeli censor. BBC is doing the same thing.

"Sixty Minutes from the United States from the beginning they wanted to do a program, but because of the censor situation they decide not to do it.

"Also big media from Germany, France, Italy, Japan. None of them wants problems with the Israelis." --Mordechai Vanunu, @ the American Colony in east Jerusalem to me on March 26, 2006.

When I returned to the USA, I mailed "60 Minutes" a DVD copy of my "30 Minutes with Vanunu" but I never received a reply.

"30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" as well as text reports from Day One of Vanunu's FREEDOM of SPEECH Trial in Israel are freely streaming @ VANUNU ARCHIVES:
http://www.wearewideawake.org

[bigkay]

American news media has lost all credibility it is the corporate, military, industrial complex that controls the minds of the viewers. I'm surprised other countries kow-tow to Israel and ignore the slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians. Your photos should be on the front page of every newspaper in the world.

[fun2bfree]

60 minutes' medical reports were often really ill informed and ill informing.­..the puff piece they did on Shark Caritlege probably sent thousands if not millions on a wild goose chase of false hope built on snake oil and quackery..­..it makes you wonder how good the other reporting was about stuff I don't know enough about to see the mistakes

[TomDegan]

It's just like Don Hewett to scoop Bob Novack.

My favorite Don Hewett story is when Nikita Khrushchev visited the United States in 1960. When the Soviet leader was visiting Iowa, not a single reporter could get withing a thousand feet of the old guy. Hewett mosied on up to the Iowa Sheriff's Department with a nice, homespun rap, made such an impression on them and wound up getting deputized.

The man was a piece of work!

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY