Taylor's Takes: Is 60 Minutes must-see-tv again?

I did something earlier this week that I haven’t done in years. I tuned into 60 Minutes.

When I was a kid in the 1990s and early 2000s, the long-form television journalism series was practically necessary for my father to watch in order to bring the weekend to a close. I grew up with the aged faces of Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, and my favorite, Andy Rooney.

I never had much use for 60 Minutes during the George W. Bush era. Neither did many others after Dan Rather’s “fake but accurate” hit piece on the President of the United States.

In fact, I remember scoffing at a journalism professor’s claim during my sophomore college year that 60 Minutes was “mandatory viewing” for anyone pursuing a news-adjacent career.

For most of my life, 60 Minutes has been something to ignore. A punchline. It was a show motivated by a one-sided agenda.

"For most of my life, 60 Minutes has been something to ignore."

Enter Bari Weiss.

When Weiss took the helm of CBS, I didn’t expect much. There may be some changes here and there – personnel shifts and slight policy changes, maybe a little more digging on stories that are too good to be true because they aren’t.

It’s apparent now she is making good choices in how the network approaches their coverage. The most recent example being the interview of President Trump on 60 Minutes.

New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat was brought onto the 60 Minutes team earlier this year. I’d never heard of Douthat, and I daresay you hadn’t either.

The first I’d seen of Douthat was his coverage for CBS of Lindsay Clancy’s now ex-husband, Patrick, after her trial. What was striking about him to me was his ordinary appearance. He looked like anyone you’d see taking a walk through a park. He wasn’t a dapper Anderson Cooper or David Muir complete with clothespins to make his jacket form-fitting.

Douthat is a balding, paunchy, gap-toothed man – not made for television. He has a face for radio, as they say, but not a voice. He has no striking visual or audial characteristics that would make you say, “I can’t wait to catch Ross Douthat on Sunday night.”

Yet, his interview with Donald Trump bested the most decorated veterans of 60 Minutes that have had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with the man.

If you tuned in to watch the 60 Minutes piece, you may have entered it much the same way I did, expecting to see a combative Trump, post-midterms, take down another network hack like he has done to so many others.

That’s not what we got, though. Instead, Trump entered the camera shot seeming slow, low energy, and somewhat gracious to Douthat. That’s not unique. I believe that’s how he handles most, if not all, of his interviews. He’ll give the journalist a fair shot as long as they give him one.

Douthat, however, handled Trump like I’ve never seen an interviewer handle Trump. He spoke frankly to the President. He spoke like a concerned American who had a stake in the game. He didn’t talk down to Trump as you would expect a network elite to do. And he didn’t slobber all over the guy as you would expect a Fox News or Newsmax host to do.

Ross Douthat asked pointed questions that weren’t “gotchas,” and what you saw from Trump was genuine reflection about himself, not only as the President, but as a man.

There were points where it seemed like Douthat was taking a page out of the Democrat playbook. For instance, Douthat questioned Trump about his attachment to a cryptocurrency company run by his son, Eric.

While to the MAGA members who are left that line of questioning may have seemed like mudslinging, Douthat’s positioning of it was thoughtful.

“This company is also partially owned by investors connected to the government of the United Arab Emirates. I think if I told you that story and it was about the Biden family, if I said Joe Biden is the part owner of a company and it has all of these investments from the Middle East, you would say, "That sounds corrupt," right-“

Trump cut him off to explain the difference between the Biden-Burisma scandal and his own holdings, but Douthat politely persisted.

Ross Douthat: “But then why do you need the money? Why not just divest? Walk away—"

President Donald Trump: “Well, I-- I do. Look, most of—"

Ross Douthat: “But no, you didn't.”

There was never a definitive answer on why Trump has not divested from the company. And from any other legacy “journalist” (I’m looking at you, Lesley Stahl), this would have seemed like a “gotcha” moment.

But because Douthat was respectful of the office and didn’t enter into the conversation with an argumentative posture, it certainly made me pause for a moment and ask, “Yeah, why not just divest and be rid of the controversy?”

And that’s what journalism is supposed to do. It shouldn’t lead you to its own conclusion an have you pick a side. It should present you the facts and make you think, and leave you to make your own conclusion.

I can tell you that as much as I liked Ross Douthat’s style of interview, I’m still not going to be watching much of 60 Minutes. Not because of any resentment for the program’s past sins. But simply, I’m usually ready for bed by that time these days.

But I hope to see more changes at CBS on par with the addition of Ross Douthat. The other networks could learn that substance beats appearance every time.