Scott Pelley: Journalism central to democracy’s survival
The naysayers about journalism have a formidable foe in “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley.
“This is a great time to be a reporter because people are watching what we’re doing,” Pelley said in an interview. “It’s an opportunity to tell the audience what we do, how we do it, and what our values are. In that way, this is a wonderful moment for serious journalism.”
He’ll share that message at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Rollins
College. In “An Unscripted Evening With Scott Pelley,” he offers a multimedia presentation with “60 Minutes” clips, photos and readings from his book, “Truth Worth Telling: A Reporter’s Search for Meaning in the Stories of Our Times.”
“I try to bring the whole thing around to the importance of journalism, particularly in our society today,” Pelley said.
Pelley also will talk to journalism students at University of Central Florida. “What I’m trying to do is ignite an excitement for journalism in the next generation,” said Pelley, 62. “Journalism is taking a lot of hard knocks right now, and I don’t want young people to be discouraged from joining the profession. There is no way that the American democracy can continue without journalism.”
In both appearances, he will share his view that the fastest way to destroy democracy is to poison the information. “Information is the lifeblood of a democracy. If you don’t have generally reliable information, then voters can’t make decisions about their lives or the life of the country,” he said. “To me, this is a dangerous inflection point in the history of democracy, and journalism is the solution to that.”
In 21 years at “60 Minutes,” Pelley has reported about 450 stories and won 40 Emmys, more than any correspondent in the show’s 52 seasons.
“I have a dozen people who work with me at ’60 Minutes,’ ” he said. “It’s the work they have done that has won those 40 Emmys. It’s a number I can’t get my head around.”
Of his book, Pelley likes a critic’s description that it is “a nonlinear biography.” He decided to focus on the most compelling events in his career so far.
Asked to name three reports he’d like to be remembered for, Pelley chose his work during the Sept. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center, his war coverage in Afghanistan (he went there 10 times) and Iraq (26 times) and a “60 Minutes” segment on the in New York City.
homeless in Central Florida. “It was an opportunity to show the voiceless victims of the Great Recession,” he said, adding that he might revisit the topic.
Pelley was also anchor at “CBS
Evening News” from 2011 to 2017. He was succeeded by Jeff Glor, who was replaced by Norah O’Donnell. In “Truth Worth Telling,” Pelley does not revisit his criticisms that there was a hostile work environment at CBS News. “I just felt at the point we were publishing the book, those days were behind us,” he said, citing the leadership of new CBS News President Susan Zirinsky.
In the book, he does offer frank observations about presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. “People should be judged by their character and actions, and not whether they’re Republican or Democrat,” he said. “There’s a chapter laudatory about Bush, another chapter is excoriating. That’s the way humanity is. None of us is all bad or all good.”
His take on President Donald Trump? “The president places little value on truth,” Pelley said. “I think even his supporters would acknowledge that. We have not had a president like this certainly in the modern age, and I suspect not at any point in our history. He attacks the media as the enemy of the American people.”
At a lunch with Trump, Pelley warned such language could incite someone to violence.
“The president paused for a moment and then looked back at me, ‘I don’t worry about that,’ ” Pelley said. “Fast-forward a few months later, I get a telephone call from the FBI. The guy who had been mailing letter bombs to people he considered enemies of the president had a file on me in his computer and had my home address. They were calling me to give me a headsup. They had arrested him before he was able to mail a bomb to my family.”
Pelley said he is concerned the president has convinced some minority of the population that journalism is their enemy. Pelley recalled James Madison’s view that freedom of the press is the right that guarantees all the others.
“I’m moving toward the end of my career,” Pelley said. “To my dying day, I am going to be shouting this out from the mountaintop.”
Scott Pelley, College.
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What: The “60 Minutes” correspondent looks back at his career in “An Unscripted Evening With Scott Pelley”; the event is sponsored by Writer’s Block Bookstore and the Orlando Sentinel
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29
Where: Bush Auditorium at Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave. in Winter Park Tickets: $40, includes book; $75, VIP meet-and-greet plus a book
Purchase online: writersblockbookstore.com will be speaking at Rollins