Siegelman ‘60 Minutes’ Story IS NOT DEAD!
February 6th, 2008by Glynn Wilson
The CBS News magazine show “60 Minutes’ is not backing down from running an investigative story on the political prosecution of Don Siegelman based on the testimony of Alabama lawyer Jill Simpson, according to sources who are directly involved with the show’s scheduling, The Locust Fork Journal has learned.
An earlier report from a blog reporter who sometimes publishes on the liberal online news site Raw Story said the show’s producers are “killing” the story due to pressure from the White House, the Riley administration and Senator Jeff Sessions. That set off another round of speculation on the Web and on e-mail lists.
But four sources who are much closer to the process say that report is mere speculation and is not the case.
While there has been speculation and some verifiable information that pressure has been brought to bear on the network from Washington and Montgomery, there is no reason to assume that pressure will stop the airing of a show that has been in the works for months, according to sources who know how the national news cycle works.
The show was not aired this past week because of the Super Bowl and will not air this coming week, Feb. 10, because it is a big news time in the wake of Super Duper Tuesday.
Those involved in the show say it may be aired the next week or the next, or whenever other major national and international news developments are slow enough for the Siegelman segment to be the top, leading story.
“We could run it this week,” one source said. “But it would have to take the third slot. We don’t want that.”
Ms. Simpson herself says she does not know when the story will run and is for now sticking by her verbal agreement not to talk to other TV shows on the air until “60 Minutes” has a chance to run a full story first. It is the oldest and longest running investigative TV magazine show in U.S. broadcast news history, and should still have the expertise and resources to do a better story than anyone else in the business, even with the budget cutbacks that have spread industry-wide.
The producers have spent a lot of time and money putting a major investigative package together, so they are not going to lightly abandon the story.
It is true that CBS and other networks have been pressured not to run certain stories at times in the past, but it is too early to speculate that this story will end up in that category. So according to multiple sources, there is no reason for Siegelman’s advocates to start freaking out and calling the network complaining. The show has not been “killed.” At least not yet…
February 12th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
“there is no reason for Siegelman’s advocates to start freaking out and calling the network complaining.”
- I disagree. Contacting CBS would only be more encouragement for them to run the story. They’ve been keeping this story from airing for so long that I think everyone should contact the network to encourage them to run it asap! I’m sure CBS is being pressured by Washington, but hopefully free speech and free press will prevail!
February 12th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
It might also piss them off and give them a reason not to run it…
February 13th, 2008 at 12:38 am
If you want to call somebody, try calling Jeff Sessions and calling him a wimp for voting with Bush on spying on us. Can’t wait to turn that power on him, once we get a Democrat in the White House. And while we’re at it, let’s turn that Google Earth Virtual Alabama system on Dick Shelby and Rob Riley…
February 15th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
So, as we expected, CBS postponed (killed) the Siegelman 60 minutes story once again.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I’ve been in the news business for 28 years, and never in all that time has anyone I have known who has a clue what they are talking about called it “postponing” or “killing” a story when it does not run on a certain week. If you like living in a world of conspiracy around every corner, you have every right. But if you had ever worked with New York editors, you would know that they get around to “scheduling” stories in their own way and time, at least some of the time based on sound news judgement. Since you choose to use a fake name and e-mail address, a dialup AOL address at that, this will do not good.
But I will renew my bet here for anyone who wants to take it. If Bob Riley or Jeff Sessions has the power to kill a 60 Minutes story, and if the story never runs, I will buy you a 12-pack of my favorite beer: Yuengling Black and Tan.
Of course that means if I turn out to be right and you turn out to be wrong, you have to buy me a 12-pack of Black and Tan.
I’ll even go you one better. I’ll give you two to one odds. If the show does not air, I’ll buy you an entire case. If the show airs, you only have to buy me a half a case.
So if you are serious, send me an e-mail message from a real address with your real name and phone number and we can make it official…
The same bet holds for the wannabe investigative blog reporter who first started this rumor in the first place. She will have egg all over her face when the show airs. I hope everyone remembers that when the time comes and will then know who to listen to in the future. Who is the real reporter in the room?
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