![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
MIKE WALLACE IS NO LONGER HERE
Apr. 10th, 2012 08:50 pmAs you may have heard, Mike Wallace is gone.
And if you’ve heard that, you’ve probably also seen various wrap-ups on his career with 60 Minutes, where he built up his rep as one of the toughest broadcast television journalists in US history. And deservedly so.
You probably have to be a certain age to appreciate the magnitude of Wallace’s accomplishments. I grew up watching 60 Minutes almost every Sunday evening, which meant I grew up with the idea that broadcast journalism could be more than just headlines and highlights – that it was possible to get to the meat of stories and grill people in power for answers, even if only for an hour a week. And the biggest joke running at the time was that if Mike Wallace showed up at yr office, you were in very big trouble.
Which is why it seems painfully obvious to me to even ask this, but who can you really say about that today? How many investigative TV broadcast journalists can go into an interview, ask the really tough questions and call bullshit when interviewees try to weasel or lie their way out of a question?
I’m having trouble thinking of one (though of course I don’t watch much TV news anymore, so it’s not like I’m up to speed). I’m not saying there are no good TV broadcast journalists out there. But is there anyone who’s so good at grilling people on camera that their name inspires fear and yet commands enough respect that you refuse an interview with them at yr peril?
“Sir, Geraldo Rivera is here.”
“Well, give Geraldo Rivera some Chapstick so he can kiss my ass. And he can quote me on that.”
See?
One aspect of Wallace’s legacy I have mixed feelings about is the ambush interview, which today tends to be associated with Fox News producers or characters like Jason Mattera and James O’Keefe, none of whom are very good at it.
Wallace was very good at it, but then he also understood the function of an ambush interview in a news story: yes, it’s arguably more good television than good journalism, but it also serves a purpose as a safeguard against accusations of being one-sided (“See, we even went to his office to get a comment and he refused/ran/slammed the door in our face/pulled a gun”, etc), and on occasion it catches them off-guard enough to say something they’d never say if they were prepared. Also, as far as I know, Wallace – unlike most modern-day ambushers – generally had the sense to use it as a last resort after his targets repeatedly refused to schedule interviews or return calls.
Anyway, Wallace gets nothing but respect from me.
Meanwhile, I will say that in reading the obits that I’ve learned three (3) interesting facts about him:
1. He’s the guy who first introduced America The Beatles, but no one remembers that because he did the story on November 22, 1963, two hours before Lee Harvey Oswald made history.
2. He suffered from depression and once tried to commit suicide.
3. Chris Wallace is his son.
No, really. I had no idea. I mean, be fair – I admit I don’t watch much of Chris Wallace, but I never saw anything that would suggest a family connection.
Tough but fair,
This is dF
And if you’ve heard that, you’ve probably also seen various wrap-ups on his career with 60 Minutes, where he built up his rep as one of the toughest broadcast television journalists in US history. And deservedly so.
You probably have to be a certain age to appreciate the magnitude of Wallace’s accomplishments. I grew up watching 60 Minutes almost every Sunday evening, which meant I grew up with the idea that broadcast journalism could be more than just headlines and highlights – that it was possible to get to the meat of stories and grill people in power for answers, even if only for an hour a week. And the biggest joke running at the time was that if Mike Wallace showed up at yr office, you were in very big trouble.
Which is why it seems painfully obvious to me to even ask this, but who can you really say about that today? How many investigative TV broadcast journalists can go into an interview, ask the really tough questions and call bullshit when interviewees try to weasel or lie their way out of a question?
I’m having trouble thinking of one (though of course I don’t watch much TV news anymore, so it’s not like I’m up to speed). I’m not saying there are no good TV broadcast journalists out there. But is there anyone who’s so good at grilling people on camera that their name inspires fear and yet commands enough respect that you refuse an interview with them at yr peril?
“Sir, Geraldo Rivera is here.”
“Well, give Geraldo Rivera some Chapstick so he can kiss my ass. And he can quote me on that.”
See?
One aspect of Wallace’s legacy I have mixed feelings about is the ambush interview, which today tends to be associated with Fox News producers or characters like Jason Mattera and James O’Keefe, none of whom are very good at it.
Wallace was very good at it, but then he also understood the function of an ambush interview in a news story: yes, it’s arguably more good television than good journalism, but it also serves a purpose as a safeguard against accusations of being one-sided (“See, we even went to his office to get a comment and he refused/ran/slammed the door in our face/pulled a gun”, etc), and on occasion it catches them off-guard enough to say something they’d never say if they were prepared. Also, as far as I know, Wallace – unlike most modern-day ambushers – generally had the sense to use it as a last resort after his targets repeatedly refused to schedule interviews or return calls.
Anyway, Wallace gets nothing but respect from me.
Meanwhile, I will say that in reading the obits that I’ve learned three (3) interesting facts about him:
1. He’s the guy who first introduced America The Beatles, but no one remembers that because he did the story on November 22, 1963, two hours before Lee Harvey Oswald made history.
2. He suffered from depression and once tried to commit suicide.
3. Chris Wallace is his son.
No, really. I had no idea. I mean, be fair – I admit I don’t watch much of Chris Wallace, but I never saw anything that would suggest a family connection.
Tough but fair,
This is dF
