Steve Kroft Shares His Struggles with the Pressure of Working at ’60 Minutes’
Veteran journalist Steve Kroft has received multiple Emmys, Peabody Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award during his illustrious 30-year career as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. However, in a recent interview with Bill O’Reilly, Kroft revealed he might not return to that path if given the chance, stating he “probably wouldn’t.”
In the candid conversation, Kroft reflected on his extensive career, which includes covering significant events like the Gulf War and the Chernobyl disaster, along with conducting multiple interviews with Barack Obama and the notable 1992 interview with Hillary and Bill Clinton. He expressed disdain for the competitive atmosphere of the show, lamenting the relentless nature of its news cycle.
Kroft described his colleagues as being “so paranoid” about workplace competition, which contributed to a cutthroat environment. Instead, he cherished his time as a London bureau correspondent for CBS, noting it allowed him to travel and represented “the job I always wanted.”
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Reflecting on his transition to 60 Minutes, Kroft said, “I can remember when I was tapped to go to 60 Minutes, I thought this was fantastic, and I expected that a lot of people would just come up and say, ‘That’s really great, I’m really happy for you.’” He quickly recognized, however, that not everyone was pleased with his promotion, leading him to feel as though he had “made a bunch of enemies.” He described the atmosphere as “a snake pit.”
While acknowledging the exhilarating aspects of the newsmagazine and the opportunity it provided to showcase compelling stories, Kroft admitted that the perilous conditions, especially during events like the Vietnam War, may have heightened the thrill of the work, as “you get excited about the fact that you’re still alive.”
He concluded, “60 Minutes was really appealing, and I thought I wasn’t really sure I was ever going to get there. I didn’t really seriously think about it. And then, when I did, there’s so many things that, first of all, the job is just 24 hours a day. I mean, you may get a couple hours of bad sleep. Beepers going off, getting on jets, going here and there, the whole thing, then coming back and spending, you know, three or four days writing the script, and then going to the screenings and then getting on, starting it all over again.”
