60 Minutes

===Early years===
[[Image:60 Minutes.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Since the show's inception in 1968, the opening of ''60 Minutes'' features a stopwatch.<ref>{{cite news|title=Timely Donation From '60 Minutes'|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/09/22/national/main18102.shtml|work=CBS News|date=September 22, 1998|access-date=April 20, 2020|archive-date=May 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513091334/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/09/22/national/main18102.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Aristo (Heuer) design first appeared in 1978. On October 29, 2006, the background changed to red, the title text color changed to white, and the stopwatch was shifted to the upright position. This version was used from 1992 to 2006 (the Square 721 type was changed in 1998).]]
{{external media| float = right| width = 230px| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?112277-1/30th-anniversary-60-minutes Panel discussion on the 30th anniversary of ''60 Minutes'' at the Newseum, featuring Ed Bradley,  Esther Hartigainer, Don Hewitt, Josh Howard, Steve Kroft, Mary Lieberthal, Andy Rooney, Morley Safer, Philip Scheffler, Lesley Stahl, and Mike Wallace]}}

The program employed a magazine format similar to that of the Canadian program ''[[W5 (TV series)|W5]]'', which had premiered two years earlier. It pioneered many of the most important [[investigative journalism]] procedures and techniques, including re-editing interviews, hidden cameras, and "[[gotcha journalism]]" visits to the home or office of an investigative subject.<ref name="'70s">{{cite book|title=How We Got Here: The '70s|page=[https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/36 36]|last=Frum|first=David|author-link=David Frum|year=2000|publisher=Basic Books|location=New York City, New York|isbn=0-465-04195-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/36}}</ref> Similar programs sprang up in Australia and Canada during the 1970s, as well as on local television news.<ref name="'70s"/>

Initially, ''60 Minutes'' aired as a bi-weekly show hosted by [[Mike Wallace]] and [[Harry Reasoner]] debuting on September 24, 1968, and alternating weeks with other [[CBS News]] productions on Tuesday evenings at 10:00&nbsp;p.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]]. The first edition, described by Reasoner in the opening as a "kind of a magazine for television," featured the following segments:
# A look inside the headquarters suites of presidential candidates [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Hubert Humphrey]] during their respective parties' national conventions that summer;
# Commentary by European writers [[Malcolm Muggeridge]], [[Peter von Zahn]], and [[Luigi Barzini Jr.]] on the American electoral system;
# A commentary by political humor columnist [[Art Buchwald]];
# An interview with then-[[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Ramsey Clark]] about police brutality;
# "A Digression," a brief, scripted piece in which two silhouetted men (one of them [[Andy Rooney]]) discuss the presidential campaign;
# An abbreviated version of an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]-winning short film by [[Saul Bass]], ''[[Why Man Creates]];'' and
# A meditation by Wallace and Reasoner on the relation between perception and reality. Wallace said that the show aimed to "reflect reality".

The first "magazine-cover" [[chroma key]] was a photo of two helmeted policemen (for the Clark interview segment). Wallace and Reasoner sat in chairs on opposite sides of the set, which had a cream-colored backdrop; the more famous black backdrop (which is still used {{as of|2020|lc=y}}) did not appear until the following year. The logo was in [[Helvetica]] type with the word "Minutes" spelled in all lower-case letters; the logo most associated with the show (rendered in Square 721 type with "Minutes" spelled in uppercase) did not appear until about 1974. Further, to extend the magazine motif, the producers added a "Vol. xx, No. xx" to the title display on the chroma key; modeled after the volume and issue number identifications featured in print magazines, this was used until about 1971. The trademark stopwatch, however, did not appear on the inaugural broadcast; it would not debut until several episodes later. [[Alpo (pet food)|Alpo]] dog food was the sole sponsor of the first program.<ref name="60MinutesHD">{{cite web|title=60 Minutes Goes HD With Nominees|url=http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/60-minutes-goes-hd-with-nominees/22031|last=K.|first=Steve|work=[[Adweek|TVNewser]]|publisher=[[Mediabistro.com]]|date=September 17, 2008|access-date=March 29, 2012}}</ref>

Don Hewitt, who had been a producer of the ''[[CBS Evening News]]'' with [[Walter Cronkite]], sought out Wallace as a stylistic contrast to Reasoner.<ref name="Madsen">Madsen, p. 14</ref> According to one historian of the show, the idea of the format was to make the hosts the reporters, to always feature stories that were of national importance but focused upon individuals involved with, or in conflict with, those issues, and to limit the reports' airtime to around 13 minutes.<ref name="Madsen"/> However, the initial season was troubled by lack of network confidence, as the program did not garner ratings much higher than that of other CBS News documentaries. As a rule, during that era, news programming during [[prime time]] lost money; networks mainly scheduled [[public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]] programs in prime time in order to bolster the prestige of their news departments, and thus boost ratings for the regular evening newscasts, which were seen by far more people than documentaries and the like. ''60 Minutes'' struggled under that stigma during its first three years.

Changes to ''60 Minutes'' came fairly early in the program's history. When Reasoner left CBS to co-anchor [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s [[ABC World News Tonight|evening newscast]] (he would return to CBS and ''60 Minutes'' in 1978), [[Morley Safer]] joined the team in 1970, and he took over Reasoner's duties of reporting less aggressive stories. However, when Richard Nixon began targeting press access and reporting, even Safer, formerly the CBS News bureau chief in [[Saigon]] and [[London]], began to do "hard" investigative reports, and during the 1970–71 season alone, ''60 Minutes'' reported on [[cluster bomb]]s, the [[South Vietnamese Army]], [[draft dodger]]s, [[Nigeria]], the Middle East, and [[Northern Ireland]].<ref name="Madsen 15">Madsen, p. 15</ref>