Veteran journalist Steve Kroft, who spent a considerable time working on CBS’ 60 Minutes, revealed in a recent podcast appearance that he “hated” his job. He further asserted that he would never return to the show, citing concerns like the pace and atmosphere.
Steve Kroft says he ‘probably wouldn’t do’ 60 Minutes again
Long-term CBS journalist, who was renowned for his work on 60 Minutes, sat down with Bill O’Reilly in the latter’s podcast, We’ll Do It Live!
During the discussion, Kroft, who worked for 30 seasons on 60 Minutes, reflected on his time in the job. When asked by O’Reilly if he was open to working for the iconic show again, the retired journalist said, “No, I probably wouldn’t do it again. I hated it.”
The 80-year-old went on to explain why he did not like the job, citing exhaustion as one of the key reasons. “The job is just 24 hours a day,” he explained, “I mean, you may get a couple of hours of bad sleep. Beepers going off, getting on jets, going here and there, the whole thing, then coming back and spending three or four days writing the script, and then going to the screenings, and then starting it all over again.”
He did admit that it was rewarding to be able to tell “good stories,” but also spoke about other things, like how difficult it was to make friends in the industry. “If people seem really friendly, you need to check your wallet,” the veteran journalist said. He added about the cutthroat nature of the business, “Everybody is so paranoid…Everybody knows the environment, and they think that somebody is behind them, going to put a shiv in their back.”
Kroft added that he preferred his previous job as a correspondent at CBS’ London bureau over the role on 60 Minutes. “That was the job I always wanted,” he said about it.
Apart from Kroft, other long-term 60 Minutes correspondents like Anderson Cooper have also stepped away from their roles.
Originally reported by Sourav Chakraborty on ComingSoon.
