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60 Minutes: Dec 11

60 Minutes isn't running away from criticism, brashly replaying Michael Usher's interview with Sarah Ferguson.

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60 Minutes isn’t running away from criticism of its interview strategy this year, brashly replaying Michael Usher’s interview with Sarah Ferguson.

Standby for Liam Bartlett’s interview with Joan Collins?

In these summer replays, they have been including one first-run report from the US series.

Seeing Red
It’s not every day you get dressed down by a Duchess. But that’s just what happened to Michael Usher earlier this year when he interviewed royal renegade Sarah Ferguson. It was her first Australian interview in eight- years, so Michael had been looking forward to it. What he didn’t realise was that the Duchess has two very different sides. When Michael arrived, he was completely charmed by the knockabout “Sarah” who is open and brutally honest about her failings. But later in the day, Michael met bad Fergie – (her description not Michael’s). She’s the one who makes those bad judgement calls and lands herself in hot water, again and again. We’d already agreed that nothing was off limits for our interview. Michael could ask her about any of her famous scandals. But somewhere along the line, Michael hit a raw nerve and that’s when the trouble began.
Reporter: Michael Usher
Producers: Gareth Harvey, Sandra Cleary, Ali Smith
Original TX: 14 August, 2011

Descent into Hell
Looking back, Allison Langdon wonders where she found the nerve. Allison’s assignment was to venture where no one had gone before – right into the heart of one of the most active, most dangerous volcanoes on Earth. Joining her on this crazy quest was a team of Kiwi adventurers. Their plan was to abseil 500 metres over the edge of Mt Marum in Vanuatu and into the cauldron below. One slip and Allison would have been history – vaporised by the boiling lava. It’s a frightening place – no wonder it’s shrouded in mystery and black magic.
Reporter: Allison Langdon
Producer: Nick Greenaway
Original TX: 24 July, 2011

Giving Away a Fortune
Imagine being so rich you could change the world and having the drive to actually make it happen. Fifteen years ago, Bill and Melinda Gates set up the Gates Foundation – pledging to give away 90% of their estimated 56 billion dollar fortune. They’re well on their way to achieving that goal – not that you’d know about it. The Gates have gone about their charity work humbly and well out of sight of the world’s media. So it was a rare privilege when Melinda Gates invited Scott Pelley, of the American 60 Minutes program, to join her on a mission to India.
Reporter: Scott Pelley, CBS 60 Minutes Producer: Denise Schrier Cetta

Sunday, December 11 at 7:30pm on Nine

6 Responses

  1. Wow, 60 Minutes is screening a class tale of reporter incompetence, in all its glory with this rerun of the Sarah Ferguson story.

    I always believed it was the journalist’s job to get the story, and let the story talk, not become the story, as Usher became here, and as Liam Bartlett contrived to do with Joan Collins. Both these guys should know that these stories are now being used as education tools in media schools of how Not to do an interview.

    It shows such a lack of skill and class, but says so much of what Nine is all about these days.

  2. You know what, I truly believe there are people out there who are loyal fans of 60 Minutes and are watching these stories again. I just can’t see the reasoning behind this. Why not trial something else?

  6. Speaking of Bill Gates will 60Min AU be showing the 60Min US special they did on Steve Jobs about a month ago?

    Oh and will they be in 16:9? I’ve noticed even though the US version is in wide-screen for some reason when it lands here they usually have the 4:3 copy of the interviews which IMO just cheapens the show even more!

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