Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes

(Paperback)

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Description

When producer Ira Rosen walked into the 60 Minutes offices in June 1980, he knew he was about to enter television history. His career catapulted him to the heights of TV journalism. But behind the scenes was a war room of clashing producers, anchors, including legendary correspondent Mike Wallace. With surprising humor, charm, and an eye for colorful detail, Rosen delivers an authoritative account of the unforgettable personalities that battled for prestige, credit, and the desire to scoop everyone else in the game. As Mike Wallace's top producer, Rosen reveals the interview secrets that made Wallace's work legendary, and the flaring temper that made him infamous. He exposes the competitive environment among famous colleagues like Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, and the power plays between correspondents Chris Wallace, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Cuomo. Rosen shows readers how 60 Minutes puts together a story when sources are explosive, unreliable, and even dangerous. From unearthing shocking revelations from inside the Trump White House, to an outrageous proposition from Ghislaine Maxwell, to interviewing gangsters Joe Bonanno and John Gotti Jr., Ira Rosen was behind the scenes of 60 Minutes' most sensational stories. Highly entertaining, dishy, and unforgettable, Ticking Clock is a never-before-told account of the most successful news show in American history.

Reviews

[A] revealing portrait of American television's most famous and successful news show...perhaps the book's most important contribution comes in ratifying the essential role of skilled, tenacious journalism in maintaining a democracy. --Associated Press

The book details story after story of [Rosen's] efforts to get people to tell him things, and then say those same things on camera...[Mike] Wallace might have been the Picasso of interviewers, but his producer had to be the master of landing them in the first place...the essence of the book involves the stories behind those stories. --Washington Post

Author Bio

For nearly twenty-five years, IRA ROSEN has produced some of the most memorable, important, and groundbreaking stories for 60 Minutes. A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Rosen was a senior producer of Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer. Rosen has won 24 National Emmys, four duPont Awards, two RFK Awards, and two Peabodys for his work. He is the coauthor of The Warning: Accident at Three Mile Island.