‘60 Minutes’ website to expand upon broadcast stories
By APWednesday, September 15, 2010
‘60 Minutes’ launching companion website
NEW YORK — “60 Minutes” is launching a companion website that will offer additional details from its correspondents each week about stories that appear on the CBS broadcast.
The site is 60minutesovertime.com and will appear on Sept. 26, the night the broadcast begins its 43rd season on the air. Each week new content will appear online at the same time the broadcast airs.
CBS said Wednesday the material wouldn’t be outtakes, but fully-produced stories that will explore new angles or expand upon ideas that were only talked about for a short time on the air.
For example, correspondent Steve Kroft interviews New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees for the first show, and they walk down Bourbon Street together. The website will have a more expanded look at where they went during that segment, said Jeff Fager, “60 Minutes” executive producer.
“It’s an opportunity for our team to tell stories about their stories,” Fager said.
It’s not happening immediately, but there are plans to make “60 Minutes” correspondents available to talk about their stories with viewers through the website, said Bill Owens, the broadcast’s executive editor, who will oversee content. He said “60 Minutes” is also talking with YouTube about starting a new channel there devoted to the broadcast.
The site is a separate entity from the current “60 Minutes” website, where people can click on video of stories that have aired.
Besides the look behind the scenes at each week’s episode, producers say they will draw from archival material to add context to current news stories. For instance, 60minutesovertime.com would have posted excerpts from Mike Wallace’s interview with Roger Clemens about steroids on the day the former pitcher was indicted recently, Fager said.
Besides the Brees profile, other stories in the works for this season’s broadcast include a Scott Pelley look at the controversy over an Islamic Center near New York’s ground zero, and a Lara Logan story on the war in Afghanistan, Fager said.
