There was a time, not all that long ago, that CBS’ “60 Minutes” was widely regarded as the gold standard of broadcast journalism. Regrettably, not so much anymore.
With the luxury of being able to do long-form, in-depth reporting, rather than the typical mainstream media hit-and-run headline-and-sound-bite journalism, “60 Minutes” could and did present thorough, thoughtful, and evenhanded reports on controversial topics.
It still does from time to time, notably just two months ago on Dec. 15, when it aired a pair of riveting reports: One about life in post-Assad Syria, now that it’s no longer under the boot of deposed dictator Bashar Assad; the other exposing how artificial intelligence-powered dark-web sites are enabling the deepfake “pornification” of photos of teenage girls.
Those reports represent what journalism could be—and should be.
But in…
