Don Hewitt, the innovative television news pioneer who changed the face of broadcast journalism in 1968 as the creator and executive producer of “60 Minutes,” died Wednesday. He was 86.
Hewitt, who spent more than 60 years at CBS and shared or individually won an array of honors, including Emmy and Peabody awards, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Bridgehampton, N.Y., the network announced.
In a television career that started in 1948 when he began his association with CBS as an associate director on the network’s evening news show, Hewitt’s numerous accomplishments earned him a place in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame in 1990.
He produced and directed what ultimately became known as “Douglas Edwards With the News” from 1949 to 1962 and was executive producer the first year of the ensuing “CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite,” during which the traditional 15- minute news broadcast was expanded to 30 minutes.
He also directed CBS’s early coverage of the national political conventions, beginning with the first televised convention in 1948.
He produced and directed the first televised presidential debate in history between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy in 1960, in which Nixon ignored Hewitt’s offer of the services of a makeup artist. The historic broadcast established the power of television in national politics.
Then Hewitt created his most successful, acclaimed and profitable program, which he executive-produced for 36 years.
“Good evening. This is ’60 Minutes,’ ” CBS newsman Harry Reasoner said into the camera at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 1968.
CBS had so little faith in the poorly rated new program that it initially aired it on alternate Tuesday nights. It took nearly a decade before the Emmy-winning show, now in its Sunday prime-time slot, finished a season in the Nielsen Top 20 programs.
“He was a tough, tough editor, and all of us who worked with him had some of the worst arguments — practically blood-on-the-floor arguments — over stories and how they’re covered,” “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. “But he had a remarkable gift. Fifteen minutes later, it was as if it had never happened. There was no grudge.”
