Immediately after being hired at “60 Minutes”, Ira Rosen witnessed one of the falls signed by Mike Wallace.
It was 1980 and Rosen, then 26, was on his first mission for the legendary news program, investigating union violence in Los Angeles. The new junior producer spent weeks talking to a federal investigator to agree to appear in the room with Wallace, CBS News’ chief correspondent. But while Wallace was in transit to the West Coast, the source was saved.
Lead producer Allan Maraynes broke the bad news as he drove Wallace to the city from the airport, with Rosen in the back seat.
“Mike went crazy,” Rosen writes, taking his fists from Maraynes’ briefcase and throwing them in front of him as he struggled to keep the vehicle on the road.
“Wallace swore at Allan, told him it was a failure as a producer and that he would be demoted as soon as we returned to New York. It was the most amazing verbal abuse I have ever witnessed. ”
Later, a shocked Rosen asked Maraynes how he resisted the tantrum.
“I gave it to him,” his colleague explained wearily. “If you listen to everything he says, you’ll go crazy, so I’ve found a way to get into a cone of silence.”
This incident set Rosen’s plan for the next four decades.
“I’d rather work with a talented idiot than with a nice, untalented person,” Rosen wrote in “Ticking Clock” (St. Martin) on Feb. 16 in his memoirs of his “60 Minutes” career and his competitors. , ABC “20/20” and “Primetime Live”.
Fortunately for him, the TV news business is full of talented idiots.
When Rosen joined the “60 Minutes” movie, Wallace, then 62, was a journalism legend, known for his painful expositions and harsh interviews that kept the criminals’ feet on fire. CBS’s advertising department has made a name for itself – “The dreaded four words in English: Mike Wallace is here.”
“Unfortunately,” says Rosen sadly, “this also applied to those who work with him.”
Wallace gave Rosen his big break, taught him the ropes of investigative journalism, and gave a master class in interviews and entertainment – all while throwing a constant barrage of invective and shrinking.
In public and in private, Wallace “seemed to define his life by how many problems it could cause.” He was glad to question Rosen out loud about his sex life when the two were at dinner and ruined Rosen’s wedding by whispering dark comments to the bride’s father (“Does she know what she’s up to?” He said, sighing deeply. “I have to tell you about him – wait, the wedding begins”).
At the office, he was famous for his “Neanderthal behavior” toward women, tearing his bra straps and slapping their bottoms. When a female producer reacted with a furious blow to the face, Wallace was perplexed.
“What the hell is her problem?” he wondered aloud.
Today’s colleagues “may have to resort to human resources, hire a lawyer and threaten a public trial,” Rosen admits. “But in those days it never crossed my mind the possibility of such actions.”
Indeed, since Wallace left the waves in 2008, a number of CBS News correspondents and executives – including Charlie Rose, CEO Leslie Moonves and “60 Minutes” boss Jeff Fager – have been fired on charges of sexual misconduct.
Not only the subjects received Wallace’s treatment. He also ran over his fellow colleagues, regularly poaching stories from colleagues Ed Bradley and Morley Safer.
“Mike would send his producers to steal a source or character that was essential to a story and then film it quickly before the other correspondent found out,” Rosen writes.
Most certainly, he was offended by these thefts. “There would be months when Safer wouldn’t talk to Wallace, even if their offices were next to each other.”
Choosing to fight with your colleagues “makes your blood move,” Wallace once told Rosen. “It makes you feel alive.”
Although Wallace’s behavior was extreme, he was not alone. Rosen writes that the industry is full of divas and covers that make life miserable for their crews.
Diane Sawyer, “two-faced,” was infamous for the insults behind her. “If she was too friendly and started kissing you on the cheek to greet you, she probably threw you in the back,” says Rosen.
Sawyer would have all smiles when he met Barbara Walters in the ABC halls, chuckling rumors that the two were at odds – and gave up the act when Walters was out of range.
“Inside the elevator, Diane looked at me and said, ‘I hate that woman. Don’t believe a word he says. She gives me the knife with every chance she has, ”Rosen writes. “He looked like someone who wanted revenge.”
In 1998, when ABC performers made Sawyer and Walters co-anchor a Sunday night show, their secret enmity made forced collaboration a nightmare.
“They argued over who greeted the TV audience and who said good night,” Rosen recalls. After many negotiations, Walters was given welcome duties, and Sawyer was responsible for signing. But no one could stop Walters from adding a final “good night” at a time after Sawyer had turned his attention to the audience, giving him one last word each week and infuriating his partner in the air.
“They even counted the number of words each had, introducing the stories,” Rosen writes. “It was a total disaster.”
Chris Cuomo, now CNN’s anchor, brought a little journalistic experience – but a lot of rights – to ABC when he landed a correspondent’s job there.
“His brother [now-Gov. Andrew Cuomo] nicknamed Chris “Mansion Boy” because Chris spent his teens at the governor’s mansion in Albany “during their father’s administration, Rosen laughs.
In 2003, the directors of “Primetime Live” asked Rosen to guide Cuomo in investigative journalism.
“I reluctantly agreed,” Rosen writes. “Cuomo greeted me with ‘I understand you’re my new bitch.’ ”
“He lost me in greeting,” Rosen recalls. “Cuomo that son of a bitch, I thought, will definitely go far in this business.”
While his caustic arrogance was not welcome on ABC, Cuomo made it part of his cable act.
– I hate that woman. Don’t believe a word he says.
Diane Sawyer on rival Barbara Walters
Katie Couric angered Rosen during her short and unfortunate “60 Minutes”.
“Lazy and disabled and she thought she was smarter than everyone who worked on the show,” he said. – It was not.
In 2008, at the height of Hillary Clinton’s presidential battle with Barack Obama, “60 Minutes” staged a coup: Both candidates agreed to leave the show behind the scenes of their filming campaigns for the twin segments to take place. in the same interval on Sunday evening. Couric was interviewed by Clinton.
But while the producers wanted to challenge the former first lady with important questions, Couric was determined to go with her business skills. She threw away Rosen’s script and went for the fluff.
“How do you do it? I’m talking about pure resistance,” Couric began as Rosen steamed on the edge.
Clinton responded with a list of grandparents’ clothes: “I take vitamins. I still drink tea, not coffee … Wash your hands all the time. And if you can’t, use Purell. ”
“The interview came down from there,” Rosen said. “I’ve been thinking, ‘Do they pay Katie $ 15 million a year for that?’ ””
Mike Wallace never hardened with age. On ABC, Rosen collaborated with Chris Wallace, who had an unpleasant relationship with his father, both personally and professionally.
“I now find myself in a strange position to go through the lessons I learned from his father to his son,” Rosen recalls.
In 1997, while Chris Wallace was preparing a story about comedian Chris Rock, his father derailed her – convincing Rock to settle with him instead, since “60 Minutes” had better ratings.
“It was a betrayal on so many levels. I felt I had to call Mike, “Rosen writes.
“‘Mike, why would you snatch your baby?’ I asked.
“It’s going to pass,” Mike replied.
Rosen asked him to reconsider, saying, “Your choice is simple. You can have Chris speak at your funeral or you can profile Chris Rock. ”
“Fifteen minutes later,” Mike called. – I solved the problem. I told Ed Bradley the story. ”
The father and son did not talk to each other for almost a year.
But when Mike Wallace died in 2012, at the age of 93, Chris paid tribute to his father:
“My father was everything you saw on TV: fascinating and funny, provocative and exasperating,” he said in a statement. “And while work has often come first for him in the last 20 years, he has worked hard to connect with his family. He became my best friend. ”