TIME.com Print Page: TIME Magazine -- 10 Questions For Mike ...

TIME.com Print Page: TIME Magazine -- 10 Questions For Mike Wallace
Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005
10 Questions For Mike Wallace
By JIM KELLY
Mike Wallace, 87, honed his style in the 1950s on Night Beat, where the host,
cigarette smoke swirling in the air, grilled the guest on a dimly lit set. In 1968, he
joined a new show called 60 Minutes, and helped change TV journalism forever. He
met with TIME's Jim Kelly to talk about his new book, Between You and Me, his
interview style and his epitaph.
IF YOU WANTED TO THROW YOURSELF A HARD BALL, WHAT WOULD IT
BE Well, I can think of a tough question, but I might not want to answer it. "Where
did you go wrong"
YOU'RE FAMOUS FOR THE HARD-HITTING PIECES, USING HIDDEN
CAMERAS AND REPORTERS WITH ASSUMED NAMES, AND THEN YOU
COME IN AND HAMMER THE GUY. IT MADE FOR GREAT TV, BUT NOT
EVERYONE THOUGHT IT WAS FAIR. SEE THEIR POINT I really don't. Look,
because it had not been done before and it had not been seen before, the audience was
able to view the process from the inside. It wasn't an ambush. It was an effort to get
behind the façade.
WHO WAS THE EASIER INTERVIEW: THE SHAH OF IRAN OR AYATULLAH
KHOMEINI The Shah of Iran. He wanted to be on TV. He was comfortable with
being asked any question as long as you preceded it with "Your Majesty." When I
interviewed the Ayatullah, he walked in, I put out my hand and he swept past me, sat
down and waited for the questions. They had been approved in advance, but I asked
one they did not approve. I thought, What are they going to do Take me hostage
"Anwar Sadat says you are a lunatic," I asked. Of course, he doesn't speak English,
and I don't speak Farsi. The interpreter was between us, and he looked at me like I
was a nut case. He puts the question to him, and I must say, for the first time he began
to peer at me. Who is this who is asking this question He predicted not much of a
future [for Sadat].
WOULD CBS BE DIFFERENT TODAY IF BILL PALEY WERE STILL IN
CHARGE It's an utterly, utterly different business today. Les Moonves is not Bill
Paley. Les Moonves was able to turn the network around as far as the ratings are
concerned, and some of what he has done has been first-rate, but some of what he's
done ... Bill Paley valued his news division. It was what distinguished his network
from the others.
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TIME.com Print Page: TIME Magazine -- 10 Questions For Mike Wallace
YOU HAVE BEEN QUITE PUBLIC ABOUT YOUR DEPRESSION, WHICH
STARTED 20 YEARS AGO, DURING THE LIBEL TRIAL WILLIAM
WESTMORELAND V. CBS. DID THE TRIAL TRIGGER WHAT WAS
ALREADY THERE I have a hunch that my mother suffered from depression. But
when you're called a liar, a cheat and a fraud, you worry about it. I couldn't eat,
couldn't sleep, thought about suicide. My wife Mary said, "You're depressed." My
own doctor said, "Don't talk about depression. You're a tough guy. It's bad for your
image to suggest that you're depressed." That happens a lot with doctors. They're
worried about the stigma, and they do not understand depression.
WHAT DO YOU TAKE NOW Zoloft.
HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR AN INTERVIEW I take a yellow pad and
categorize my questions. Ambition, motivation, greed, joy, defeat ... 50, 75 questions.
And then what happens is, when an interviewee is maybe reluctant to really let it
come out, you establish the chemistry of confidentiality with these questions. They
begin to understand I know an awful lot about them, and I cared enough to read and
look at and worry about the questions.
AND YOU OFTEN PAUSE AFTER THEIR ANSWERS. That's right. They get
embarrassed by the silence, and they begin to fill the silence. Suddenly they begin to
really talk.
WHO DO YOU LIKE AS AN INTERVIEWER Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters,
Charlie Rose. Larry King can be very good.
YOU SAY IN YOUR BOOK THAT YOU LOST RESPECT FOR DON HEWITT
ABOUT HOW HE HANDLED YOUR PIECE ON JEFFREY WIGAND, THE
TOBACCO-COMPANY WHISTLE-BLOWER WHOSE TALE WAS RETOLD IN
THE INSIDER. We had a serious difference of opinion on that piece. But 60 Minutes
would not have happened without him, and for me to say that I lost respect for him is
over the top.
YOUR EPITAPH Tough but fair.
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