Don Hewitt and tabloid television

Don Hewitt created 60 Minutes. He was, justifiably, a television news legend whose influence and vision extended far beyond the walls of CBS News. He also had a close relationship to tabloid television, and not only because the revolutionary 60 Minutes set a tabloid template for personalizing stories by creating heroes of its crusading correspondents. In the heyday of tabloid television, his daughter Lisa was a producer for A Current Affair. Lisa married equally-legendary news ameraman Billy Cassera, who helped shape and create the look and mise en scène of the tabloid television image. When Hard Copy geared up, one of the top reporter-producers was Eames Yates, stepson of 60 Minutes man Mike Wallace. Mike and Eames discussed stpries all the time, and throughout there was a cross-pollination between the premier mainstream news program and the top tabloid television shows. In 1999, Mike Wallace would contribute a quote to the dust jacket of the book Tabloid Baby: "Sad, funny, undeniably authentic, Tabloid Baby tells the tale of what befell too much of mainstream television news over the past couple of decades as the bad drove out the good.” While the full connections between 60 Minutes and tabloid television can be found in the book Tabloid Baby, we meanwhile offer our condolences to the Hewitt family on the passing of a great man.