{"id":41713,"date":"2026-04-05T08:17:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T08:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41713"},"modified":"2026-04-05T08:17:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T08:17:54","slug":"steve-kroft-rips-60-minutes-as-cutthroat-toxic-workplace-i-hated-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41713","title":{"rendered":"Steve Kroft rips &#8217;60 Minutes&#8217; as cutthroat, toxic workplace: &#8216;I hated it&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A veteran \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent ripped the famed CBS programming as a \u201csnake pit\u201d plagued by \u201cno civility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steve Kroft, who spent 30 years as one of the mainstay journalists on \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told podcaster Bill O\u2019Reilly<\/a> that if he were offered the chance to do it again, he would respond: \u201cNo, I probably wouldn\u2019t do it again\u2026I hated it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 80-year-old former correspondent described the prestigious newsmagazine not as a dream job, but as a brutal grind and psychological battlefield that wore him down over time.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Steve Kroft speaks with Bill O\u2019Reilly during a recent interview, where he said he \u201chated\u201d his time at \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and described a brutal newsroom culture. <span class=\"credit\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kroft said the job was a relentless, all-consuming slog \u2014 \u201c24 hours a day\u201d \u2014 with constant travel, writing, editing and screenings that never seemed to stop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou may get a couple hours\u2026 then getting on jets\u2026 coming back and spending three or four days writing\u2026 then starting it all over again,\u201d Kroft told O\u2019Reilly\u2019s \u201cWe\u2019ll Do It Live\u201d podcast on Thursday.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The pace left little room to breathe \u2014 a nonstop cycle that he said ultimately made the job miserable despite its prestige.<\/p>\n<p>But it was the culture inside the newsroom that drew Kroft\u2019s most scathing criticism.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe title=\"Steve Kroft &amp; Bill O&#039;Reilly on Media Bias, CBS News, Iran &amp; Trump \u2014 We&#039;ll Do It Live!\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WMXiQxIyvNA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Before joining 60 Minutes, Kroft said he got a stark warning from Dan Rather about the show\u2019s cutthroat culture \u2014 recalling that Rather told him the newsroom was filled with \u201cbig cats\u201d who could take you down with a single swipe, leaving you \u201climping for six months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kroft said the warning proved accurate once he arrived.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no civility at 60 Minutes,\u201d Kroft told O\u2019Reilly, describing a workplace where basic decency was absent and suspicion was constant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there was civility\u2026 you better check your wallet,\u201d he added, suggesting even friendliness came with ulterior motives.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kroft speaks with O\u2019Reilly and reflects on his decades at \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d saying the job was \u201c24 hours a day.\u201d <span class=\"credit\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WMXiQxIyvNA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The environment, he said, quickly turned colleagues into adversaries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was tapped to go to 60 Minutes\u2026 not everybody was happy\u2026 you\u2019ve all of a sudden made a bunch of enemies,\u201d Kroft said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just\u2026 a snake pit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That hostility fueled a constant sense of paranoia inside the newsroom, where journalists were driven by competition for status and airtime, the ex-correspondent said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody knows the environment\u2026 they think that somebody is behind them\u2026 going to put a shiv in their back,\u201d Kroft said.<\/p>\n<p>Kroft also recalled landing one of the most consequential interviews of his career \u2014 sitting down with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton at the height of the 1992 campaign, as allegations about Clinton\u2019s relationship with Gennifer Flowers exploded into the national spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>The segment came together at the last minute after Clinton backed out of another TV appearance \u2014 with Kroft and his team scrambling to secure a coveted post-Super Bowl slot that guaranteed a massive audience.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Steve Kroft, pictured during his tenure at \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d said the job was a nonstop grind with \u201cno civility\u201d behind the scenes. <span class=\"credit\">60 Minutes<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Clinton camp, however, misread the situation \u2014 expecting a routine campaign interview, not a deep dive into scandal.<\/p>\n<p>Kroft opened with a deceptively simple question \u2014 \u201cSo tell me who is Gennifer Flowers and how do you know her?\u201d \u2014 catching the candidate off guard as he denied the allegations while Hillary stood firmly by his side.<\/p>\n<p>Hillary Clinton later blasted Kroft for lobbing what she called \u201cmean questions,\u201d triggering a public pushback from the show\u2019s leadership and cementing the interview as a defining moment in the race.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Steve Kroft interviews Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1992 for \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d as allegations about Gennifer Flowers dominated the campaign. <span class=\"credit\">CBS \/Landov<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Kroft said the interview ultimately shaped his view of Bill Clinton. He agreed with O\u2019Reilly\u2019s characterization of Clinton as \u201cnot a truthful man\u201d \u2014 adding that during the scandal-plagued campaign, \u201cif he was going to stay in this, he had to lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kroft left the show in 2019. <\/p>\n<p>Bari Weiss, the newly installed editor-in-chief of CBS News, is<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/02\/media\/bari-weiss-preps-major-shakeup-of-60-minutes-this-summer-sources\/\"> planning a major overhaul of the show<\/a> after the conclusion of this season, The Post reported earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>The shakeup follows the Paramount-Skydance merger and reflects a broader push by new leadership to refocus the program\u2019s editorial direction.<\/p>\n<p>The changes have rattled the newsroom, with internal clashes over editorial decisions, planned layoffs and uncertainty surrounding top talent \u2014- as Weiss and executives eye a younger, retooled roster more aligned with the new vision.<\/p>\n<p>The Post has sought comment from CBS News and the Clintons.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/05\/media\/steve-kroft-rips-60-minutes-as-cutthroat-toxic-workplace-i-hated-it\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A veteran \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondent ripped the famed CBS programming as a \u201csnake pit\u201d plagued by \u201cno civility.\u201d Steve Kroft, who spent 30 years as one&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}