By Don Goldberg | No Comments
Last updated: Monday, October 5, 2009

When corporate or association executives ask if they should go on 60 Minutes, my stock answer is “no,” that’s the worst way for an organization under fire to gets its side of the story out.  Sorry, 60 Minutes, you are great television, just lousy journalism. Nothing personal, but your format requires telling a human interest story, and that means heroes and villains.  Real life just isn’t that clear cut, and why would anyone willingly play the part of the villain?

There are some times, however few and far between, when there is no one else to defend the company, organization, individual, or industry in the cross hairs, so someone has to play that role– no matter how painful that may be.  That happened last night, when 60 Minutes’ Leslie Stahl went after the electric utilities responsible for the waste coal ash being stored at plants around the country. The industry spokesman did his best, perhaps made a couple mistakes on how he answered, but nevertheless took the predictable villain’s drubbing.

But the inevitable question after the show airs is, should the target of the 60 Minutes story respond in some way after it has been on. My default position is “no,” and here’s why:

• Viewership.  While 60 Minutes has been a journalism institution, its penetration into the mainstream is low.
• Demographics.  Those that do watch it tend to skew to the retired segment (just look at the ads that run during the show), and are not most organizations’ target audience.
• News value.  60 Minutes (like other network newscasts) rarely includes original reporting or breaks new ground, so other news outlets are unlikely to pay attention.
• Echo effect.  Unlike print, which has a long shelf-life on the internet, or the ubiquitous short, clever, funny YouTube-type videos that get lots of hits, 60 Minutes pieces are long, time consuming to watch, and thus do not get much additional viewership.
• Audience.  The people who go out of their way to watch a particular episode and would be passionate about a given segment tend to be advocates either for or against the issue, not those who are persuadable. 
• The exception.  If a particular segment is so unusual and interesting that it gathers ”legs” and generates additional coverage, then an after-the-fact response to set the record in the fullest context may be warranted.

My advice– monitor for additional pick-up but in the meantime, keep the powder dry.

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