‘60 Minutes’ anchor speaks on economy

Within moments of being introduced at his speech, Steve Kroft said he knew exactly where he was.

“I can tell I’m back in Indiana when basketball is mentioned in my introduction,” Kroft said.

Kroft returned to Indiana on Tuesday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as the second speaker in the School of Journalism’s spring Speaker Series.

Kroft, who grew up in Kokomo, Ind., has worked for CBS News for 28 years. For 20 of them, Kroft has been at “60 Minutes.”

Though his tenure at “60 Minutes” has allowed him to travel around the world, Kroft said people pick up on the fact he is a Midwesterner.

“People always say, ‘you seem so fair and reasonable – where are you from?’” Kroft said. “I say, ‘I’m from Indiana,’ and they say, ‘I thought so.’”

His lecture, titled “60 Minutes with Steve Kroft,” covered Kroft’s typical process for putting together a story, his views on the current economic situation and the future of journalism.

“I always hear, ‘you have got a great job,’” Kroft said. “And it is, but it’s not always how it looks on ‘60 Minutes.’”

He said his 15-minute segments typically take about four to six weeks to put together and are usually drawn from 15 hours of footage. Kroft said the continuity of the “60 Minutes” format has kept it popular and relevant for the past 40 years.

“We’re the only people on TV doing exactly what we’re doing,” Kroft said.

Even though Kroft said investigative reporting such as what is done on “60 Minutes” is an important part of both TV and print journalism, the current business model of the newspaper industry is “ineffective.”

But Kroft said he doesn’t think the ineffectual business model signals the end of journalism as a whole.

“The business of journalism is too important,” Kroft said. “There is always a market for good information.”

Junior Len Newton said Kroft was a “fascinating” speaker because of his balanced and mediated approach to the topics he discussed.

“He was very diplomatic and treated the audience as such,” Newton said. “He was informative, but you could tell he knew exactly what he was saying. He was a newsman.”

In addition to Kroft’s measured approach to his topics, Newton said Kroft seemed genuinely friendly.

“He seemed like a nice guy,” Newton said. “I’d get a beer with him.”