Oral history interview with Stephen F. Kroft, 2021
Abstract
Stephen Kroft reflects on his career in broadcast journalism and discusses the seventeen interviews he conducted with Barack Obama from 2007 to 2017 for 60 Minutes on CBS. Kroft outlines the production of a presidential interview for 60 Minutes, describes the development of his rapport with the president, and provides details about interviews focused on major events and issues of the Obama presiden cy, including the 2008 financial crisis, healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act, the increased polarization of Washington politics, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Syrian Civil War, the rise of ISIS, and the Russian annexation of Crimea. Kroft also describes the kinds of questions he would put to the president, and considers Obama's preference for one-on-one interviews over group press conferences. Also discussed are the challenges of the contemporary presidency; Kroft's experience of the 2008, 2010, and 2012 election cycles; Obama's views on the national political press; coverage of the 2012 attack on U.S. government facilities in Benghazi and the rise of right-wing and conservative media; and the enduring importance of 60 Minutes in an era of considerable change in the media landscape
Presidents--United States; Journalists; Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009--United States; Health care reform--United States; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Benghazi Consulate Attack, Banghāzī, Libya, 2012; Mass media--Political aspects; Syria History Civil War, 2011-; Crimea (Ukraine) Annexation to Russia (Federation); Kroft, Stephen; Obama, Barack; Columbia University Alumni and alumnae; IS (Organization); United States; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; 60 minutes (Television program)
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
48 pages
Note (Biographical)
Stephen Kroft is an American broadcast journalist who was a host of 60 Minutes on CBS for thirty years, from 1989 until 2019. Kroft interviewed Barack Obama seventeen times between 2007 and 2017, including the first post-election sit-down report with the Obamas in November 2008; an interview with Obama after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011; and an exit interview with the president in January of 2017. His coverage of Obama was only part of Kroft's work at 60 Minutes, where he filed more than five hundred stories during his career. He joined 60 Minutes after nine years at CBS News, and his career as a journalist began in the Army, into which he was drafted after graduating from Syracuse University. During the Vietnam War, Kroft was a reporter for the Armed Forces Network and Stars and Stripes before receiving an honorable discharge in 1972. He received his master's degree in 1975 from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Kroft has received numerous awards for his work, including a Silurians Press Club lifetime achievement award, five Peabody awards, and eleven Emmy awards, including one lifetime achievement award
Note
Interviewed by Evan D. McCormick on May 3, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Stephen F. Kroft, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023