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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hi, I am 
a retired schoolteacher.

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And I love your program, 
watch you all the time.

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And I know you're a 
brilliant journalist.

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But what comes to my 
mind when I hear you,

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and watch your segment is that

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I called you in my 
mind the examiner.

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Because you don't just ask 
a question and get a reply.

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You always go a little 
bit more in depth.

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And I always appreciate that.

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So my question to you is, 
what teacher in your life

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made the most impact? 
[SCOTT PELLEY] Marjorie Wilson.

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Marjorie Wilson. [EVAN 
SMITH] Talk about Ms. Wilson.

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[PELLEY] She's in the book.

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My journalism teacher 
at Coronado High School

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in Lubbock Texas.

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She was on fire to teach.

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If she had been teaching 
accounting, I'd be a CPA today.

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(audience laughing)

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It didn't matter what 
she was teaching.

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She was on fire to teach, and 
she was teaching journalism,

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so she made journalism 
seem like the most noble,

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most exciting profession 
you could possibly be in.

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And, we have all had 
teachers like that.

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They are unfortunately a 
little rare in the universe.

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But Marjorie Wilson 
was the reason

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I went into journalism.

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She's the reason I'm sitting 
here speaking with you today.

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[SMITH] Yeah, we don't talk 
about those teachers enough.

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I'm glad you had a 
chance to do that.

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[PELLEY] Thank you for 
your service to our country,

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by the way.

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[PELLEY] Thank you 
for your service

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to our country. 
(applauding)

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Teachers are national heroes.

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[SMITH] Hi. 
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Hi.

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Well, boy, she really teed 
up my question to you, too.

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Because I also was a 
student of Marjorie Wilson,

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and worked with 
her husband Bill!

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[SMITH] Look at that! [AUDIENCE 
MEMBER] And the last time

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I was in the room 
with Scott Pelley

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I think he was 
just past puberty.

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(audience laughing) 
[PELLEY] Probably.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] This 
young kid in the newsroom

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at the Lubbock 
Avalanche-Journal--

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[PELLEY] Yes! [AUDIENCE 
MEMBER] We were wondering,

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who is this?

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And then my husband comes home

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who works for KEND 
Radio, The Living End.

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And he said, yeah, Scott's 
spotted there, too.

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I guess I'd just say, 
a lotta your fans here

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would probably like to 
know, other than Ms. Wilson,

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how did you get the 
gumption, at the age you did,

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to just go and hang 
out at newsrooms?

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And how did that inspire 
the rest of your career?

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[PELLEY] You know 
gumption just seemed

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to be part of the DNA

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of the Pelley family. 
(laughing)

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I don't know where 
it comes from!

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But, I was in Marjorie Wilson's

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journalism class during the day.

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And through that,

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I learned that the 
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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hired copy boys, gender 
insensitive today,

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but that's what they called us,

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to work the three 
to midnight shift,

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which was perfect for 
somebody in high school.

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But I had a temporal problem,

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they only hired kids who were 
16 and above, and I was 15.

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So I did what anyone would do.

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I went in and lied about my age.

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[SMITH] Lied about your age. 
(laughing)

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Perhaps a proud 
American tradition.

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[PELLEY] And they hired me.

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And my mother, my 
co-conspirator, 
would drop me off

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a couple of blocks 
from the paper

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so nobody could see that I 
didn't have a drivers license.

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(audience laughing)

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And I worked the three 
to midnight shift

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there as a copy boy.

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About a year went by,

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and the executive 
editor of the paper,

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a guy named Dave Knapp, 
always wore a white shirt,

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had a silver crew cut, 
kinda Marine Corps bearing.

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He walks into the wire 
room where I worked,

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and I'm working on my 
high school homework.

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And he sits down, and he says,

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"Do you want to be a reporter?"

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And I said "Well, I don't know,

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"I haven't given 
it any thought."

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He said "Well, do 
you or don't you?"

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(audience laughing) 
And I said.

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"Well sure, I guess."

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And he walked me out in 
front of this machine

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which some of you will remember,

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it was called a typewriter. 
(laughing)

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I had no idea how to 
operate this machine,

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but I've been a 
reporter ever since.

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And that's how it 
all got launched,

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but thanks to Marjorie 
Wilson...and a lie.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] 
Thanks for being here.

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[PELLEY] My search for 
the truth began with a lie.

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[SMITH] Began right there. 
(laughing)

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I want to set expectations, 
how long do we have?

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[FLOOR MANAGER] 
About four minutes.

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[SMITH] Can I take these three?

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[FLOOR MANAGER] We'll see. 
[SMITH] Will you permit?

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OK, very well. [PELLEY] 
Depends on how windy I am.

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(audience laughing)

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[PELLEY] Go ahead. [AUDIENCE 
MEMBER] Another fellow Texan

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who has a book out called 
"Becoming the News,"

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it was her dissertation 
where she interviewed people

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who had been 
interviewed by the press

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to get their feedback 
on how they felt

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that process treated them. 
[PELLEY] Really interesting.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] 
I'm just wondering

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if you've ever had a chance

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to reflect back 
on how interviews

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that you've conducted have gone

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from the perspective of the 
person being interviewed.

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I'm sure you've 
gotten some feedback,

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plus or minus over the years.

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[PELLEY] What is the 
name of that book?

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] 
"Becoming the News."

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[PELLEY] "Becoming the News."

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[PELLEY] "Becoming the News,"

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] 
By Ruth Palmer.

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[PELLEY] I'm gonna get 
ahold of this today,

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that's a fascinating idea.

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[SMITH] It's an 
interesting question.

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I always think that for those 
of us who do interviews,

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the most useful thing 
is to be interviewed.

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To be on the other side of the 
table and see how that goes.

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[PELLEY] Yes. 
[SMITH] Do you reflect

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on whether you 
come on too strong

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or was I fair to this person? 
[PELLEY] Oh, absolutely.

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[SMITH] Self-reflective. 
[PELLEY] Very, very much so.

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Every interview I do.

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You know,

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I have discovered 
over these many years

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that what people consider 
to be bias in the media

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is really bias in the viewing.

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If I do an interview with 
the president, any president,

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we will get tons 
of emails and mail

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coming in to "60 Minutes."

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This one will say, 
you dirty Democrat.

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You tried to get him, 
and you couldn't.

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And then the next one 
is, you dirty Republican,

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you let him walk, and you didn't 
ask him any hard questions.

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And then the mail 
kinda piles up, 50/50.

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[SMITH] That's right. 
[PELLEY] It's very interesting

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to see how people 
view the interviews.

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In terms of the interviewees, 
I can't think of a time,

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this is a fault,

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I can't think of a time 
that I ever circled back

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to somebody and said 
so what do you think

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about how that went? 
[SMITH] How'd this go?

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[PELLEY] But I'm 
gonna get that book.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Yeah. 
[PELLEY] Thank you for that.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] 
It's worth reading.

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[PELLEY] Yeah, fascinating.

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[SMITH] Has there been any time,

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without going into 
too much detail,

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has there been any time 
when you did an interview

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and walked away and thought,

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I wasn't fair to that person?

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Or I blew that, I 
missed that in some way?

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I've certainly had that. 
[PELLEY] Every once in a while

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you're brushing your 
teeth the next morning

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and you think of the question

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that you should've asked, right?

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[SMITH] Right.

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[PELLEY] That 
does happen, yeah.

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[SMITH] Yeah, it does, great.

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Sir!

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] As a 
teacher for 34 years,

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I was glad to hear your 
comment on your teacher.

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What did you want to be 
before she changed your mind?

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[PELLEY] Astronaut. 
[SMITH] Astronaut.

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[PELLEY] Yeah.

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I was a boy growing 
up in the 1960s.

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I mean, what boy 
growing up in the '60s

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didn't want to be 
an astronaut, right?

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[SMITH] And in Texas, right?

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[PELLEY] And in 
Texas, absolutely.

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We were going to the moon!

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We, the whole country, we 
were all going to the moon.

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And so I really wanted 
to be part of that.

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And I was in the, 
I was a finalist

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in NASA's Journalist 
in Space program.

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After Christa McAuliffe, 
the high school teacher--

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[SMITH] '87, '86. 
[PELLEY] --the next passenger

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was gonna be a journalist.

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But, of course, 
after the disaster

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they canceled the program.

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[SMITH] That's too bad.

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00:07:03,633 --> 00:07:05,433
Well, maybe you could embed 
with the Space Force, actually?

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00:07:05,433 --> 00:07:07,733
[PELLEY] Well maybe I can. 
I'd love to! (laughing)

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00:07:07,733 --> 00:07:08,933
[SMITH] Yeah, yeah.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] 
I've been a great fan

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of "CBS Morning News"

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and "Evening News" and there's 
been a lot of upheaval lately

202
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that I haven't been 
real happy with.

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00:07:15,766 --> 00:07:18,800
What I just wonder is, 
where is John Dickerson?

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[PELLEY] Oh, I'm 
so glad you asked!

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Because he's with me. 
[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Oh!

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[PELLEY] He has just 
moved in to his bright,

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00:07:26,266 --> 00:07:28,800
shiny, new office 
at "60 Minutes."

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00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,433
And you're gonna be 
seeing him on "60 Minutes"

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00:07:31,433 --> 00:07:33,300
several times this season.

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00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:36,400
But he's now a full time 
"60 Minutes" correspondent.

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And we are thrilled 
to have him--

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[SMITH] He's a great guy. 
[PELLEY] --especially going in

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00:07:40,633 --> 00:07:44,533
to an election year, 
because of his deep contacts

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00:07:44,533 --> 00:07:48,233
and great understanding of the 
American electorate, as well.

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[AUDIENCE MEMBER] Thank you. 
[SMITH] Good question.

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00:07:49,733 --> 00:07:51,466
[PELLEY] Yeah. [SMITH] OK, 
we've landed the plane safely,

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00:07:51,466 --> 00:07:52,733
isn't that great? 
(audience laughing)

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00:07:52,733 --> 00:07:54,266
Please give Scott 
Pelley a big hand.

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00:07:54,266 --> 00:07:55,966
Thank him for being here. 
[PELLEY] Oh, thank you.

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(applauding) 
Thank you very much.

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[SMITH] Thanks to all of 
you, and we'll see you!

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00:07:58,733 --> 00:08:01,200
(applauding)

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[PELLEY] Thanks everyone, 
thank you! (applauding)