After attending a screening of “Mike Wallace is Here” and a discussion regarding the documentary, I realized that investigative journalism was something that I took for granted. 60 Minutes debuted about 50 years ago, which I found to be fairly recent. I assumed that investigative journalism was always available to the public. However, Mike Wallace was one of the pioneers of investigative journalism, and before him there was no programming available that would give the public such a thorough understanding of the news around them. The lawsuit against Mike Wallace and CBS gave me more perspective on investigative journalism. It is easy to overlook the fact that journalists can encounter serious legal complications as a result of their reporting, even if they are not at fault. The emotional toll it took on Wallace was detrimental.
The nostalgia associated with Mike Wallace was unexpected for me. The moderator of the discussion stated that his family would watch 60 Minutes together every Sunday. It was interesting to get an idea of how big the program was and how the public was eager to tune in. He also shared an anecdote of his father stating that companies knew they would have a bad week if Mike Wallace showed up on a Monday morning. Wallace was the face of investigative journalism, and it was evident that he was adored by the public and feared by those in power. The duality of Mike Wallace is what made him such an interesting subject for the documentary.
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