One thing most major news stories from the past couple of decades have in common?

Veteran journalist Scott Pelley covered them.

On 9/11, he was in New York City and risked his life running toward Ground Zero.

He’s interviewed current and former presidents, inventor Elon Musk and anchored CBS Evening News from 2011-2017.

But he says the biggest news story is the proliferation of misinformation.

“Never in human history has more bad information been available to more people…you have to have solid, reliable information for people to make decisions about their families and their countries,” Pelley told Steven Colbert on “The Late Show.”

His new book Truth Worth Telling combines memoir, longform profiles and a history lesson.

The Dallas Morning News reflected on the beginning of Pelley’s career this way:

It is hard to believe that one of the signature members of the Tiffany network (a name CBS earned long ago), who has won 37 national Emmy awards, once found himself jobless in Dallas, after a disagreement with a news director led to his firing at KXAS-TV (Channel 5). It was hardly a bad experience. For it was at Channel 5 that he met the love of his life, Jane Boone Pelley, who at the time was an intern. Scott and Jane would eventually marry and have two Dallas-born children, who are now adults.

We talk to him about combating misinformation, his new book and more.

Text and show produced by Gabrielle Healy.

GUESTS

Scott Pelley, Correspondent, 60 Minutes, author “Truth Worth Telling;” @scottpelley

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

© 2019 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2019 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.

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