[Smells Like News] Don Hewitt, 60 Minutes Creator, Dies at 86

Don Hewitt, who created 60 Minutes and was a pioneering CBS journalist from 1948 until retiring in 2008, died Wednesday at the age of 86.

Sources say that Don Hewitt was diagnosed with a small, contained tumor earlier this year and underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer.

After he created the popular 60 Minutes in 1968, which pioneered the TV news magazine format, he served as executive producer until 2004.

It is now the most successful show in the history of TV journalism.

The TV news innovator was also famous for producing the first televised presidential, which many believed played a crucial role in helping John F. Kennedy upset Richard Nixon and has become a staple of every election since.

CBS Executive Don Hewitt was honored with the second annual Lifetime Achievement Emmy presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

In 1995, the famed reporter and producer was awarded the Founders Emmy by the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

He is also the author of Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television, which chronicles Don Hewitt's life as a journalist. He will be missed.

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Posted By sysop to Smells Like News at 11/29/2009 06:35:00 PM

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