Katie Couric has shared behind-the-scenes anecdotes from her time as a correspondent at CBS's "60 Minutes," detailing frustrations with producer Jeff Fager that she says made her feel "crazy" and "gaslit."
During an appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, Couric recounted pitching a profile on then-emerging artist Lady Gaga, believing it would resonate with the show's audience. She described the initial rejection of the idea by Fager, who she felt did not favor her presence at the program. Couric stated that Fager's reasoning was that the story was "not for us."
Couric later learned that Fager expressed interest in the Lady Gaga story a year later, but by then, she felt the moment had passed due to the artist's increased exposure.
"Fast forward a year, and she calls me and says, ‘Guess what? Jeff wants to do the piece on Lady Gaga,’" Couric recalled. "And I was like, ‘Okay, well, she's kind of overexposed now. She was on the cover of Rolling Stone.'"
Couric then proposed an alternative angle focusing on the juxtaposition of Lady Gaga's Catholic school upbringing and her public persona. However, she discovered that correspondent Anderson Cooper had been assigned the story.
"I see Lady Gaga- Anderson Cooper," Couric said, expressing her dismay. "And I was like, that made me crazy."
A similar situation reportedly occurred with a proposed profile of Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. Couric stated that Fager initially assigned her the story, with a focus on Clinton's work for women and girls globally. However, Couric learned through the State Department that Scott Pelley was also pursuing a feature on Clinton.
When Couric confronted Fager, he allegedly told her they had decided to pursue a different direction, a response Couric described as "a bald-faced lie" and an instance of being "gaslit."
"And then it was being done behind my back, like without even the decency to call me and say, ‘Guess what? We've decided to reassign this story and this is why,’" Couric said. "Instead, I have to find out because the State Department spokesperson tells my producer. So, stuff like that was, you know, talk about getting gaslit. I mean, to me, that is the definition of it."
Couric also commented on recent tensions at CBS, including the departure of correspondent Scott Pelley. She stated that Bari Weiss, the network's editor-in-chief, had no choice but to let Pelley go, calling his actions a "classic definition of insubordination."