Jeff Fager

American television producer (born 1954)
  • Margaret Bulkley Fager
  • Charles Anthony Fager

Jeffrey B. Fager (born December 10, 1954) is an American television producer who is the former chairman of CBS News and former executive producer of 60 Minutes.

Biography

Fager was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts, to an Episcopalian family,[1] the son of Margaret (née Bulkley) and Charles Anthony Fager.[2][3] He graduated from Colgate University in 1977.[4] He began his career in broadcast news in Boston and joined CBS News in 1982 from San Francisco, California, CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, where he was a broadcast producer.

Fager was Executive Producer of the CBS Evening News from 1996 to 1998[4] and held senior and field producer positions for that and other CBS News programs, including 60 Minutes. He left the Evening News in 1998 to become the first executive producer of 60 Minutes II.[4] In June 2004, he assumed the position of Executive Producer of 60 Minutes.[5]

In February 2011, it was announced that Fager would lead the news division of CBS as Chairman of CBS News, a newly created position. In tandem with the newly appointed president, David Rhodes, Fager would head CBS News while continuing to executive produce 60 Minutes.[6]

After stepping in as Chairman of CBS News, Fager said he would "restore CBS News to where it should be, where it needs to be", using the original reporting and storytelling of 60 Minutes as a benchmark for its other news programs.[7]

On January 1, 2015, Fager stepped down as chairman but continued in his executive producer role of 60 Minutes until his 2018 departure from CBS News. David Rhodes continued to serve as President of the CBS News Division.[8]

Personal life

Fager is married to Melinda Wooster; they live in New Canaan, Connecticut,[2] with their three children.[9]

Controversy

In 2018, nineteen current and former CBS employees told The New Yorker that Fager allowed harassment in the news division. Six former employees also told the magazine that while inebriated at company parties, he touched employees in ways that made them uncomfortable.[10][11]

Fager was ousted from CBS News on September 12, 2018.[12][13][14] CBS News reported that Fager had sent a threatening text message to Jericka Duncan, one of the network's correspondents, when she sought his response to the report in The New Yorker.[15] The text read "Be careful, There are people who lost their jobs trying to harm me, and if you pass on these damaging claims without your own reporting to back them up, that will become a serious problem."[16]

Awards

  • 2007: Gerald Loeb Award for Television Enterprise business journalism for "The Mother of All Heists"[17]
  • 2012: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association[18]
  • 2014: Gerald Loeb Award for Personal Finance business journalism for "60 Minutes: 40 Million Mistakes"[19]

References

  1. ^ Jewish Ledger: "60 Minutes: At War With The Truth" by Judie Jacobson May 15, 2013 | Then, on April 7 of this year, CBS chairman Jeff Fager spoke at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in New Canaan, where he is a member, as part of the church’s weekly program, “Abraham’s Tent: Jews, Christians and Muslims in the World Today.”
  2. ^ a b The Needham Times: "Margaret Fager" from March 24, 2015 | "Memorial Service will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Wellesley"
  3. ^ Wellesley Patch: "In memory of Dr. Charles A. Fager" by Carol Kerbaugh April 9, 2014
  4. ^ a b c "CBS News Team: Jeffrey Fager". CBS News. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  5. ^ Hewitt Sets 60 Minutes Transition, January 27, 2003
  6. ^ Jeffrey Fager CBS News Bio, February 28, 2011
  7. ^ CBS News: We'll Never Pay Casey Anthony, Apologize to Lance Armstrong, July 28, 2011
  8. ^ Jeff Fager Announces His Decision to Return to Role as Executive Producer of "60 Minutes" Full-Time and to Step Down From Post as Chairman of CBS News, November 20, 2014
  9. ^ CBS News: "Jeffrey Fager bio" by David Kohn February 26, 2002
  10. ^ Ronan Farrow. "Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  11. ^ Farrow, Ronan (2018-09-09). "Leslie Moonves Steps Down from CBS, After Six Women Raise New Assault and Harassment Claims". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  12. ^ Castillo, Michelle (2018-09-12). "CBS: '60 Minutes' executive Jeff Fager is out because of violating policy". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  13. ^ Brian Stelter (September 12, 2018). "'60 Minutes' producer Jeff Fager leaving CBS amid allegations of inappropriate conduct". CNN.
  14. ^ Keach Hagey (September 12, 2018). "CBS '60 Minutes' Executive Producer Jeff Fager to Depart". The Wall Street Journal.
  15. ^ "Fired "60 Minutes" boss warned CBS News reporter: "There are people who've lost their jobs trying to harm me"". CBS News. 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  16. ^ Stelter, Brian (2018-09-12). "'60 Minutes' producer Jeff Fager fired after sending CBS reporter 'unacceptable' message". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  17. ^ "2007 Gerald Loeb Award Winners Announced by UCLA Anderson School of Management". Business Wire. June 25, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  18. ^ "Paul White Award". Radio Television Digital News Association. Archived from the original on 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2014-05-27.
  19. ^ "UCLA Anderson School of Management Announces 2014 Gerald Loeb Award Winners". UCLA Anderson School of Management. June 24, 2014. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2019.

External links

  • Jeff Fager at IMDb
  • Jeff Fager at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Business positions
Preceded by
Sean McManus
CBS News President
2011-2015
Succeeded by
David Rhodes
  • v
  • t
  • e
Presidents of CBS News
Key figures
  • v
  • t
  • e
Gerald Loeb Award Personal Finance (2010–2018)
(2010–2018)
  • 2010: Jim Gallagher, Matthew Hathaway, Elizabethe Holland
  • 2011: Ron Lieber
  • 2012: Kim Clark, Lisa Gibbs, Penelope Wang
  • 2013: Jason Zweig
  • 2014: Jeff Fager, James Jacoby, Michael Karzis, Steve Kroft, Matthew Lev, Bill Owens
  • 2015: Susan Tompor
  • 2016: Donna Rosato
  • 2017: Elizabeth O'Brien, Taylor Tepper
  • 2018: Ron Lieber
Gerald Loeb Award Personal Service (2019)
(2019)
Gerald Loeb Award Personal Finance & Consumer Reporting (2020–2023)
(2020–2023)
  • 2020: Justin Elliott, Paul Kiel, Ariana Tobin, Lucas Waldron
  • 2021: Patricia Callahan, Daniela Porat, Lucas Waldron
  • 2022: Jeff Crouse, Ritu Ghiya, Micha Gorelick, Gabriel Hongsdusit, Adrianne Jeffries, Evelyn Larrubia, Ben Tanen, Leon Yin
  • 2023: Juweek Adolphe, Megan Kalata, Noam N. Levey, Yuki Noguchi, Aneri Pattani, Bram Sable-Smith, Anna Werner
  • v
  • t
  • e
Gerald Loeb Award for Network and Large-Market Television (1997, 1999–2000)
(1997, 1999)
(2000)
Gerald Loeb Award for Other TV Markets (1997)
(1997)
  • 1997: Antonio Valverde
Gerald Loeb Award for Television (2001–2002)
(2001–2002)
  • 2001: Lynne Dale, John Larson
  • 2002: Allan Dodds Frank, Lisa Slow
Gerald Loeb Award for Television Long Form (2003–2004)
(2003–2004)
  • 2003: Craig Cheatham, Mark Hadler, Andrea Torrence
  • 2004: Rome Hartman, Lesley Stah
Gerald Loeb Award for Television Short Form (2003–2004)
(2003–2004)
  • 2003: Gerilyn Curtin, Jill Rackmill, Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz, David Scott, Simon Surowicz, Chris Vlasto
  • 2004: Doug Adams, Christiana Arvelis, Donna Bass, Steve Capus, Joo Lee, Karen Nye, Albert Oetgen, Felicia Patinkin, Charles Schaeffer, Nikki Stamos, Anne Thompson
Gerald Loeb Award for Television Deadline (2005–2006)
(2005–2006)
  • 2005: Thomas Berman, Chris Cuomo, Bob Lange, Jack Pyle, Shelley Ross
  • 2006: Doug Adams, Liz Brown, Rick Brown, Rich Dubroff, Katie Ernst, Mario García, Sharon Hoffman, Joo Lee, Genevieve Michel-Bryan, Albert Oetgen, Meaghan Rady, John Reiss, Chuck Schaeffer, Chris Scholl, Carl Sears, Jill Silverstri, Doug Stoddart, Anne Thompson, Kelly Venardos
Gerald Loeb Award for Television Enterprise (2006–2011)
(2006–2011)
  • 2006: Joanne Elgart Jennings, Jacob Klein, Jeffrey Klein, Lee Koromvokis, Paul Solman
  • 2007: Andy Court, Jeff Fager, Daniel J. Glucksman, Patti Hassler, Steve Kroft, Keith Sharman
  • 2008: Byron Harris, Kraig Kirchem, Mark Smith
  • 2009: Solly Granatstein, Scott Pelley, Nicole Young
  • 2010: Patrick Ahearn, David Faber, James Jacoby, Jill Landes, Lisa Orlando, James Segelstein, Mitch Weitzner
  • 2011: Steven Banton, Emily Bodenberg, Scott Cohn, Jeff Pohlman, Gary Vandenbergh, Mitch Weitzner
Gerald Loeb Award for Television Daily (2007–2008)
(2007–2008)
Gerald Loeb Award for Television Breaking News (2009–2010)
(2009–2010)
  • 2009: L. Franklin Devine, Steve Kroft, Jennifer MacDonald
  • 2010: Scott Cohn, Courtney Ford, Wally Griffith, Molly Mazilu, Mary Thompson
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
International
  • VIAF
National
  • United States
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