Editing 60 Minutes (section)

===''Point/Counterpoint'' segment===
For most of the 1970s, the program included ''Point/Counterpoint'', in which a [[liberalism|liberal]] and a [[conservatism|conservative]] commentator debated an issue. This segment originally featured [[James J. Kilpatrick]] representing the conservative side and [[Nicholas von Hoffman]]<ref name="sentinelsource.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/opinion/my-gifted-counterpoint-on-minutes-wrote-like-an-angel-by/article_cf66570c-f7aa-5f2a-9b2f-b636f24420cd.html| title=My gifted counterpoint on '60 Minutes' wrote like an angel |last= Kilpatrick|first=James J.|date=July 5, 2005|work=[[The Keene Sentinel]]}}</ref> for the liberal, with [[Shana Alexander]]<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/shana-alexander-famed-for-point-counterpoint-dies/| title=Shana Alexander, famed for 'Point/Counterpoint,' dies |last= McLellan| first=Dennis|date=June 26, 2005|work=[[The Seattle Times]]}}</ref> taking over for von Hoffman after he departed in 1974.<ref name="sentinelsource.com"/> The segment was an innovation that caught the public imagination as a live version of competing editorials. In 1979, Alexander asked Hewitt to raise the $350 a week pay; Hewitt declined, and the segment ended.<ref name="sentinelsource.com"/>

''Point/Counterpoint'' was lampooned by the NBC comedy series ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', which featured [[Jane Curtin]] and [[Dan Aykroyd]] as TV news reporters.  Their segment featured a debate in comically complete abandonment of rhetorical decorum, with Aykroyd announcing the topic, Curtin making an opening statement, then Aykroyd typically retorting with [[ad hominem]] attacks, such as "Jane, you ignorant slut" and Curtin responding "Dan, you pompous ass";<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/point-counterpoint-lee-marvin-and-michelle-triola/2846665|title=Point Counterpoint: Lee Marvin and Michelle Triola| date= March 17, 1979|website=nbc.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/pictures/50-greatest-saturday-night-live-sketches-of-all-time-20140203/point-counterpoint-0207143| title= 50 Greatest 'SNL' Sketches of All Time |magazine= [[Rolling Stone]] |date= February 3, 2014|access-date=February 18, 2018|archive-date=February 19, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180219090852/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/pictures/50-greatest-saturday-night-live-sketches-of-all-time-20140203/point-counterpoint-0207143|url-status=dead}}</ref> in the film ''[[Airplane!]]'' (1980), in which the ''faux'' Kilpatrick argues in favor of the plane crashing, stating "they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into"; and in an earlier [[sketch comedy]] film, ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]'', where the segment was called Count/Pointercount.

A similar concept was revived briefly in March 2003 featuring [[Bob Dole]] and [[Bill Clinton]], former opponents in the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 presidential election]]. The pair agreed to do ten segments (titled ''Clinton/Dole'' and ''Dole/Clinton'' in alternating weeks), but these did not continue into the 2003–2004 fall season. Reports indicated that the segments were considered too gentlemanly, in the style of the earlier ''Point/Counterpoint'', and lacked the feistiness of ''[[Crossfire (U.S. TV program)|Crossfire]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title='60 Minutes' may veto Clinton-Dole face-offs |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2003-05-06-media-mix_x.htm |last=Johnson|first=Peter|newspaper=[[USA Today]]| date=May 6, 2003| accessdate= }}</ref>