‘60 Minutes’ Cosby Interview Will Run Only 11-12 Minutes

CBS News anchor Dan Rather’s 2 1/2-hour talk with Bill Cosby revolving around the murder of the comedian’s son will be edited down to air Sunday as a standard-length segment on the network’s “60 Minutes” newsmagazine.

Spokespersons at CBS News said the “60 Minutes” story on Cosby, which will run 11-12 minutes, will be an extension of segments of the conversation that aired last Monday on “CBS This Morning” and “The CBS Evening News.”

The exclusive interview was conducted last Sunday after Cosby contacted Rather to discuss his son’s death. During the interview, he also addressed allegations that he has an illegitimate daughter.

In promoting and scheduling the “60 Minutes” piece, CBS News executives said they were being sensitive to the delicacy surrounding the fatal shooting Jan. 16 but believe they acted responsibly in getting the news out as quickly as possible.

CBS Entertainment executives last week said they were being cautious about the handling and promotion of “Cosby,” a series starring the comedian. CBS executives consulted Cosby about the appropriateness of a repeat episode that aired just four days after Ennis Cosby’s slaying.

Because of the “church and state” separation between the news and entertainment arms of the network, decisions about how the interview with CBS’ biggest prime-time star would be broadcast were made exclusively by the news division.

Officials said CBS News President Andrew Heyward made what they characterized as “a courtesy call” to his counterpart in entertainment, Leslie Moonves, during the Super Bowl, informing him that the interview was taking place.

“We need to and have been sensitive to the nature of what the family is going through,” said Sandy Genelius, a CBS News spokeswoman. “We’re a news organization, but we have treated this story appropriately. The hard news about this interview aired on Monday. We put out the most important news as soon as possible.”

CBS sources said that, strictly from a ratings standpoint, the entertainment division would have much preferred that the entire contents of the interview be held for this Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” which marks the first weekend of the February ratings sweeps. By airing segments on “CBS This Morning” and “The CBS Evening News”--as well as on CBS affiliates and other news and magazine programs--many people have seen portions of the interview, which will likely diminish ratings.

Holding the bulk of the interview for “60 Minutes,” one of the network’s most popular programs, was an editorial decision that was reached Monday by the news division after several other options were considered, Genelius said.

One of CBS’ other newsmagazine, “48 Hours,” already had another subject scheduled this week, she said. “After assessing the material, the decision was made to do the story on ’60 Minutes,’ ” Genelius said. “This is our biggest audience for a newsmagazine and, we thought, the most appropriate place to air the interview.”

Asked why the 2 1/2-hour interview was being cut to the standard sized “60 Minutes” piece, Genelius said that ratio of footage shot to footage aired was the norm on “60 Minute” profiles. After screening the raw footage of Cosby’s talk with Rather, executive producer Don Hewitt determined that a typical segment was appropriate, she said.

Genelius defended the network’s promotion of the interview, saying that it has not been more heavily hyped than other exclusives.

Times staff writer Brian Lowry contributed to this story.