• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 5 hours ago

This past Sunday’s CBS “60 Minutes” interview with President Trump ran around 28 minutes. The actual length was around 90 minutes.

So there's a calculation that needs to be made for a show that calls itself “60 Minutes.” 

The editing process is normal for journalism -- at least for around the last several hundred years.

And there is a little thing about offering up truth and facts when it comes to a TV news media journalistic show.

That’s always tricky -- in real time. Some executives and officials in charge aren’t always the best information sources.

Unfortunately for many analysts and observers, much of the stuff President Trump refers to is just plain incorrect. Some say something a bit more specific: That he lies -- a lot.

Trump said, about Biden: “The worst thing that he did is allow millions, and millions, and millions of people to pour into our country unvetted, unchecked.” No. That’s incorrect. There is a process.

About inflation: “Biden gave me the worst inflation rate in the history of our country.” Sorry, wrong again. In June 2022, the inflation rate was 9.1% at the height of the pandemic when he was in charge. By the end of 2024 -- just before Trump returned to office -- it was 2.9%.

In 1980, it was at a 13.5% average for the entire year -- the last year of President Carter’s term, who was a Democrat.

It is clear that not only the inflation rate can be affected by Presidential decisions. The last time the U.S. federal budget was balanced in 2001, under President Clinton, a Democrat.

The problem is one would think those in power have good access to information. Apparently, that is not always the case.

And then there is this: Why would TV advertisers want to promote their product and services on such a newscast? The total quality of any news content cannot always be determined in terms of veracity in real time. But hopefully transparency is.

Last night, during the "60 Minutes" program, advertisers included Aleve, Viking Cruises, Amazon, Salonpas, United Healthcare, SimpliSafe, Purina, Progressive Insurance and Humana -- seventeen national TV advertising in all.

That show pulled in $777,260 in ad revenue, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

While journalists do their best to hold officials and executives in charge of things -- business, government, and otherwise -- there is only so much one can do in an interview when it comes to real-time fact-checking.

That said, fact-checking -- after an interview -- seems like one way to handle this.

Is that good enough? Is more time needed -- perhaps a "90 Minutes" TV show?