Jeffrey B. Fager (born December 10, 1954) is an American television producer who is the former chairman of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

and former executive producer of ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

''.

Biography

Fager was born in

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of M ...

, to an Episcopalian family, the son of Margaret (née Bulkley) and Charles Anthony Fager.The Needham Times: "Margaret Fager"
from March 24, 2015 , ''"Memorial Service will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Wellesley"'' He graduated from

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

in 1977. He began his career in broadcast news in Boston and joined CBS News in 1982 from

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, where he was a broadcast producer. Fager was Executive Producer of the ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...

'' from 1996 to 1998 and held senior and field producer positions for that and other

programs, including ''60 Minutes.'' He left the ''Evening News'' in 1998 to become the first executive producer of ''

60 Minutes II ''60 Minutes II'' (also known as ''60 Minutes Wednesday'' and ''60 Minutes'') is an American weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the origin ...

''. In June 2004, he assumed the position of Executive Producer of ''60 Minutes''. 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''. 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. 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.

Personal life

Fager is married to Melinda Wooster; they live in New Canaan,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, with their three children.

Termination for harassment

In 2018, nineteen existing and former CBS employees told ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' 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. Fager was ousted from CBS News on September 12, 2018. CBS News reported that Fager had sent a threatening text message to

Jericka Duncan Jericka Duncan ( ; born August 12, 1983) is an American national TV news correspondent for CBS News in New York City and the anchor of the CBS Weekend News. In 2018, she made headlines when she came forward with texts that Jeff Fager sent to her ...

, one of the network's correspondents, when she sought his response to the report in ''The New Yorker''. 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."

Awards

* 2007:

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

for Television Enterprise business journalism for "The Mother of All Heists" * 2012: Paul White Award,

Radio Television Digital News Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dir ...

* 2014: Gerald Loeb Award for Personal Finance business journalism for "60 Minutes: 40 Million Mistakes"

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fager, Jeff Television producers from New York (state) Living people Colgate University alumni 1954 births CBS executives Gerald Loeb Award winners for Television Gerald Loeb Award winners for Personal Finance Presidents of CBS News American television news producers