We’ll be honest: We probably don’t pay as much attention to the News & Documentary Emmy Awards as we should, even as they recognize the important work of documenting our world and what sometimes feels like its steady slide toward a state of low, prolonged screaming. Still, it was somewhat eye-catching to look through the list of nominees for the awards after they rolled out on Thursday night, only to see 60 Minutes‘ “The Democratic Ticket” on the list, in the “Outstanding Edited Interview” category.
“The Democratic Ticket” is, after all, the show’s title for the set of interviews with Tim Walz and Kamala Harris that 60 Minutes aired in October of 2024, and which sit at the heart of CBS News’ current legal battle with Donald Trump. (Who claims that, by editing down one of Harris’ answers on Israel in some broadcasts of the footage, the show somehow violated his rights as a consumer and a social media owner to the tune of several billion dollars—because the actual aims of this particular lawsuit have never been subtle.) The interview is at the heart of a whole set of tensions that seem to be building between 60 Minutes, its parent company Paramount, and the White House, tensions that, last month, presumably led to the departure of the show’s top producer, Bill Owens. (The show eulogized Owens last week, calling his decision to step down in the face of feeling he’d “lost the independence that honest journalism requires” proof that he was “the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.”)
None of which is likely to abate if the segment ends up becoming an Emmy winner on June 25, when the News half of the awards are given out. (The Documentary wins roll out the following evening.) Or sooner, despite Paramount and Trump having reportedly entered mediation to try to deal with the suit: 60 Minutes issued a press release this week revealing that it intends to air a segment investigating Trump’s recent efforts to use executive orders to target several of the country’s biggest law firms, which will air on Sunday night. (Scott Pelley, who delivered the show’s defense of Owens, is set to host the segment.)
