Oprah Winfrey is returning to her roots in journalism.
Closing January strong, the network announced on Tuesday, Jan. 31, that the talk show host, actress, cable network owner, and producer has signed on to contribute to the hard-news source as early as fall.
Meanwhile, Winfrey revealed that she’s focused on having “real conversations between people from different backgrounds” during “a time when people are so divided, my intention is to bring relevant insight and perspective, to look at what separates us, and help facilitate real conversations between people from different backgrounds,” she told CBS News.
She said of her longtime appreciation for “60 Minutes,” “I’ve been a big admirer of ‘60 Minutes’ since my days as a young reporter. I’m so excited and proud to join forces with this historic news program, which for me represents the bastion of journalistic storytelling.”
Executive producer Jeff Fager told CBS News, “There is only one Oprah Winfrey. Her body of work is extraordinary, including thousands of interviews with people from all walks of life.”
Winfrey hosted the most successful syndicated talk show in history from 1986 to 2011, nabbing countless Emmys. Prior to making millions on the small screen, she worked as a local TV reporter before moving on at the age of 19, as a news co-anchor on Nashville’s WTVF-TV. At 22 the budding media mogul relocated to Baltimore where she co-anchored an evening weekday newscast and, later, a talk show on the city’s WJZ channel. Following a move to the windy city of Chicago, she hosted a successful morning talk show, “AM Chicago,” on WLS-TV.
In 1986, Winfrey, 63, was featured as a subject on the oldest and most-watched news-magazine on television. Since then, she’s appeared on “CBS This Morning,” alongside her bestie, Gayle King. In December, CBS also ran Winfrey’s hour-long interview with Michelle Obama. In other words, we should have seen this coming.
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