Morley Safer Opines On Geraldo, Wallace, Stewart, Carlson, Murrow…

60 Minutes stalwart Morley Safer didn’t hold back at a recent lecture in Hartford. Here are the highlights, as summed up in the Courant:

> On Mike Wallace: After Boyer said Time magazine had called Safer a “fashion icon,” Safer, wearing a pink shirt, and pink-and-blue-checkered tie with matching pocket square, countered with a peacock-proud: “I beat Mike Wallace on that. Mike gets his suits from funeral homes.”

> On Geraldo Rivera: Safer said, regarding making the news vs. reporting the news: “Geraldo just says: ‘Keep the camera always on me.'”

> On Jon Stewart, star of “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” His show was described by Safer as a powerful look at the news that is “fake news that’s enough like real news.”

> On Tucker Carlson: Boyer asked Safer about “screamfests,” which people think “constitutes a real debate,” and cited TV commentator Carlson’s eruption at Stewart on CNN’s Crossfire. Safer said: “Screaming fests are fake debates, which make it kind of a freak show.”

> On Edward R. Murrow: “There are plenty of people who could articulate dissent. Even Murrow was forced to achieve a balance,” Safer said. “There won’t be another Murrow, but there are a lot of demi-Murrows who could do it but just can’t get on the air.”