Andrew Lack began his journalism career at CBS News in 1976 as a producer. Walking into the Broadcast Center at the height of CBS’s influence, he recalls, “It was terrifying, because CBS News was the most important news organization in the country… and you could feel the institutional greatness around every corner. The CBS News Broadcast Center was the center of the news ecosystem—it felt like the center of the universe to me.”
In his first year, he joined 60 Minutes under its creator Don Hewitt and produced segments including Inside Afghanistan, Kissinger and the Oil Embargo, and The Real Malcolm X: An Intimate Portrait of the Man. Of those, Lack says “Inside Afghanistan” best captured his approach: “Go there. Go see it for yourself… You know what you’re looking for, but you have no idea whether you’ll find it or not—or where you’ll find it.”
He credits Don Hewitt as a formative influence. “Don would always say to me, when I came to him with an idea, ‘What’s the lead? Where do you begin? Tell me a story.’” Lack continues, “He was the best of the best, and I hoped one day I could grow up to be him.” Lack recalls fondly Hewitt joking to him in a signed copy of his autobiography that he would “have to wait at least ten years before getting his job.”
Leading CBS Reports
In the early 1980s, Lack became executive producer of CBS Reports, the network’s legendary documentary series. For seven years, he oversaw specials that tackled social and political issues and earned multiple Emmy Awards and four Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Journalism Awards.
Among his proudest achievements was The Boat People. “It was an extraordinary story of all these Vietnamese desperate for a better life trying to escape across the South China Sea to Malaysia in small, beat up, little boats,” Lack recalls. “We were filming and dropped one of the cameras to help them out of the water. They were the last Vietnamese who gave up their lives in that tragic war.”
Other groundbreaking work included The Defense of the United States, which simulated the devastation of a nuclear strike on Omaha with graphics and animation—a dramatic use of visual storytelling at the time.
Lack says the freedom of the documentary format was what he cherished most: “You could go so deep into what really happened… through their eyes and their voices you could have them tell you the truth.”
Innovating with New Formats
In 1985, Lack launched West 57th, a prime-time newsmagazine that experimented with faster pacing and a modern visual style. Though it drew some criticism from CBS traditionalists, Lack embraced the risk: “For CBS News, yeah, it was new. Some people thought it was too aggressive, too MTV Generation. I unfortunately was a lightning rod sometimes for that kind of stuff. But as a young producer, I saw opportunities to move at a quicker pace through material. That’s what you do—you bring to it your own sensibility.”
The show became a stepping stone for correspondents like Steve Kroft and Meredith Vieira, who would go on to become household names.
Awards and Recognition
Throughout his CBS career, Lack collected around 16 Emmy Awards, as well as several Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Journalism Awards and two Peabody Awards. While the accolades were meaningful, he points back to the giants who shaped his foundation: “To go to school, to learn your craft at CBS News, was a gift. You were surrounded by some of the greatest broadcast reporters of all time.”
Andrew Lack’s Legacy at CBS
Andrew Lack’s time at CBS was defined by a balance of tradition and innovation. The skills and instincts he honed there would shape his later leadership at NBC, Sony Music, Bloomberg, and the Voice of America. Reflecting on those formative years, he says, “When you walk through the halls of CBS News as a young man, you sure knew you were walking amongst the giants. And I thought—how lucky can you be?”