Anderson Cooper: ‘I Hope ‘60 Minutes’ Remains ‘60 Minutes’

TRANSCRIPT:

COOPER: "I don’t think the reality has really hit me that I’m not going to be doing this any longer. You know, to give up something you've watched since you were a kid, yeah, I will miss this. I hope '60 Minutes' remains '60 Minutes.' There’s very few things that have been around for as long as '60 Minutes' has and maintained the quality that it has. And things can always evolve and change, and I think that’s awesome and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what '60 Minutes' is always remains. I think the independence of '60 Minutes' has been critical. I think also the variety of stories and I think the trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of '60 Minutes.' When you see a '60 Minutes' story and you’re like, 'That was a really good story,' it was a good story because it requires time and it requires patience and requires money, and it requires an appreciation of the history and the sacrifices and the hard work of the people here. And, I hope that’s known and honored and valued and continues. I hope '60 Minutes' is around four when my kids grow up and have kids of their own and they can watch it with their kids."