CBS News
Reporting from China: How this trip was different
This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Lesley Stahl reports from Beijing and Shanghai, cities few Western journalists have entered since 2020, when China began to expel some journalists and restrict access to others in the foreign media. Stahl went at the invitation of U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, who spoke about China’s economy and its relationship with the U.S.
According to Stahl, the visit was different from previous reporting trips she has taken with 60 Minutes because she was not accompanied by a government minder.
“The Chinese authorities pretty much left us alone, except there were cars following us. We saw them,” Stahl said. “But they were not obtrusive. They never interfered.”
Stahl has had plenty of interference in previous trips. At times, minders from the Chinese Communist Party attended shoots, occasionally coaching subjects on what to say. Once, a convoy of unmarked police cars arrived on a shoot to stop filming, and another time, a special police unit confiscated the videotapes in 60 Minutes’ cameras.
This time, Stahl said, it was more subtle: Stahl and her 60 Minutes crew were told that the government’s ubiquitous surveillance cameras were watching them. Stahl also later found out the government had tried to shut down some of the interviews 60 Minutes set up with Chinese businesses.
Finding American companies to open up was just as challenging. Stahl and her team requested interviews with many American firms that do business in China, but the majority would not speak to 60 Minutes, even off the record.
Stahl said the American firms were concerned, both about what may happen to them in China —and of the American reaction at home, including from members of Congress looking for tougher policy on China.
“They’re worried about a backlash against their companies just for doing business in China,” Stahl said.
But in Beijing and Shanghai, the state of the economy rules decisions right now, according to Burns.
“They’re experiencing economic problems that they have not experienced for 40 years,” Burns told Stahl. “They’re worried that American, and Japanese, and German companies might leave. They’re worried about foreign direct investment. I think they want calmer waters.”
Photos courtesy of Karen M. Sughrue.
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.