Why we refer to the president as "Mr."
In February 2019, Scott Pelley sought to clarify any confusion as to why 60 Minutes referred to the President as "Mr. Trump." Below is the transcript from that segment.
Some viewers objected to last Sunday's story "Investigating the President" in which we referred to President Trump as "Mr. Trump."
As longtime CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller wrote on several occasions over his decades covering the White House, "No disrespect is intended, just the opposite… It is CBS News practice to refer to the president and former presidents on second reference with the honorific 'Mister.' Everyone else in the political universe is referred to only by their last names."
That goes for Putin and Pelosi, Pence and Pompeo. After identifying President Trump, we use "Mr. Trump," or "Mr. Bush," or "Mr. Obama," on second reference as a sign of respect for the office.
