The 60 Minutes report about philanthropist Greg Mortenson made him look like the sleaziest humanitarian alive. The report does a good job showing both sides of the story. They show the good things that Mortenson has done such as building schools in many poor third-world nations and helped thousands of children regarding education. They also show the obvious misdoings of Mortenson regarding his book such as the misappropriations of the charity’s funds. By accounts of those who know Mortenson personally, those involved in the organization, and those who helped him in his travels abroad, it seems pretty obvious that something within this company is fishy. He spends millions of dollars on advertising and travel, though some people in his organization say this is integral to the success of the group and the publicity is the reason people continue to donate. Regardless of if it is or not, the amount of money being appropriated to these is more than it should be and the story does a good job making the viewer understand that not all the money is going into building and sustaining schools.
Regardless of if Mortenson is guilty of fabrication or not, he has done great things in this world, and this story makes him seem more like a criminal than a humanitarian. I would hate to see an organization aimed at great things fall apart because of bad leadership. Viewers of 60 Minutes likely are not going to support this organization after this story, and I would like to see the company continue, just hopefully with somebody else handling the funds.
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