# CBS 60 Minutes Transcripts Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper`) Actor Collects full interview transcripts from CBS 60 Minutes. Discovers pages via the CBS News article sitemap, extracts the Q\&A body, correspondent name, broadcast date, speaker labels, and topic tags. Video-only segments without a published transcript are skipped. - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** News, AI - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## CBS 60 Minutes Transcripts Scraper Scrapes full Q&A interview transcripts from CBS News 60 Minutes — the most-recognised US investigative news magazine. Returns one record per transcript page: title, correspondent, broadcast date, subject list, speaker-labeled body text, and topic metadata. Discovers transcript pages automatically from the CBS News article sitemap. Video-only segments without a published transcript are skipped. 60 Minutes is the most-watched US news magazine, known for long-form sit-down interviews with heads of state, CEOs, whistleblowers, and scientists. Each transcript runs 5,000-30,000 words of clean, on-the-record Q&A — high-signal content for media research, RAG pipelines, and investigative journalism datasets. ### What It Scrapes Targets two URL patterns on cbsnews.com: - `/news/-60-minutes-transcript/` — primary transcript pattern - `/news/read-the-full-transcript-of-/` — extended interview variant Discovery walks the CBS News monthly article sitemaps, filters by these patterns, and scrapes each matching page. Video-only stories (e.g. `/news/-60-minutes/`) are explicitly excluded. ### Output Schema | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `story_slug` | string | URL slug of the transcript page | | `story_title` | string | Article headline | | `story_url` | string | Canonical CBS News URL | | `aired_date` | string | Broadcast date (YYYY-MM-DD) | | `published_date` | string | CBS News publish timestamp (ISO 8601) | | `segment_type` | string | Inferred type: `interview`, `investigation`, or `profile` | | `correspondent` | string | CBS News correspondent (e.g. Major Garrett, Lesley Stahl) | | `subjects` | string | Interviewed subjects extracted from speaker labels (comma-separated) | | `synopsis` | string | Article dek / meta description | | `body_html` | string | Full transcript HTML preserving Q&A paragraph structure | | `body_text` | string | Plain-text version of the transcript | | `speakers` | string | All speaker labels found in the transcript (comma-separated) | | `is_transcript` | boolean | Always `true` — non-transcripts are skipped | | `has_video_only_variant` | boolean | True when a paired video-only story exists | | `related_story_urls` | string | Related CBS News links on the page (comma-separated) | | `topics` | string | CBS News topic tags (comma-separated) | | `canonical_url` | string | Canonical URL from page head | | `source` | string | Fixed: `cbsnews.com/60-minutes` | | `scraped_at` | datetime | ISO 8601 scrape timestamp | Speaker labels follow two CBS conventions: `Major Garrett:` (Title Case) and `MAJOR GARRETT:` (ALL-CAPS, used in the extended-interview variant). Both formats are normalized and extracted. ### Input Options **`maxItems`** (integer, required) — Maximum number of transcript records to scrape. Set a higher value for bulk runs. **`startDate`** (string, optional) — Limit sitemap discovery to a given month onwards (`YYYY-MM` format, e.g. `"2024-01"`). Defaults to all available months when omitted. **`startUrls`** (array, optional) — One or more direct CBS News transcript URLs. When provided, sitemap discovery is skipped and only the supplied URLs are scraped. Useful for targeted re-runs of specific episodes. #### Example: Specific episode ```json { "maxItems": 1, "startUrls": [ {"url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/netanyahu-us-israel-iran-60-minutes-transcript/"} ] } ```` #### Example: All 2025 transcripts ```json { "maxItems": 200, "startDate": "2025-01" } ``` #### Example: Full archive (all available transcripts) ```json { "maxItems": 1000 } ``` ### How It Works Discovery uses the CBS News sitemap index at `cbsnews.com/xml-sitemap/index.xml`. Monthly article sitemaps (`article-YYYY-MM.xml`) are walked in order, newest first. Each sitemap lists 3,000+ news articles; only URLs matching the transcript patterns are fetched. Metadata is parsed from JSON-LD `NewsArticle` blocks present on every CBS article page — giving reliable correspondent name, publish date, and keywords. The transcript body lives in `
` as a sequence of `

` tags. Speaker labels are extracted from paragraph-leading `Name:` patterns. Ad wrappers are stripped before body extraction. CBS News is server-rendered (varnish edge cache) with no bot-protection observed. No proxy required, no headless browser required. ### Coverage Notes 60 Minutes airs approximately 45 episodes per US broadcast season, with 3-4 segments per episode. Roughly 50-70% of segments receive a published transcript — the remainder are video-only. This scraper covers transcript-bearing segments only and makes that boundary explicit in every record (`is_transcript: true`, video-only pages are skipped). The active transcript archive covers approximately 5 years back, with sparser coverage for earlier seasons. ### Pricing Charged per transcript record scraped. Long-form interviews (5,000-30,000 words each) are priced at a modest premium reflecting their per-record research value versus wire-copy or short-form corpora. # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of transcript records to scrape. Defaults to all available. ## `startDate` (type: `string`): Optional. Limit discovery to article sitemaps from this month onwards (e.g. "2024-01"). Defaults to all available months. ## `startUrls` (type: `array`): Optional. Provide one or more direct CBS News transcript URLs to scrape instead of (or in addition to) sitemap discovery. Useful for targeted re-runs of specific episodes. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startUrls": [] } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startDate": "", "startUrls": [] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startDate": "", "startUrls": [], } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startDate": "", "startUrls": [] }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "CBS 60 Minutes Transcripts Scraper", "description": "Collects full interview transcripts from CBS 60 Minutes. Discovers pages via the CBS News article sitemap, extracts the Q&A body, correspondent name, broadcast date, speaker labels, and topic tags. Video-only segments without a published transcript are skipped.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "5q1L0D8ICYby22Voq" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-cbs-60-minutes-transcripts-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "maxItems" ], "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of transcript records to scrape. Defaults to all available." }, "startDate": { "title": "Start Date (YYYY-MM)", "type": "string", "description": "Optional. Limit discovery to article sitemaps from this month onwards (e.g. \"2024-01\"). Defaults to all available months.\n" }, "startUrls": { "title": "Start URLs", "type": "array", "description": "Optional. Provide one or more direct CBS News transcript URLs to scrape instead of (or in addition to) sitemap discovery. Useful for targeted re-runs of specific episodes.\n", "items": { "type": "string" } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```