Daniel Schorr: An appreciation
Daniel Schorr, a journalist whose fierce independence landed him on President Nixon’s enemies list and whose award-winning 62-year career spanned newspapers, radio and television, died Friday.
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He was also at the center of developments while covering CIA and FBI scandals for CBS. In February 1976 the House of Representatives voted to suppress the final report of its intelligence investigating committee. Schorr arranged for the publication of an advance copy he had obtained in exchange for a donation to a journalism group. As a result, he was suspended by CBS and investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
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Threatened with a contempt citation if he did not reveal his source, Schorr said, “to betray a source would mean to dry up many future sources for many future reporters…. It would mean betraying myself, my career, and my life.”
After writing for the Monitor and The New York Times, he was hired by Mr. Murrow. After starting as a Washington-based diplomatic correspondent, he was assigned to open a CBS bureau in Moscow and later landed the first exclusive TV interview with Soviet Leader Nikata Khrushchev. Later assigned to Germany, he covered the Berlin crisis and the building of the Berlin Wall.
After leaving CBS, in 1979 Schorr was asked by Ted Turner to help create Cable News Network. He served as CNN’s senior Washington correspondent until 1985.
In addition to the Emmy’s he won for his Watergate coverage, in 1996 Schorr received the Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University Golden Baton for “Exceptional Contributions to Radio and Television Reporting and Commentary.” He also was honored with a George Foster Peabody personal award for a “lifetime of uncompromising reporting of the highest integrity.”
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