Daniel Schorr, Pioneering Newsman on Nixon's 'Enemies List,' Dead at 93
Tom Diemer
Correspondent
Posted:
07/23/10
Daniel Schorr, the pioneering broadcast journalist who earned his way on to President Nixon's "enemies list," died Friday at a Washington hospital after a short illness. He was 93.
Schorr made his name as a hard-hitting, blunt talking reporter for CBS News dating back to Edward R. Murrow's team, which brought television news into the modern era. Schorr's career spanned six decades, starting with newspapers, moving on to CBS, and finally commentary with a liberal bent for National Public Radio's Weekend Edition.
During the Nixon years, Schorr worked on the Watergate story for CBS, but then became part of the story himself, as the Associated Press tells it. Schorr had a copy of a list compiled by the Nixon administration of its political enemies -- and he rushed on the air with it, his deep voice ticking off the names. As he read along, he came to his own name at number 17. "I remember that my first thought was that I must go on reading without any pause, or gasp..." he wrote in his book, "Clearing the Air."
"Dan was around for both the Russian Revolution and the Digital Revolution," said Weekend Edition host Scott Simon. "Nobody else in broadcast journalism -- or perhaps any field -- had as much experience and wisdom... In a business that's known for burning out people, Dan Schorr shined for nearly a century."
Schorr made his name as a hard-hitting, blunt talking reporter for CBS News dating back to Edward R. Murrow's team, which brought television news into the modern era. Schorr's career spanned six decades, starting with newspapers, moving on to CBS, and finally commentary with a liberal bent for National Public Radio's Weekend Edition.
During the Nixon years, Schorr worked on the Watergate story for CBS, but then became part of the story himself, as the Associated Press tells it. Schorr had a copy of a list compiled by the Nixon administration of its political enemies -- and he rushed on the air with it, his deep voice ticking off the names. As he read along, he came to his own name at number 17. "I remember that my first thought was that I must go on reading without any pause, or gasp..." he wrote in his book, "Clearing the Air."
"Dan was around for both the Russian Revolution and the Digital Revolution," said Weekend Edition host Scott Simon. "Nobody else in broadcast journalism -- or perhaps any field -- had as much experience and wisdom... In a business that's known for burning out people, Dan Schorr shined for nearly a century."