Profile of Daniel Schorr on Famous Like Me

Daniel Schorr (born August 31, 1916) is a journalist who has covered the world for more than 60 years. He is now a senior news analyst for National Public Radio.

Birth and Early Years

Born in New York City, he was the son of two Russian immigrants, but his father died when he was only six. He began his journalism career at the age of twelve, when he came upon a woman who had jumped or fallen from the roof of his apartment building. After calling the police, he phoned the Bronx Home News and was paid $5 for his information.

He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the West Bronx, where he worked on the Clinton News, the school paper. He graduated from City College of New York. In January of 1967, he married Lisbeth Bamberger, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

During World War II, he served in Army Intelligence at Camp Polk, Louisiana and at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Journalism During the Cold War

Following several years as a stringer, in 1953 he joined CBS News as one of the recruits of Edward R. Murrow (becoming part of the later generation of Murrow's Boys). In 1955, with the post-Stalin thaw in the Soviet Union, he received accreditation to open a CBS bureau in Moscow. In June 1957, he obtained an exclusive interview with Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Communist party chief. It aired on CBS's Face the Nation. Schorr left the Soviet Union later that year. When he applied for a new visa, it was denied by the Soviets. They offered no explanation.

In January 1962, he aired the first examination of everyday life under communism in East Germany, The Land Beyond the Wall: Three Weeks in a German City, which the New York Times called a "journalistic coup". After agreeing not to foster "propaganda" for the United States, Schorr was granted the rights to conduct the interviews in the city of Rostock. By airing everyday life, Schorr painted a picture of the necessity for a Communist state to seal itself off from the west in order to survive.

The 70's

Schorr attracted the anger of the Nixon White House. In 1971, after a dispute with White House aides, Schorr's friends, neighbors, and co-workers were questioned by the FBI about his habits. They were told that Schorr was under consideration for a high-level position in the environmental area. Schorr knew nothing about it. Later, during the Watergate hearings, it was revealed that Nixon aides had drawn up a list of enemies, and Daniel Schorr was on that list. Famously, Schorr read the list aloud on live TV, surprised to be reading his own name in that context. Schorr won Emmys for news reporting in 1972, 1973, and 1974.

After Nixon's resignation, Schorr attracted controversy when he received and published the leaked Pike Commission's report about illegal CIA and FBI activities in 1976. Called to testify before Congress, he refused to identify his source on First Amendment grounds, risking imprisonment. This did not mollify CBS executives, and Schorr resigned his position in September 1976.

Career as an Elder Statesman of Journalism

In 1979, Schorr was among the first hired by Ted Turner and Reese Schoenfeld to deliver commentary and news analysis on the fledgling Cable News Network (CNN). His contract was not renewed in 1985, one of the two times he claims to have been "fired." He then took the position that he currently holds, as Senior News Analyst at NPR.

In 1994, he narrated the TV miniseries, Watergate. In the late 1990s, he appeared briefly as a newscaster in three Hollywood movies; The Game, The Net, and The Siege.

Trivia

Though by no means a fan of rock music, Daniel Schorr became friends with rock-jazz-classical-cult musician Frank Zappa after the former contacted him, asking for help with a voter-registration drive. Perhaps earning the envy of journalists half his age, Schorr toured with Zappa in 1988. Schorr delivered the eulogy on NPR after Zappa's death on December 4, 1993; he professed not to understand Zappa's lengthy discourses on music theory, but he found a kindred spirit - a serious man with a commitment to free speech.

When Daniel Schorr met Richard Nixon several years after his illegal investigation, Nixon responded to Schorr's introduction by saying, "Dan Schorr, damn near hired you once!"

Awards

• Emmy Award for "for outstanding achievement within a regularly scheduled news program," 1972, 1973 and 1974.
• Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University "Golden Baton" for "Exceptional Contributions to Radio and Television Reporting and Commentary," 1996.
• Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting, 2002.

Books by Daniel Schorr

• (2005) The Senate Watergate Report. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0786717092.
• (2002) Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism. Washington Square Press. ISBN 0671020889.
• (1998) Forgive Us Our Press Passes, Selected Works (1972-1998). O'Brien Center for Scholarly Pubns. ISBN 0962695467.
• (1978) Clearing The Air. Berkley. ISBN 042503903X.
• (1970) Don't get sick in America. Aurora Publishers. ISBN 0876951035.

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