Daniel Schorr dies at 93

controversial CBS and CNN broadcaster became elder statesman at NPR

Schorr, a high-profile reporter who covered Watergate and landed on President Nixon's 'enemies list,' was known as much for his cantankerous relationships with colleagues as he was for his dogged reporting and sober commentary.

July 24, 2010|By Claudia Luther, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Daniel Schorr, who became the elder statesman of public radio after decades as a feisty television broadcaster for CBS and CNN, has died. He was 93.

Schorr died Friday morning after a short illness at a Washington hospital, National Public Radio announced. His last broadcast on that network aired on July 10.

A working journalist for more than 60 years, the indefatigable Schorr was the last active member of Murrow's Boys, the legendary group of journalists who worked at CBS News in the 1940s and '50s under Edward R. Murrow. He was a high-profile CBS reporter for 23 years before leaving amid controversy in 1976.

In 1985, after several years at CNN, he joined National Public Radio, where as a senior news analyst he was heard regularly on the "Weekend Edition" and "Week in Review" programs.

"Nobody else in broadcast journalism — or perhaps any field — had as much experience and wisdom" as Schorr, "Weekend Edition" host Scott Simon said Friday. "I'm just glad that, after being known for so many years as a tough and uncompromising journalist, NPR listeners also got to know the Dan Schorr that was playful, funny and kind. In a business that's known for burning out people, Dan Schorr shined for nearly a century."

Having a long view of national and world events gave the reporter who once covered Watergate and found himself on President Nixon's infamous "enemies list" a perfect second career as a sober commentator.

"He lived through so many years of history, and he put that to the service of his commentaries," Geoffrey Cowan, dean emeritus of USC's Annenberg School for Communication, said in 2004. "He never lost his edge. He was always outspoken and independent."

Schorr said he "breathed the breath of freedom" at NPR. "Nobody ever told me what not to do."

During his CBS career, he addressed serious subjects in the U.S. and on foreign assignments and won a Peabody Award for his hourlong CBS documentary on "The Poisoned Air."

But controversy followed him, because of both his aggressive coverage of stories and his sometimes cantankerous relationships with his superiors and co-workers. New York magazine in 1975 dubbed him "the great abrasive."