Daniel Schorr
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- For the actor, see Dan Shor
(photo: Geneva Collins, Copyright © 2001 Current Publishing Committee. Reproduced by permission.)
Daniel Schorr (born August 31, 1916) is an American journalist who has covered the world for more than 60 years. He is now a senior news analyst for National Public Radio (NPR).
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[edit] Birth and early years
Born in New York City, Schorr is the son of two Russian Jewish immigrants, but his father died when he was only five. 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] The 1970s
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 what became known as Nixon's Enemies List, 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 in 1976 when he received and published the leaked Pike Commission's report about illegal CIA and FBI activities. 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. On May 14, 2006, Schorr revealed on NPR's Weekend Edition that his source was then-New York Times editor A.M. Rosenthal, who had died four days prior.
[edit] 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 stated he was "fired" [1]. 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.
[edit] Trivia
Though by no means a fan of rock music, Daniel Schorr became friends with composer 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 made an appearance with Zappa on Feburary 10, 1988, where he sang It Ain't Necessarily So and Summertime. 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!"
Daniel Schorr had a small role playing himself in the 1997 film The Game starring Michael Douglas, where he spoke to the main character through his television.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Books by Daniel Schorr
- (2005) The Senate Watergate Report. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1709-2.
- (2002) Staying Tuned: A Life in Journalism. Washington Square Press. ISBN 0-671-02088-9.
- (1998) Forgive Us Our Press Passes, Selected Works (1972-1998). O'Brien Center for Scholarly Pubns. ISBN 0-9626954-6-7.
- (1978) Clearing The Air. Berkley. ISBN 0-425-03903-X.
- (1970) Don't get sick in America. Aurora Publishers. ISBN 0-87695-103-5.
[edit] Multimedia
- 1996 lecture from UCTV University of California Television
- 2003 panel discussion with Helen Thomas and Daniel Laidlaw from UCTV University of California Television
- Daniel Schorr analysis of Iraq war buildup, NPR, July 13, 2005 - (Real Audio)
