Steve Kroft

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Steve Kroft (born August 22, 1945) is an American journalist and a longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes. His investigative reporting has garnered him much acclaim, including three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy awards, one of which was an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Born on August 22, 1945 in the small city of Kokomo, Indiana, Kroft attended Syracuse University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1967.[1] After his graduation, he was drafted into the United States Army and served in the Vietnam War, where he was initially a reporter for the American Forces Vietnam Network. Kroft covered the 25th Infantry Division from 1970 to 1971, before being reassigned to the Army's Stars and Stripes newspaper as a writer and photographer.[2]

The military discharged Kroft in 1972, and he began his broadcast journalism career by working as a correspondent for WSYR-TV in Syracuse, NY.[2] Kroft returned to academics in 1974, enrolling at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and earning his masters degree in 1975.[3] Afterwards, Kroft moved to Florida, where he reported for WPLG-TV in Miami and WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, FL.[1]

[edit] CBS Career

Kroft joined CBS News in 1980 as a reporter in their Northeast bureau, based out of New York City. The next year, he was named a correspondent and the network soon moved him to its Dallas bureau, where he stayed until 1983. That year, Kroft returned to Florida after CBS reassigned him to its Miami bureau. He was soon making frequent visits to the Caribbean and Latin America, covering the civil war in El Salvador and the U.S. invasion of Grenada.[1]

Kroft later landed a job as a foreign correspondent at CBS's London bureau. There, he covered international strife and terrorism in Europe and the Middle East, including the hijackings of TWA Flight 847 and Achille Lauro, the Rome and Vienna airport attacks of the Abu Nidal Organization, the Lebanese Civil War, and the violence in Northern Ireland. His report for the CBS Evening News on the assassination of Indira Gandhi won him an Emmy.[1] In 1985, CBS News premiered West 57th, a magazine series geared towards younger audiences.[4] Kroft was named as a principle correspondent for the show, and he stayed with the series until it was canceled in September 1989.[3]

That same September, Kroft joined 60 Minutes, and filed his first report for the program as its youngest correspondent.[1] In 1990, he became the first American journalist to be given extensive access to the contaminated grounds of the Chernobyl nuclear facility, and his story won an Emmy.[3] After allegations of infidelity surfaced in the 1992 presidential election, then-Governor Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, gave an exclusive interview to Kroft. The interview was one of the defining moments in the election.[1]

Kroft continued to file groundbreaking reports for 60 Minutes. A 1992 segment which detailed a friendly fire incident in the Gulf War won him his first Peabody Award.[2] Two of Kroft's stories in 1994, a profile of Senator Bob Dole and an exposé on the Cuban government's quarantine policy for people infected with AIDS, won Emmy awards.[1] In 2003, he and the rest of the 60 minutes team were awarded Emmys for lifetime achievement.[5]

With his success, Kroft also branched out into other venues. He appeared as himself on an episode of Murphy Brown.[6] He played himself again in Woody Allen's 2000 movie, Small Time Crooks, in which he interviewed Allen's character for a segment on 60 Minutes.[7]

[edit] Personal

Kroft lives in New York with his wife, Jennet Conant, who is a journalist and author. They have one son, John Conant Kroft.[1]

[edit] Awards

  • 9-time Emmy Award winner including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2003[1]
  • 3-time Peabody Award winner[1]
  • 1992 recipient of the George Arents Medal, the highest honor given to a Syracuse University alumnus[1]
  • Winner of the Renner Award for his 1996 story on organized crime in Russia[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Steve Kroft. CBS Broadcasting Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  2. ^ a b c Four to receive honorary degrees. Inside Binghamton University (2000-05-18). Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  3. ^ a b c Steve Kroft Biography. Hollywood.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  4. ^ Corry, John (1985-08-13). TV Review; 'West 57th,' on CBS: Magazine has its Debut. The Daily Nightly. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  5. ^ Rogers, Steve. 60 Minutes to Receive 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award for News & Documentary. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  6. ^ Steve Kroft. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
  7. ^ Taylor, Charles (2000-05-19). "Small Time Crooks". Salon.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.


60 Minutes Correspondents
Christiane Amanpour • Ed Bradley • Anderson Cooper • Katie Couric • Steve Kroft • Lara Logan • Scott Pelley • Dan Rather • Harry Reasoner • Morley Safer • Diane Sawyer • Bob Simon • Lesley Stahl • Mike Wallace
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