Terry Drinkwater (May 9, 1936 – May 31, 1989) was an American television and radio journalist best known for his 25 year career as a correspondent for CBS News. Drinkwater was also an anchorman for the West Coast editions of the CBS Evening News, reporting on events that occurred since the original East Coast version with Walter Cronkite was taped.
A native of Denver, Colorado, Drinkwater attended Pomona College, where he co-founded KSPC radio and earned a bachelor's degree[1] in 1958. His first big break in broadcasting came when he was hired in 1959 as general manager of Pacifica Radio KPFK-FM, a public station in Los Angeles.[2] He later earned a master's degree at the University of California at Berkley.[1]
Drinkwater joined CBS News in 1963.[1] Drinkwater and fellow CBS News correspondent, Roger Mudd, were on scene in the Embassy Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in downtown Los Angeles in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. His primary beat for CBS News was the western states;[1] he covered such notable events as the 1974 kidnapping of Patricia "Patty" Hearst and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.[3]
Drinkwater received several honors for broadcast journalism including three Emmy Awards, a George Foster Peabody Award, and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.[1] He once received a 90-day suspension from CBS for faking the news by posing a wine-company employee as a satisfied customer.[4]
Drinkwater filed his last report for CBS News in August 1988. He died at his home in Malibu, California at the age of 53[3] after a six year battle with cancer. At the time of his death, he was senior correspondent in the Los Angeles Bureau of CBS News.