Daniel Schorr, who first distinguished himself in a long journalism career for his work in the Soviet Union in the 1950's, has died today at the age of 93.
For the past two decades, Schorr has been employed at NPR, where he did commentaries. His highest profile slot was his perch on Saturday morning's discussing the news of the week with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon.
Schorr had a history of run-ins with authority, and ultimately left his long time employer, CBS News, after controversy broke out after he obtained a copy of a secret House of Representatives committee report on questionable activities by the CIA (such as trying to assassinate Fidel Castro). He first reported about that on CBS, but as the New York Times reports,when no book publisher wanted to publish what was known as the Pike Report, he provided it to the Village Voice in 1976. He ended up being investigated by the FBI and Congress, and the situation ultimately led to his leaving the network.
In the Washington Post's obituary written about him, his apparent unpopularity with his colleagues became manifest at CBS News after the incident regarding the Pike Report.
The House panel voted not to prosecute, but Mr. Schorr's subsequent appearance on "60 Minutes" didn't turn out as well. Under grilling by veteran newsman Mike Wallace, the depth of resentment toward Mr. Schorr at CBS became evident. Some network executives were still fuming over his remarks to Duke University students the previous year that implied that CBS had pressured Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid and Dan Rather to go easy on Nixon the night he announced his resignation — a charge all three denied.
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2010.