Renowned Journalist, Silver Owl Daniel Schorr Dies

Daniel Schorr, a renowned broadcast journalist who was a tough check on the powerful U.S. and foreign officials he covered, died July 23. He was 93 and had been a member of the Club since 1985.

“Daniel Schorr was one of the most capable and respected journalist not only of his generation, but of several generations," said Club President Alan Bjerga. “It is difficult to imagine broadcast news without his voice, but his legacy will be looked to as an inspiration for ages to come.”

Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his Watergate coverage, which included reading his own name as he recited President Richard Nixon’s enemies list live from a Senate Watergate hearing, according to a Washington Post obituary. He began his career as a foreign correspondent in 1946 after serving as a U.S. Army intelligence officer in World War II.

He was recruited to CBS by Edward Murrow in 1953 and opened the CBS Moscow bureau in 1955.

Among his major scoops was the first televised interview with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1957 and being the first to report that the CIA had tried to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro and several other developing-country leaders.

Schorr left CBS in 1976. He joined CNN in 1979 as the network’s first on-camera employee, staying until 1985. Schorr, who fought fiercely for principles he held dear, clashed with his bosses at CBS and CNN.

He served as senior news analyst at NPR for 25 years. Schorr’s last broadcast aired July 10.

Schorr was honored for lifetime achievement with the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Golden Baton in 1996. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002.

-- Mark Schoeff Jr., [email protected]