Discover

: ''For the actor, see Dan Shor''

'Daniel Schorr' (b. 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).

Contents

Birth and early years

Journalism during the Cold War

The 1970s

Career as an elder statesman of journalism

Trivia

Awards

Books by Daniel Schorr

Multimedia

External links

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 1937, he married Lisbeth Bamberger, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
During World War II, Schorr served in Army Intelligence at Camp Polk, Louisiana and at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

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.

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.
Schorr provoked intense controversy in 1976 when he received and made public the contents of the secret Pike Committee report on 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 ultimately resigned from his position at CBS in September 1976. On May 14, 2006, on NPR's ''Weekend Edition'', he finally revealed his source: then-''New York Times'' editor A.M. Rosenthal, who had died four days earlier.

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 that position, he regularly comments on current events for programs including ''All Things Considered'' and ''Weekend Edition''.
In 1994, Schorr 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''.
Schorr was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002.

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 February 10, 1988, where he sang "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "Summertime". Schorr delivered the eulogy on NPR after Zappa's untimely 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!"
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.
Schorr has won three Emmy Awards for his wonderful portrayal of a professional journalist on television.

Awards

★ Emmy Award for "for outstanding achievement within a regularly scheduled news program," 1972, 1973, and 1974.

★ George Polk Award for Radio Commentary, for his work on NPR, 1993.

★ 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.

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.

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)

External links

★ NPR's Biography of Daniel Schorr

★ Recent Stories by Daniel Schorr

★ Museum of Broadcast Communications: Daniel Schorr