Daniel Schorr, a veteran journalist who worked for decades in Washington with CBS News, CNN and NPR, has died after a “short illness.”
93-year-old Schorr passed away this morning in a Washington hospital, and NPR posted a lengthy analysis of his distinguished career with a link to his bio page on their site. Schorr rose to prominence for his reporting during the Cold War, but later came under fire for refusing to reveal a source for a controversial FBI/CIA story he leaked to the Village Voice during the 1970s:
This led to his suspension by CBS and an investigation by the House Ethics Committee in which Schorr was threatened with jail for contempt of Congress if he did not disclose his source. At a public hearing, he refused on First Amendment grounds, saying that “to betray a source would mean to dry up many future sources for many future reporters… It would mean betraying myself, my career and my life.”
The House ethics committee voted 6 to 5 not to cite Schorr for contempt of Congress, but he ultimately left CBS after the controversy. He spent the bulk of his later career at NPR after a stint with CNN, and worked on segments All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, and provided commentary on live coverage of breaking news.
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