CBS's Axelrod: 'All Better Informed' By 'Legendary' Left-Wing Journalist Daniel Schorr

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On Saturday's CBS Early Show, correspondent Jim Axelrod reported on the death of former CBS correspondent Daniel Schorr, declaring that he "was an old-school broadcast journalist, he was the last working reporter who'd been one of Edward R. Morrow's boys." An on-screen headline read: "Celebrating Daniel Schorr; Legendary Journalist Dead at 93."

Axelrod touted Schorr's reporting from CBS's Washington bureau, "ending up on Richard Nixon's enemies list during Watergate, which he always called his greatest achievement." He briefly noted Schorr being fired from CBS after reporting a leaked classified CIA report, and described the reporter's time at CNN and NPR in later years. Axelrod quoted one NPR colleague of Schorr, Scott Simon: "'Dan Schorr was around from the Russian Revolution to the digital revolution.'" Axelrod remarked: "Simon could have added 'and we were all better informed for it.'" He never used the word liberal to describe Schorr.

As NewsBusters' Brent Baker earlier reported, one way in which Schorr infamously "informed" viewers while at CBS was to compare Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater to the neo-Nazi movement in Germany: "It looks as though Senator Goldwater, if nominated, will be starting his campaign here in Bavaria, center of Germany's right wing....Hitler's one-time stomping ground....there are signs that the American and German right wings are joining up."

Here is a full transcript of Axelrod's July 24 report:

8:13AM

BETTY NGUYEN: And we at CBS News want to note the passing of a former colleague, legendary newsman Daniel Schorr has died after a brief illness. He was 93. Jim Axelrod has his story.

DANIEL SCHORR: This is Daniel Schorr in Moscow.

DAVID AXELROD: Daniel Schorr was an old-school broadcast journalist, in fact, he was the last working reporter who'd been one of Edward R. Morrow's boys.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Celebrating Daniel Schorr; Legendary Journalist Dead at 93]

DANIEL SCHORR: My territory is central Europe, the region that straddles the iron curtain.

AXELROD: He joined CBS in 1953, opened the Moscow bureau in '55, and left in 1957 after his application for a new visa was denied by the Soviets. Following his interview with Nikita Kruschev.

SCHORR: Can I bring this down to a concrete question? Because this leads towards disarmament.

AXELROD: He continued working for CBS in Washington, ending up on Richard Nixon's enemies list during Watergate, which he always called his greatest achievement.

SCHORR: At one point he got so mad at me, that he called J. Edgar Hoover and had Hoover launch an investigation on me, trying to get some dirt on me.

AXELROD: Born in the Bronx, a son of Russian immigrants, Schorr clashed not only with government officials, but news management, and left CBS in 1976 after an uproar over his reports on the CIA. Schorr was the first reporter Ted Turner hired when he started CNN in 1979 and Schorr joined NPR in 1985 as a senior news analyst. He never stopped working there. His last 'Week in Review' was just two weeks ago. Scott Simon, the host of the NPR program where Schorr delivered his analysis, said 'Dan Schorr was around from the Russian Revolution to the digital revolution.' Simon could have added 'and we were all better informed for it.' Jim Axelrod, CBS News, New York.

NGUYEN: And he will be missed.