Journalist made Nixon’s ‘enemies list’

WASHINGTON — Daniel Schorr, whose journalism career over more than six decades landed him in the dark corners of Europe during the Cold War and in the shadows of President Richard Nixon’s “enemies list” in the 1970s, has died. He was 93.

Schorr died Friday at Washington’s Georgetown University Hospital after a brief illness, said his son, Jonathan Schorr.

Daniel Schorr ’s path through the news business began in print, then led to almost three decades in television with CBS News and the fledgling cable network CNN.

By the time of his death, he was best known as a longtime senior news analyst and liberal commentator on National Public Radio.

During the Nixon years, Schorr not only covered the news as CBS’ chief Watergate correspondent, but he also became part of the story. Hoping to beat the competition, he rushed to the air with Nixon’s “enemies list” and began reading the list of 20 to viewers before previewing it. As he got to No. 17, he discovered his name.

Schorr became part of the story again in 1976, when he arranged for the publication of an advance copy of a suppressed House Intelligence Committee report on illegal CIA and FBI findings.

Reaction from his colleagues in the media was negative because Schorr had handed the report over in exchange for a donation to a group that aids journalists in First Amendment issues.

Many reporters also found Schorr’s silence troubling when another CBS correspondent, Lesley Stahl, was wrongly accused of leaking the report. Schorr was suspended by the network, andthe House opened an investigation, though it later dropped the case. He resigned from CBS soon after.

Schorr is survived by his wife of 43 years, Lisbeth; his son, Jonathan Schorr; daughter, Lisa Kaplan; and one grandchild.