Morley Safer, 60 Minutes journalist, dead at 84

[Blackadder1916]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/morley-safer-dead-1.3589419
Morley Safer, 60 Minutes journalist, dead at 84

Toronto-born newsman worked at CBC prior to joining CBS in 1964

CBC News  Posted: May 19, 2016 12:08 PM ET| Last Updated: May 19, 2016 2:19 PM ET

Morley Safer, the legendary, Toronto-born reporter who covered such landmark stories as the construction of the Berlin Wall and the Vietnam War, has died at the age of 84 at his home in Manhattan, according to CBS News.

Safer, who at one time worked for CBC News, recently retired from CBS due to poor health. On May 15, he tweeted that his time at CBS had been a "wonderful run."

His career spanned over 50 years and he reported from practically every continent.

Safer once claimed "there is no such thing as the common man; if there were, there would be no need for journalists."

. . . .

Reputation for journalistic integrity

CBS said he changed war reporting forever when his 1965 report showed American soldiers burning the huts of Vietnamese villagers. The piece, which was controversial at the time, has been cited as one of the 20th century's best pieces of American journalism. It aired on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

For that story, Safer had been invited to join a group of Marines on what a lieutenant described as a search-and-destroy mission in the tiny villages that made up Cam Ne.

. . . . .

I suppose it would be inappropriately glib to say that it doesn't pay to retire.  For those who don't remember Safer's reporting from Vietnam (or weren't yet born) this is the piece that enraged generals and a president.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD-RlWdhAIc

I found this in which he mentions the Canadian military in reference to the attempted smear of his reputation following his reporting of the actions a Cam Ne.  https://youtu.be/trt0T5G-T9A?t=299

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I would look in the coffin and check for a pulse before I believed anything from 60 minutes again.