Daniel Schorr, whose aggressive reporting over 70 years as a respected broadcast and print journalist brought him into conflict with censors, the Nixon administration and network superiors, died on Friday in Washington. He was 93...more
In July of 1974 I went to work as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Pete Domenici.
On August 9, 1974 Richard Nixon resigned his Presidency.
Several of us staffers sat with Domenici in his office and watched Nixon's resignation speech. Just as the speech ended, CBS called Domenici and wanted him to come to their studio for an interview. There were several senior staffers there, but for some reason Domenici asked me to drive him to CBS (I later figured out that since I was the last person to go on his staff from NM, Domenici figured I had been least influenced by the system and most accurately reflected the views of New Mexicans, especially rural New Mexicans, on Nixon).
When we arrived at CBS they put us in a waiting room which was surrounded by tv monitors. After a short period of time a CBS employee came and took Domenici away to get his nose powdered for the tv appearance.
That left me in the room alone. Keep in mind that at this point I had not quite bought into the media bias thing.
I was watching the monitors as they interviewed Ronald Reagan who at that time was the Governor of California. In walked Daniel Schorr, chief White House correspondent for CBS. Schorr looked up at the monitors, saw Reagan being interviewed, and with a hateful scowl on his face said,"Burn, Ronnie baby, Burn."
I remember thinking, "You know, there might be something to this media bias after all."
That thought has been mightily reinforced over the last thirty-six years.
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