Morley Safer

Morley Safer - Correspondent, "60 Minutes" (CBS)

(CBS)

Morley Safer has been a "60 Minutes" correspondent since December 1970. The 2011-12 season marks his 42nd on the broadcast.

Safer landed one of the only profiles ever granted by legendary Vogue Editor Anna Wintour and it was the talk of the fashion world when it was broadcast in 2009. His body of work spanning six decades was recently acknowledged with the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award from Quinnipiac College and special recognition from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. He has also received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards First Prize for Domestic Television for his insightful report about a controversial school, "School for the Homeless" (February 2001). Safer's news-making reports and interviews have been honored with numerous other awards, including 12 Emmys, three Overseas Press Club Awards, three Peabody Awards, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, two George Polk Memorial Awards and the Radio/Television News Directors Association's highest honor, the Paul White Award. In 1995, he was named a Chévalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

When citing "60 Minutes" finest hour, its original executive producer, Don Hewitt, often points to Safer's investigative report "Lenell Geter's in Jail" (December 1983). Safer reported on new evidence that resulted in the release from prison of Lenell Geter, an engineer wrongly convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to a life term in Texas. The report received national attention and was honored with three prestigious broadcast journalism awards. One of journalism's finest hours was Safer's 1965 piece from Vietnam in which he reported on U.S. Marines burning the village of Cam Ne. This pivotal broadcast on the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" was one of the realistic reports that helped change America's view of the war and changed war reporting forever.

As a CBS News correspondent, Safer has written and been the principal reporter on documentaries, including the "CBS Reports" series. In May 1994, he hosted "One for the Road: A Conversation with Charles Kuralt and Morley Safer," a CBS News special marking colleague Charles Kuralt's retirement.

Safer joined CBS News in April 1964 as a correspondent based in the London bureau. He opened CBS News' Saigon bureau in 1965, served two tours in Vietnam and received several major broadcasting honors for his reporting. In 1967, he was named London bureau chief, a position he held for three years. In that post, he covered Europe, Africa and the Middle East. As London bureau chief, Safer returned to Vietnam to cover the war. In December 1970, he left London to join "60 Minutes" in New York.

Prior to joining CBS News, Safer was a correspondent and producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He began his career as a reporter for a variety of newspapers and wire services in Canada and England.

Safer is the author of the best-seller Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam (Random House, 1990).

He was born Nov. 8, 1931, in Toronto. He and his wife, the former Jane Fearer, live in New York. They have a daughter, Sarah.

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by alicentom October 11, 2011 12:44 PM EDT: Dear Mr Safer,
In 2005 you did a story that most likley saved my life or at the very least saved me from much suffering. It was "Can Dogs Really Sniff Cancer". I saw the repeat of the show in June and was discussing it the next day with a co-worker when "Magnum" a therapy dog who lived at the Assisted Living Community I managed came out from under the front desk and went right to a spot on my breast and started sniffing it. I brushed it off as coinsidence, but when he persisted day after day and started to act upset I finally went for my mammogram and found that I had stage 1 cancer. I am now 5 years free of cancer and wanted you to know how much good your reports do. My story is now a part of "A Diary of Hope" by Suzie Dugan which which just came out on the internet this month for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Words cannot express my gratitude to you and 60 minutes. I try to never miss a show.
Thank you once again,
Alice Peters; Reply to this comment


by kefro2 October 4, 2011 1:01 PM EDT: I was watching the interview with Andy Rooney this past Sunday night. Mr. Safer, I could not believe when you asked Mr. Rooney if he thinks about death. What kind of a question is that? He is 93 years old and still going strong. How would you react if someone asked you that? I think as a reporter you should really look over your notes first before you ask certain questions. There are too many bad and depressing things going on in the world today and the last thing we want to think about is death. Way to ruin an interview.; Reply to this comment


by ibriki September 30, 2011 8:40 PM EDT: Mr. Safer, I would like to tell you a tale of a lady who has suffered horribly under Kaiser Managed elderly care. It is very convaluted and I beleive that it is something that needs to get out there as the level of care is just not to be accepted or apeased, it needs change or don't get old, it will kill you. If interested I will provide you with what I have to substanceate my point of view. thank you, rallen; Reply to this comment


by taursus41 August 21, 2011 7:47 PM EDT: Morley Safer: wake up! CBS could'nt care less about your report. On Aug 21 at 7pm ET, it is broadcasting a football game. Not even an apology or explanation. I'm done trying to watch 60 minutes, dodging the network executives, who would rather show anything at 7pm on Sunday than 60 minutes. Let me know when you guys switch to another network. (Cronkite must be spinning in his grave); Reply to this comment

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