Daniel Schorr, Crusading Journalist, Never Forgot His Jewish Roots By Ron Kampeas Jewish Telegraphic Agency Washington I t took about seven years for Daniel Schorr to tire of being a journalist for Jewish media. The distaste of digesting for JTAs read- ers the news of the emerging Holocaust, combined with what he saw as the blink- ered parochialism of Jewish news, led him to quit JTA in 1941 and search for work elsewhere. But Schorr never stopped being a Jewish journalist: Events and his conscience would not let him. Schorr, the crusading broadcast jour- nalist who died last Friday at 93, is best known for his clashes with the powerful, including his employers. His tough report- ing of the Watergate scandal earned him three Emmys and a spot on President Richard Nixon's enemies list. His revela- tions several years later of CIA malfea- sance won him threats of prosecution and ended his 23-year career with CBS. Schorr never forgot his roots in print and parochial journalism, however, recall- ing his stint with the Jewish Daily Bulletin, JTAs daily newspaper, and then after the Bulletin with JTA in his 2001 autobiogra- phy, Staying Tuned, a Life in Journalism. His job at JTA was "cable rewrite": He would convert the reports condensed from "cables," written to save money when cable operators charged by the word, to everyday English. "At JTA, we received chilling cable reports of anti-Semitic depredations in Europe from refugees, Jewish organiza- tions and neutral travelers" he wrote. "These reports occasioned screaming headlines in the Yiddish press, but were largely ignored by the general newspapers. Editors were being counseled by the State Department to be wary of Jewish propa- ganda. "Years later, declassified records would show how far the American and British governments went to keep Americans in ignorance of the extermination of the Jews in Europe. For fear of distracting the Allies from pursuit of the war, it was saidr Schorr's account of his seven years at JTA — starting as a high school student stringing for the Jewish Daily Bulletin — demonstrates how little has changed in how Jewish reporters cobble together news Jews can use. Among other assignments, he wrote, he "provided a weekly packet of mimeo- graphed news and editorial material for several dozen Anglo-Jewish weekly news- papers around the country. Their demand was as great as their financial resources were small. So, I churned out copy using several pseudonyms, as well as my Daniel Schorr own name. "The rule was to emphasize the 'Jewish' angle. In my music column I favored conductor Bruno Walter over Leopold Stokowski, pianist Arthur Rubinstein over Claudio Arrau. (For free concert tickets and phonograph records I had relented on my contempt for music criticism.) Each week I summarized `The War and the Jews: Each year I did an article asking, 'Was Columbus a Jew?' (No, but his navigator may have been Jewish.)" It wasn't all free concerts: Schorr vol- unteered for Bund duty, covering the Daniel Schorr on page 70 Did you know? lAire service all cemeteries. 71t* -cr Hebrew Memorial Chapel From Generation to 248-543-1622 Generation NIonuments & Markers by Hebrew Nlemorial Chapel Bringing together rich traditions with customized, sensitive services 800-736-5033 248-543-3874 www.hebrewmemorial.org Obituaries July 29 • 2010 69