This story was first published on CNN.com, “Morley Safer, CBS news legend, dies at 84”.
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CBS said Safer changed war reporting forever with his work in Vietnam before becoming an “iconic” correspondent who was one of USA television’s most enduring stars.
The “Late Show” host said two of his favorite memories about the influential journalist, who died Thursday morning, were cigarette-related.
Colbert concluded his tribute by playing a “60 Minutes”-style introductory video that Safer had recorded for a special 2006 episode of “The Colbert Report” featuring the Decemberists”.
“Morley was one of the most important journalists in any medium, ever”.
Safer’s 1970 report on the training of U.S. Sky Marshals was his first for “60 Minutes”.
On Sunday, Safer posted what would be his final tweet: “It’s been a wonderful run, and I want to thank the millions of people who have been loyal to our 60Minutes broadcast”.
“Morley can cover war in Beirut in a navy blazer, white slacks and a pocket square and report it as if he were reporting on a cocktail party or a croquet match”, said Steve Kroft, one of his many colleagues over his four decades on the show, according to USA Today. The iconic reporter retired from his gig on “60 Minutes” at the beginning of May 2016. “He was also a gentleman, a scholar, a great raconteur”. He would go on to do 900 pieces for the show.
FILE – In this September 22, 1980 file photo, Morley Safer points to one of his watercolors displayed at a NY restaurant as his wife Jane and daughter Sarah look on. “Repeat step one. A true professional/original”.
When announcing his retirement earlier this month, Safer reflected on his career and said with his usual mix of self-deprecation and wry humor: “I really don’t like being on television”. Also featured was a 1983 60 Minutes investigation that freed Lenell Geter, an African American Texan wrongly convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison. Safer took his comment back.
Safer did quirky – features on the merits of abstract art, the Muppets and Martha Stewart (twice). In recent years he had worked part time for “60 Minutes”.
Mr. Safer won many awards, including Emmys, Peabodys, and the George Polk Award for career achievement.
Born in Toronto, Safer began his journalism career as a newspaper reporter in Woodstock and London, Ontario before moving to the United Kingdom and landing a job with Reuters in London. He turned his attention to Asia a year later to open a Saigon bureau as the Vietnam War raged on. 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.
Safer’s expose ignited a firestorm.
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The news report angered viewers and even incited the ire of then-President Lyndon Johnson, who reportedly called CBS President Frank Stanton the day after the report aired, saying “your boys shat on the American flag yesterday”. Safer feared for his safety in the company of angry US soldiers.
