Morley Safer will retire this week after 46 years as a correspondent on “60 Minutes.”
“After more than 50 years of broadcasting on CBS News and ’60 Minutes,’ I have decided to retire. It’s been a wonderful run, but the time has come to say goodbye to all of my friends at CBS and the dozens of people who kept me on the air,” Safer said. “But most of all I thank the millions of people who have been loyal to our broadcast.”
Safer joined “60 Minutes” in 1970 and is the longest-serving correspondent of the popular news magazine. He will be celebrated this Sunday with a special, “Morley Safer: A Reporter’s Life,” to air after “60 Minutes,” at 8 p.m. ET on, obviously, CBS.
Harry Smith worked with Safer for 25 years at CBS and said he “always looked up” to the journalism legend.
“I love that guy,” Smith, who is now with NBC, told TheWrap. “Being able to work in the same building as him and being able to rub elbows from time to time, I just hope some of his greatness might have rubbed off. His body of work speaks for itself. The guy is phenomenal.”
“60 Minutes” executive producer Jeff Fager shared similar thoughts in a statement. “Morley has had a brilliant career as a reporter and as one of the most significant figures in CBS News history, on our broadcast and in many of our lives,” he said. “Morley’s curiosity, his sense of adventure and his superb writing, all made for exceptional work done by a remarkable man. The best of Morley Safer will be on display in our special broadcast this Sunday.”
The special will examine Safer’s life, from his birth in Toronto to his rise in the 1950s and 1960s as a distinguished war reporter. Safer discusses some of his best work, including his 1965 CBS News dispatch that changed war reporting when it showed Marines torching the homes of Vietnamese villagers.
His first assignment for “60 Minutes,” in 1970, was story about the training of U.S. Sky Marshals. His last assignment, which is No. 919 in his career, was a profile of star Danish Architect Bjarke Ingels — who happened to be born four years after Safer started on “60 Minutes” — which aired in March.