New York – CBS News’ longest-serving correspondent in “60 Minutes,” Morely Safer, said Wednesday in a statement that it is time to say goodbye to his television career. He has worked during 46 of the newsmagazine’s 48 years of history. CBS announced that it will broadcast an hour-long special on Safer’s career Sunday night, after senior correspondents Steve Kroft and Lesley Stahl take on the regular edition of “60 Minutes” at 7 p.m. ET.
Executive producer Jeff Fager told CNN by phone that he and Safer had been talking about the reporter’s retirement for the past year. CBS began producing “Morley Safer: A Reporter’s Life” months ago to walk the audience through the correspondent’s prominent career.
“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, as quoted by the Seattle Times. “But most of all I thank the millions of people who have been loyal to our broadcast”, the reporter added.
Fager, who joined Safer’s team as a young reporter, described the 84-year-old correspondent as a “remarkable man” and attributed his success to his curiosity, his “sense of adventure” and outstanding writing.
Before joining “60 Minutes,” considered the most popular newsmagazine in the U.S., Safer served as bureau chief for CBS News in London in the late 1960s. He was the first Saigon bureau chief for the network and the author of a 1965 report on U.S. Marines destroying the Vietnamese village of Cam Ne, a story that changed the way people saw the war.
In 1961, the Toronto-born reporter witnessed the building of Germany’s Berlin Wall while he was a Canadian Broadcast Corp. reporter. Six years later, he broadcast a report from China when it was still a mostly closed nation.
His first report for the newsmagazine he devoted most of his career to was about the training of U.S. Sky Marshals in 1970. And Safer’s last report, the 919th, was broadcast in March and was about the story of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.
Safer has not be seen so often on “60 Minutes” in recent years because of health issues, which he has not specified publicly. He appeared in a wheelchair last year at the funeral of fellow correspondent Bob Simon.
Just like Mike Wallace, Safer will continue to have an office at CBS after his retirement, according to CNN.
Source: CNN Money