CNN Fires Veteran Newsman Schorr in Contract Dispute

Veteran television news correspondent Daniel Schorr, the first journalist hired by the Cable News Network in 1979, was fired Friday when he could not agree on a new contract.

Schorr said he was terminated because CNN “insisted on abrogating the assurance of my journalistic independence,” which he said CNN founder Ted Turner had always promised him.

CNN President Burt Reinhardt said the cable network could not agree on terms of a new contract with Schorr. He did not elaborate.

Schorr, 68, said in a statement that there was “no financial issue.”

Schorr, a newsman with CBS for 25 years, said CNN refused to give him a clause, contained in two previous contracts, assuring that “no demand will be made upon (me) that would compromise (my) professional ethics or responsibilities.

CNN public relations director Judy Borza said she had “no idea” what demands he was referring to.