Maury Green; Veteran TV Newscaster

Maury Green, a veteran journalist and author who helped pioneer the modern format for local television news shows, has died. He was 80.

Green, who also played himself as a television newsman in such motion pictures as “The Candidate,” died Sunday in Los Angeles, his son, Lee Green, said Monday.

A quarter-century ago, Green was part of the “Big News” team on KNXT (now KCBS) that established the now-familiar informal comments between local news show hosts and reporters in the field. The news program won nationwide notice for its high quality and viewer-friendly format.

Green also served as writer, producer and anchor of the West Coast edition of the CBS Morning News, another early segment to update East Coast news programs for viewers in the Pacific time zone.

Altogether, the long-retired newscaster participated in more than 10,000 television news programs for KNXT and KNBC and an additional 2,000 panel interview shows.

Green also wrote two books, “Television News: Anatomy and Process” and the novel “The Delphi Calculus,” and coauthored two other books, “Sawed-Off Justice” and “Evel Knievel on Tour.”

Among Green’s awards were a local Emmy for docudrama writing, three Golden Mikes and a certificate of distinction in broadcast journalism from E.I. duPont and Columbia University.

He served as president of the Greater Los Angeles Press Club and was on the board of Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, and recently headed a group of retired media personnel called the Overset Society.

Green grew up in Illinois and was a championship fencer at the University of Illinois. After serving in the Navy, he began his long journalism career working for newspapers--the now-defunct Chicago Herald-Examiner, the Chicago Tribune, and after moving to Los Angeles in 1956, The Times.

After retiring from the news media, he served as consultant to several companies, including the Bank of America, the Southern California Gas Co., the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Rand Corp., the Merchants and Manufacturers Assn. and the Supermarket Institute.

In addition to his son, Green is survived by a daughter, Barbara Hager, and two grandchildren.

A memorial service is pending.