CBS News correspondent Morley Safer, who was worked as a 60 Minutes correspondent since the 1970s, will formally retire this week.
Safer filed his 919th and final report in March. The report was a profile of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. This Sunday, CBS News will air a hourlong special on Safer following 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 in a statement.
Jeff Fager, executive producer of 60 Minutes, said, “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.” “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.”
Safer has worked at CBS News for more than fifty years, joining as a London reporter in 1964. He also started CBS’s Saigon bureau in 1965 and broadcast a “search and destroy” mission during the Vietnam War.
The special looks back at Safer’s career and his personal life. It also includes this tidbit from Safer, “I really don’t like being on television…It makes me uneasy. It is not natural to be talking to a piece of machinery. But the money is very good.”