Editorial: America loses a storyteller

Friday, Nov. 10, 2006 | 6:55 a.m.

America lost one of its premier journalists when Ed Bradley died of leukemia Thursday. He was 65.

Bradley cut his teeth covering international issues and the Vietnam War before joining CBS' "60 Minutes" team in 1981. He was hired to replace Dan Rather, who that year replaced Walter Cronkite as anchor of "The CBS Evening News."

In his 26 esteemed years with "60 Minutes," Bradley conducted some of television news' most memorable interviews, including those with Michael Jackson, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and the Duke University lacrosse players accused of rape.

Bradley's reports about sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and on the reopening of the 50-year-old racial murder of Emmett Till brought him two of his 19 Emmy awards. Cronkite described Bradley as "fearless" and "an incredibly smart reporter."

With four Peabody awards and a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Black Journalists, Bradley had earned the right to brag. Despite his fame, he wasn't caught up in his own celebrity status. He was what one colleague described as "a reporter's reporter."

Bradley was the kind of journalist that all journalists aspire to be. And this week, America lost one of its best.