Richard Schlesinger is an American retired television news reporter and correspondent for the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

crime documentary show '' 48 Hours''.

Early life and education

Schlesinger was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He graduated from

White Plains Senior High School White Plains Senior High School is a high school in the White Plains Public Schools system of White Plains, New York, United States. It was selected by the U.S. Department of Education as a School of Excellence in 1986–1987. The school's code o ...

in 1972 and graduated from The

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1976.

Career

After graduation in 1976, Schlesinger joined

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

-based

WPLG-TV WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembroke ...

as a political reporter, where he won

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

. In 1980, he was hired as Washington bureau chief for the Post-Newsweek Television Stations and worked there until 1984, when he joined

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

. At CBS, Schlesinger was based in Miami and covered stories throughout the southeastern United States and South America. From 1987–1990, he was a correspondent at CBS News Northeast bureau, also working as an investigative reporter for the ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...

'' and as a substitute anchor for morning news and weekend editions of the news. From 1990 through 1997, he was a full-time correspondent for ''48 Hours''. His reports included cases of innocent Americans behind bars, marriage and divorce in 1990s and the recession of the middle class. Schlesinger reported for a two-hours CBS documentary ''CBS Reports: "Enter the Jury Room"'', for which he won

Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered ...

. The documentary examined the jury system in US and was given access to the actual jury deliberations for the first time in the television industry. He has received 10

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

throughout his career. Apart from his reports to 48 Hours, Schlesinger also contributes to ''

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...

.'' He retired from CBS News in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlesinger, Richard American reporters and correspondents Living people University of Missouri alumni American television news anchors Emmy Award winners American male journalists CBS News people 1954 births