Marilyn Berger Hewitt (born August 23, 1935), is an American broadcast and newspaper journalist and author. She worked for newspapers including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', and hosted local television news programs in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Newspaper career

Berger worked as a foreign correspondent for '' Newsday'' on Long Island from 1965 to 1970. From there she moved on to ''The Washington Post'', where she became a bit player in the

Watergate Scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

. Berger reported that

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

White House staffer Ken Clawson had bragged to her about authoring the

Canuck Letter The Canuck letter was a forged letter to the editor of the '' Manchester Union Leader'', published February 24, 1972, two weeks before the New Hampshire primary of the 1972 United States presidential election. It implied that Senator Edmund Muski ...

, a forged letter to the editor of the '' Manchester Union Leader'' that played a large part in ending the campaign of Senator Edmund Muskie. She also reported on the Cold War arms race and China.biography
Harper Collins Publishers She would later contribute to ''The New York Times''.

Television

After leaving ''The Washington Post'', Berger went to work for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

, where her duties included on-camera reporting at the 1976 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. She hosted the public television news program ''The Advocates'', and was an anchor on the nightly news on public television station

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as "Thirteen" (stylized as "THIRTEEN"), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the ...

in New York.

Author

In 2010 Berger wrote ''This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes'', covering the journey of Dr. Rick Hodes into Africa to help sick children.

Personal life

Berger holds a bachelor's degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and master's degree from the Columbia School of Journalism. In April 1979 she married Don Hewitt, creator of ''60 Minutes''.Marilyn Berger, a Reporter, Wed to Don Hewitt of CBS
April 22nd, 1979 (abstract) They remained married until his death in August 2009. The couple had no children, but in 2009, right before Hewitt's death, they became the legal guardians of a boy from Ethiopia. Berger is the great aunt of Rob Fishman.

Recognition

Berger was honored a
The New Jewish Home's
Eight Over Eighty Gala in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Marilyn American newspaper reporters and correspondents American television reporters and correspondents 1935 births Living people American women television journalists Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists Cornell University alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women