Burton Richard Benjamin (October 9, 1917 – September 18, 1988) was a vice president and director of

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

. He worked at CBS for 29 years, as a writer, producer, and executive. In that time, he was director of CBS News from 1978 to 1981 and executive producer of ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, 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 featu ...

'' from 1975 to 1978. He was a senior executive producer from 1968 to 1975 and from 1981 to 1985. At CBS, Benjamin often produced programs with

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trust ...

. He wrote ''Fair Play: CBS, General Westmoreland, and How a Television Documentary Went Wrong'' about the Benjamin Report, his report on '' The Uncounted Enemy'' and its related lawsuit.

Early life and career

Burton Benjamin was born in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio to Sam and Ruth Bernstein Benjamin. In 1939, Burton earned a Bachelor of Arts at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. While in school in Cleveland and in college, Benjamin worked as a journalist. In 1939, Benjamin worked for

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

and the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary new ...

in Cleveland and New York City until 1946. During this time, Benjamin served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in the U.S. Coast Guard, earning the rank of lieutenant. Subsequently, Benjamin began writing and producing documentaries for RKO-Pathe, from 1946 to 1955. Burton Benjamin became a writer for television in 1955. He joined CBS in 1957 and became executive producer of ''

The Twentieth Century ''The Twentieth Century'' was a documentary television program that ran on the CBS network from 1957 until 1966. The series produced 112 historical compilation films and 107 "originally photographed documentaries" or contemporary documentarie ...

'' that year, followed by '' The 21st Century'' in 1967. He also served as executive producer for CBS programs ''World War II'', ''The Rockefellers'', and ''

CBS Reports ''CBS Reports'' is the umbrella title used for documentaries by CBS News which aired starting in 1959 through the 1990s. The series sometimes aired as a wheel series rotating with ''60 Minutes'' (or other similar CBS News series), as a series of i ...

''. He was executive producer of ''

'' from 1975 to 1978. He subsequently served as vice president, director of news, and supervisor of development of ''

CBS Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (frequently shortened to ''Sunday Morning'') is an American television newsmagazine that has aired on CBS since January 28, 1979. Created by Robert Northshield and E.S. "Bud" Lamoreaux III, and originally hosted by Ch ...

'' from 1978 to 1981. Before his retirement from CBS in 1985, the company charged him with producing what became known as the Benjamin Report, a document investigating one of CBS's documentaries. The documentary, '' The Uncounted Enemy'', had prompted a $120 million lawsuit from

William Westmoreland William Childs Westmoreland (26 March 1914 – 18 July 2005) was a United States Army general, most notably the commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army f ...

against CBS. CBS chose Benjamin for the report due to his credibility; Benjamin's report found the program guilty of serious journalistic lapses. At times during his career, Benjamin also taught at his alma mater, the

, as well as at

Manhattanville College Manhattanville University is a private university in Purchase, New York, United States. Founded in 1841 as a school at 412 Houston Street in Lower Manhattan, it was initially known as the "Academy of the Sacred Heart". In 1917, the academy recei ...

Purchase, New York Purchase is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set ...

. Benjamin also served on the board of trustees of the

Scarborough School The Scarborough Day School was a private school in Scarborough-on-Hudson, in Briarcliff Manor, New York, United States. Frank A. Vanderlip, Frank and Narcissa Cox Vanderlip established the school in 1913 at their estate, Beechwood (Vanderlip mans ...

, a private school near his home. Benjamin's work earned him eight

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

s, a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

, two

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Awards, and the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

Silver Gavel Award The Silver Gavel Award (also known as the ABA Silver Gavel Awards for Media and The Arts) is an annual award the American Bar Association gives to honor outstanding work by those who help to improve comprehension of jurisprudence in the United St ...

Later life, death, and legacy

After retiring, Benjamin wrote ''Fair Play: CBS, General Westmoreland, and How a Television Documentary Went Wrong'' about the Benjamin Report, his report on '' The Uncounted Enemy'' and its related lawsuit. He was later offered to become president of CBS, however he declined. He also became a senior fellow of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's Gannett Center for Media Studies in 1986. On September 19, 1988, Benjamin died of a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

at his home in

Scarborough, New York Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...

. The

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

had been annually awarded the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award to journalists with significant achievements toward press freedom from 1991 to 2016 . The award was renamed in 2017 as the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award to honor the veteran journalist and former CPJ board member

Gwen Ifill Gwendolyn L. Ifill ( ; September 29, 1955 – November 14, 2016) was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program ...

, who died in 2016.

Personal life

In 1942, Benjamin married book critic Aline L. Wolff. In 1955, Benjamin, Aline, and their two daughters moved to Scarborough, a hamlet of

Briarcliff Manor, New York Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...

. There the family befriended the families of

John Cheever John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs ...

, Ely Jacques Kahn Jr., and architect Don Reiman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Burton 1917 births 1988 deaths American television directors Television producers from New York (state) American television writers CBS News people Peabody Award winners People from Briarcliff Manor, New York Writers from Cleveland University of Michigan alumni Manhattanville University faculty Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from Ohio 20th-century American screenwriters