CBS Newsman Jim Stewart To Retire
CBS News correspondent Jim Stewart, a veteran journalist who broke a spate of major stories during a distinguished 37-year career, is retiring.
Stewart, who joined CBS News in 1990 and was based in the Washington, D.C., bureau, has covered the Justice Department, FBI, CIA and counter-terrorism issues since 1994. He has broken some of the biggest stories on his beats during a time when the nation was focused on the war on terrorism.
Most recently, Stewart was a part of the CBS News coverage of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, including a primetime special anchored by Katie Couric. His retirement is effective Nov. 16.
He was one of the network's lead correspondents for its coverage of the 9/11 attacks and followed with a series of exclusive reports on the investigation, including details on the role of accused 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui.
Stewart was also the first to report the undercover investigation of a terrorist cell in Lackawana, N.Y., and to report details of the FBI's failure to "connect the dots" on the 9/11 plot.
Stewart was a regular contributor to "60 Minutes II" from its inception (1999-2005).
"As his colleagues and competitors know, Jim is simply one of the best in the business," said Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports. "He is exactly what every news organization wants – a highly intelligent, eminently fair and doggedly determined reporter who also breaks big stories. We will miss Jim very much."
Stewart began his career with CBS News in 1990 covering the Pentagon and national security issues. He reported on the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. support missions in Somalia and Haiti and, later, Hurricane Andrew, the tobacco wars, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Atlanta Olympic bombing.
In a special report broadcast on CBS, Stewart broke the story that Ted Kaczynski was about to be arrested by federal authorities as their primary suspect in the Unabomber case.
He also broke the story that thousands of pages of government documents related to the Timothy McVeigh prosecution had been misplaced by authorities, a disclosure that led directly to a delay of McVeigh's execution.
Stewart says the story of which he is most proud was one he did with producer Jim McGlinchy during the Persian Gulf War. He found out that injured soldiers who lost limbs were given wooden prostheses that were developed during World War II, even though there were more modern stainless steel models available.
Inquiring as to why that was, Stewart said he was told by a colonel, also a doctor, that the Army did not want interference from the companies that made the steel prostheses because the soldiers were "their patients" and they would not be able to be very active anyway.
After the story ran, with the above sentiments, the reactions from the public were resounding and the soldiers got the devices they needed. The results, Stewart said, were instant, and that was a source of great satisfaction.
Before his move to broadcast journalism, Stewart was national security correspondent for Cox Newspapers in Washington (1985-90). Prior to that, he worked for the Atlanta Constitution, which he joined in 1972 as a reporter.
One of his first assignments was to go to Vietnam to write a daily column on the war's end. During a 12-year career at the newspaper, Stewart rose to special assignments editor and then to assistant managing editor in charge of news operations at both the Constitution and the Atlanta Journal.
In 1969, his journalism career was interrupted by three years in the U.S. Army, where he served as a second lieutenant in the infantry during tours in Europe, Panama and South Vietnam.
He began his career in journalism as a staff writer for United Press International (1967-69), working primarily in the Montgomery and Birmingham, Ala., bureaus. Early assignments included reporting on the civil rights movement and the Presidential ambitions of George Wallace.
Stewart's numerous national awards and honors include four Emmy Awards, including the 2001 individual honor for best story in a national broadcast, four Pulitzer Prize nominations, the Sigma Delta Chi Gold Medallion for National Reporting, the Raymond Clapper Award for distinguished Washington reporting and the National Headliner's Award.
Stewart was born in Dothan, Ala. He was graduated from Auburn University in 1969 with a degree in journalism and was a 1981 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Stewart will relocate with his wife, Jo, a former Washington-area banking executive, to Sandestin, Fla.