Steve Kroft

Steve Kroft’s career began in the US Army as a correspondent-photographer for Pacific Stars and Stripes in Vietnam after his graduation from Syracuse University in 1967. He got his master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School. CBS News hired him in 1980 and he was named a correspondent in 1981. Kroft covered the civil war in El Salvador and the invasion of Grenada before he was posted to the London Bureau, where his reporting on European affairs and terrorism on the CBS Evening News caught the attention of executives. They brought him back in 1987 to be the principal correspondent on West 57th, a fledgling news magazine that became a stepping-stone to 60 Minutes. Kroft was 60 Minutes’ longest-tenured reporter, having reported nearly 500 stories for the news magazine, many among the broadcast’s biggest moments. Kroft is one of the most distinguished journalists of his generation. He has won five Peabody Awards, the Investigative Editors and Reporters Award (IRE), as well as the George Polk and JFK Journalism Awards. He’s also been honored with all of the major industry lifetime achievement awards: the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, the Paul White Award from the RTDNA, and a Lifetime Achievement Emmy. Kroft retired from 60 Minutes in 2019.