BUCKiT® #24-Susan Zirinsky: Multi Award Winning Journalist and CBS News President | Part 1

It’s daytime, but hundreds of burning Kuwaiti oil wells has turned the day into night.  The visibility is extremely difficult for this news reporter and her driver who is finding it a challenge to stay with the convoy of vehicles. As the darkness envelops them, the jeep loses contact with the Saudi Military leading the way. They are left alone in the desert surrounded by land mines. They must chose to drive on in the dark or slowly navigate their way by foot using a small handheld flashlight. Susan Zirinsky, or “Z” as she is affectionately known, is the Senior Executive Producer of the award-winning crime and justice series "48 Hours". This powerhouse and highly respected journalist has worked in news since Watergate and is no stranger to war conflict. In 1989, Zirinsky ran CBS News operations out of Panama during the United States invasion and was in charge of CBS News operation in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square student uprising and military crackdown. On the front lines as the senior producer in Kuwait while covering the first Persian Gulf War, Susan was part of the CBS news team and the first Network to enter Kuwait, just behind the Allied forces. Her extraordinary work and highly impactful programs have earned Susan virtually every major journalism honor including multiple Emmy Awards, a George Foster Peabody Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence, the Christopher Award, as well as The Writers Guild of America Award and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. In 2013, the New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards presented Susan with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Susan Zirinsky is a legend and a national treasure. In part one of this two part interview, Susan recounts her experiences from the front lines and explains how fear motivates her everyday to get out there and tell the stories that impact peoples lives.