This Event is also the Official NPC March Luncheon
Bob Orr
For 11 years, the Marine Corp League of Naples, E. T., Brisson Detachment #063 and the Press Club of Southwest Florida have observed the importance of freedom of the press with an annual event: Honor the Free Press Day.
Bob Orr, CBS News.
Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/CBS
Each year, a noteworthy member of the national press is also recognized. This year’s honoree is Bob Orr from CBS News.
Orr spent more than 40 years in broadcasting before retiring in February 2015. Prior to retirement, he served as Justice and Homeland Security correspondent. He recently relocated from Fairfax County, Virginia. He and wife Susie have three adult daughters.
Bob Orr began his television news career in 1973 at WTRF-TV in his hometown, Wheeling, W. Virginia. He later worked as a reporter and anchor in Columbus, Ohio and Philadelphia.
Orr was a part of the CBS News team from July 1993 until his retirement in February 2015. During this time, he primarily focused on two beats.
From 1994 to 2006, Orr was the transportation correspondent, covering safety and security issues.
After 9/11, though he retained the transportation correspondent title, he began focusing more heavily on security and counterterrorism. When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established, he formally added DHS to his coverage responsibilities.
In November 2006, Orr took over the Justice beat as the CBS News Justice and Homeland Security correspondent. In this capacity, he was the lead correspondent covering domestic and international terrorism as well as US law enforcement issues.
Most recently, he was a primary contributor to special event broadcasts of major stories including the 2013 bombings of the Boston Marathon, the 2011 death of Osama bin Laden and the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
In all, Orr also covered more than a dozen major air accidents including American Airlines flight 587 in New York (2001), Egypt Air (1999) and USAir flight 427 near Pittsburgh (1994).
Bob Orr and Scott Pelley, CBS News
During his time at CBS, he contributed to all CBS broadcasts. His work was regularly featured on the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.”
The 35th Annual News and Documentary Emmys Awards – 9/30/2014
Orr is the recipient of four national Emmy awards for his reports on: the 2002 sniper attacks, the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 and the 1999 crash of Amtrak’s “City of New Orleans” train near Chicago.
In September 2014, Orr received an additional Emmy for “Outstanding Coverage of a Live News Event” for the CBS News coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings.
He also received a Sigma Delta Chi Award for his reporting on the return of Elian Gonzales to Havana.
He has also received three regional Emmys for his reporting. He contributed to numerous Associated Press awards that WBNS TV received as Outstanding News Operation in Ohio.
Additionally, Orr was part of the CBS News team, which won the 2014 DuPont Silver Baton Award for coverage of the Newtown tragedy.
Orr was born on October 21, 1953, in Wheeling, W. Virginia. He graduated cum laude from Bethany College in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.