William Jack Small (September 20, 1926 – May 24, 2020) was an American broadcast journalist, executive, author, and educator.
According to the authorized biography issued by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS),[2] William J.
The CBS Washington bureau of the '60s and '70s was perhaps the single most important entity in the development of modern television news before the era of cable.
Backed by the mystique of Murrow’s CBS and his own uncanny judge of talent, Small helped attract a stream of reporters, analysts and producers whose learning, talent, skill and experience were without precedent in news broadcasting.” “Small,” states Mudd, “put together a TV News bureau the likes of which Washington had never known.” Among Small's many hires at CBS and elsewhere were: Marvin Kalb, Dan Rather, Bob Schieffer, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Diane Sawyer, Susan Zirinsky, Tom Bettag, Connie Chung, Martha Teichner, and Bernard Shaw.
In 2014, Small was honored for his contributions to broadcast journalism and his defense of the First Amendment as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for News & Documentary.
The author of two award-winning books, To Kill a Messenger: Television and the Real World (Hasting House, NY, 1970) and Political Power and the Press (W.W. Norton, NY, 1972), he has served as the National President of the Radio-TV News Directors Association and the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi.