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Journalist remembered for his dedication
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AMERICAN Mark Leff, a former reporter, editor and producer at CNN who cultivated a young generation of journalists, died of a cerebral hemorrhage last Saturday at Shanghai’s Changzheng Hospital. He was 67.
No longer at CNN, Leff had been working as senior language and news program consultant at International Channel Shanghai since 2009.
“My father was a huge influence on Mark,” Judi Leff, his sister, tells Shanghai Daily. “He was an actor and director. He took this little tiny radio department at college in 1949 and he made it much bigger.”
After graduating from Ohio State University’s School of Journalism, Mark Leff joined TeleVision News and later NBC News and Visnes, which later became Reuters Television.
He worked at CNN for 20 years. He worked across the United States, as well as in London, Italy, Beijing and Shanghai. A good reporter and editor needs a lot of experience and he had it.
“He was very dedicated. Work was the most important thing to him,” Judi Leff says.
“He didn’t really have hobbies,” she says. “But he didn’t work just for the paycheck. He worked because he loved it and the people he worked with. He was very focused. And I think he expected every one else to be focused. And to follow the rules of good writing and reporting.”
Judi Leff opened his light brown wallet. In the place where most people put a photograph, Mark Leff had a faded yellow card that read “Rules and Ethics of being a Journalist.”
“I can tell you two things important to my big brother — ethics in reporting and being fair. And he also loved to teach,” Judi Leff says.
Eli Flournoy from CNN International says: “Mark was a legendary writer and copy editor at CNN. For years he set the news writing standard at CNN. He was responsible for teaching hundreds if not thousands of young journalists at CNN how to be better writers. I believe Mark initiated the internal writing class at CNN.”
Later, Leff, who never married and didn’t have any children, left CNN and joined Ohio University and taught television news for six years.
Flournoy describes the program as “one of the most prestigious journalism programs in the world.”
Brianna Savoca Koehler, a former Ohio University student of Mark’s, says: “I’ll never forget his CNN coffee cup, or the desire to join him for a smoke break (despite never smoking in my life) simply because he was that inspiring. Great guy. A Scripps (the college he taught at) legend.”
Mark Leff’s teaching experience resulted in him being appointed as Fulbright Lecturer at Communications University of China in 2008.
The program was a major cooperative project between China and the US, jointly funded and managed by the Chinese Ministry of Education and the US State Department.
In the summer of 2009, Mark Leff joined International Channel Shanghai, where he is fondly remembered.
“Often senior staff members don’t seem so passionate since they have done news for so long. But Mark was different. Every day you saw his enthusiasm. And that was really inspiring for a young editor like me,” says Grace Sun, 25, an editor at ICS.
His Shanghai colleagues say he was always the last one to leave the office.
Vina Wu, 27, an ICS reporter, says: “He had strong news sense. If he wasn’t working on something, you would see him checking various news agencies. Every time he saw something interesting he would send it to the reporter covering that beat.”
Liu Yicheng, who just joined ICS, says Mark Leff was a big influence.
“At the beginning, I was very nervous if Mark was polishing my story. It always meant a complete structural change and a string of questions,” he says.
He remembers vividly when Mark Leff asked him: “How may times have your crime beat stories ended with ‘The investigation is still underway?’ That’s lazy.”
“Now when I write crime stories I feel like he is beside me saying this,” Liu says. “It helps me focus.”
What others say
“I am really, profoundly saddened. Mark was a wonderful guy, a great writer and a great teacher. Most of all, he practiced journalism the way it should be done. I learned a tremendous amount from him.”
— Jim Schiffman, former CNN colleague
“I remember and appreciate Mark Leff. He was indeed meticulous in his copy editing and research, topped with a very dry wit for science puns. He was one of the few people I knew who could keep an ancient Mercedes running year after year.”
— Bailey Barash, former Senior Executive Producer, CNN Science News
“Except you, no one would stand by 24 hours. And don’t you know that we can’t rely on anyone else except you? Some words if I told you in Chinese you would pretend you didn’t understand. So I’d better change to English so you can understand: Mark, don’t give the money to your wealth manager. Don’t care too much about the tax policy change. Go buy some good clothes, wine and cigarettes. More importantly, go get your love when you have a crush on someone. Enjoy your life in heaven! I will miss you.”
— Zhu Yiming, colleague at ICS
“Mark was not merely a CNN ‘original’ employee, he was a CNN ‘precursor,’ having worked — along with CNN founding-president Reese Schonfeld and other ex-CNNers Mary Tillotson, Daniel Schorr, Jane Maxwell (my wife), and myself — at ITNA (Independent Television News Association), which was in many ways the immediate precursor of CNN.”
— Rick Brown, former colleague at CNN
“The man who would rush into the room and correct a mistake as soon as he saw it will never come back.”
— Liang Yun, colleague at ICS
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