# Irv Drasnin

Irv Drasnin (born March 18, 1934) is an American journalist, a producer-director-writer of documentary films for CBS News and PBS (Frontline, The American Experience, Nova). Among the awards he has received for broadcast journalism are the duPont-Columbia, the Directors Guild (DGA), the Writers Guild (WGA), and the American Film and Video Blue Ribbon.

## Films

| Film Title | Year | Network |
| The China Films |||
| Misunderstanding China | 1972 | CBS News |
| Shanghai | 1974 | CBS News |
| After Mao | 1976 | CBS News |
| Looking for Mao | 1983 | PBS/Frontline |
| China After Tiananmen | 1992 | PBS/Frontline |
| The Revolutionary | 2012 | Independent Documentary Feature |
| Other Foreign Subjects |||
| Apartheid | 1988 | PBS/Frontline |
| Who's Got a Right to Rhodesia | 1977 | CBS News |
| A Black View of South Africa | 1970 | CBS News |
| Voices from the Russian Underground | 1970 | CBS News |
| Cuba: 10 Years of Castro | 1968 | CBS News |
| American Society, Culture and History |||
| Health in America: The Promise and the Practice | 1970 | CBS News |
| You and the Commercial | 1973 | CBS News |
| The Guns of Autumn | 1975 | CBS News |
| Inside the Union | 1979 | CBS News |
| New Voices in the South | 1971 | CBS News |
| Football: 100 Years Old and Still Kicking | 1969 | CBS News |
| Back on the Road with Charles Kuralt | 1969 | CBS News |
| The Twentieth Century: Synanon in Prison | 1966 | CBS News |
| The Chip vs. the Chess Master | 1991 | PBS/Nova |
| G-Men: The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover | 1991 | PBS/The American Experience |
| The Radio Priest | 1988 | PBS/The American Experience |
| Forever Baseball | 1989 | PBS/The American Experience |
| The Earthquake is Coming | 1987 | PBS/Frontline |
| Hollywood Dreams | 1986 | PBS/Frontline |
| Catholics in America: Is Nothing Sacred? | 1985 | PBS/Frontline |
| The Other Side of the Track | 1984 | PBS/Frontline |
| Eye of the Beholder | 1981 | PBS/Inside Story Special |
| Where We Fight | 1993 | The Discovery Channel |

## Early life

Irv Drasnin was born in Charleston, West Virginia, on March 18, 1934, a son of immigrants: his father, Joseph, a U.S. Treasury Agent, was from Tsarist Russia, as was his mother, Clara Aaron. The family moved to Los Angeles when he was four years old. His oldest brother, Sid, was an architect, remembered (with Lloyd Wright) for the Wayfarer's Chapel in Palo Verdes, California, and for The Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks, California. His brother Bob played clarinet, sax and flute with the Les Brown Orchestra and Red Norvo quintet among others, performed in Carnegie Hall as a classical musician, was the director of music at CBS, and a composer and teacher.

## Education

Drasnin is a graduate of Carthay Center Elementary School, John Burroughs Junior High School and Los Angeles High School (1952). He has a BA in political science from UCLA, where he was student body president (1955–56); editor of The Daily Bruin (for which the paper was awarded an All-American rating as one of the top five college dailies in the country); and Men's Representative to the Student Council (1954). He also was a member of Project India (1954), one of twelve students selected each year to spend the summer in India, speaking about America and interacting with Indian college students.
He has a MA from Harvard in East Asian Studies (1957–59) with a specialization in China. He taught in the Master's Film Program at Stanford University (1980–82).

## Career
### United Press International

He began his career as a reporter at United Press International, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the eastern division news headquarters (1959–60), where the stories he covered included the steelworkers strike of 1959, the visits of Soviet leaders Kozlov and Khrushchev, Wightman Cup Tennis. He wrote both for newspapers and radio.

### CBS News Broadcasts

In 1961 he was hired by CBS News as a writer for daily news broadcasts, becoming a producer for Calendar, a public affairs program with Harry Reasoner; and the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. His assignments for the evening news covered major news events, including the civil rights movement. He was the producer of CBS News coverage in Selma, Alabama including "Bloody Sunday" (March 1965) and for the Senate passage of the Voting Rights Act that followed. Other assignments included the Republican Convention of 1964, the successful presidential campaign of Lyndon Johnson, the funeral of Winston Churchill in London, the space program (the Mercury 6 flight of Wally Schirra), and the World Series, Dodgers vs the Orioles, Cardinals vs. the Red Sox.

### Documentary film years at CBS News and PBS

CBS News, 1966–79. PBS, 1982–92, for Frontline, The American Experience and Nova.
His thirty documentaries include a chronicle of modern China beginning with Misunderstanding China (CBS News), Shanghai (CBS News), Looking for Mao (PBS/Frontline), China After Tiananmen (PBS/Frontline) and The Revolutionary, an independent feature-length film.
When US-China relations were restored in 1972 after a 20-year hiatus, each of the three U.S. television networks was allowed access to film a documentary. Drasnin drew the assignment for CBS News, spending ten-weeks inside the country to make the film Shanghai. In 1991, he reported in depth from China in the wake of the government's violent crackdown on student-led demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, China After Tiananmen.
His foreign reporting also covered southern Africa and the last stands of white colonial rule in Who's Got A Right to Rhodesia (CBS News) and in Apartheid (PBS/Frontline).
Mr. Drasnin's domestic topics include The Guns of Autumn (CBS News), You and the Commercial (CBS News), Health in America (CBS News), Inside the Union (CBS News), The Radio Priest (PBS/The American Experience), The Chip vs The Chess Master (PBS/Nova), and Forever Baseball (PBS/The American Experience.).

## Personal life

He is married to Xiaoyan Zhao, former senior vice president and global polling director for New York-based GfK Roper Public Affairs. The couple has lived in New York City (1987–1996) and Hong Kong (1997–1998) where Xiaoyan was the founding managing director of Roper's Asia-Pacific Headquarters. They now reside in Los Altos, California.

## Awards

| Award | Year | Film Title |
| duPont-Columbia Award | 1972-73 | You and the Commercial |
| duPont-Columbia Award | 1970 | Health in America: The Promise and the Practice |
| Directors Guild | 1976 | The Guns of Autumn |
| Writers Guild | 1975 | The Guns of Autumn |
| Writers Guild | 1989 | Apartheid |
| Writers Guild nomination | 1970 | Health in America: The Promise and the Practice |
| Writers Guild nomination | 1972 | Misunderstanding China |
| Writers Guild nomination | 1990 | Forever Baseball |
| Writers Guild nomination | 1991 | The Chip vs. The Chess Master |
| Writers Guild nomination | 1993 | China After Tiananmen |
| Emmy Award | 1971 | A Black View of South Africa |
| American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon | 1988 | The Radio Priest |
| American Film and Video Festival, Blue Ribbon | 1990 | Forever Baseball |
| National Educational Film Festival | 1993 | China After Tiananmen |
| Christopher Award | 1974 | You and the Commercial |
| Christopher Award | 1970 | A Black View of South Africa |
| Ohio State Award | 1973 | You and the Commercial |
| Saturday Review Award | 1970 | Voices from the Russian Underground |