Don Harris (journalist)
| Don Harris | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Roy Darwin Humphrey September 8, 1936 Vidalia, Georgia, United States |
| Died | November 18, 1978 (aged 42) Port Kaituma, Guyana |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Employer | NBC News |
Don Harris (September 8, 1936 – November 18, 1978) was an NBC News correspondent who was killed after departing Jonestown, an agricultural commune owned by the Peoples Temple in Guyana. Harris and four others were killed by gunfire by Temple members at a nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, Guyana. Their murders preceded the death of 909 Temple members in Jonestown and four Temple members in Georgetown, Guyana.
Harris, whose real name was Roy Darwin Humphrey, was born near Vidalia, Georgia, in the United States. In 1957, Harris worked first for WVOP, a radio station located near the place of his birth. He then began delivering television weather reports at a station in North Carolina. From 1964 to 1968, Harris worked at WTVT in Tampa, Florida as a staff announcer. From 1968 to 1969 he worked at WTOP in Washington, DC. In December 1969, he began working as a reporter and news anchor at WFAA-TV in Dallas, TX. From 1970 to 1972 Harris concurrently co-hosted a live morning TV newsmagazine called "News 8 etc..." Harris quit WFAA in 1973 following a dispute with management.
In 1973, He began work for NBC-owned KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. In 1975, NBC promoted Harris to the network news staff, where he covered the fall of Saigon and reported from the trenches in Vietnam. American soldiers referred to Harris as "Mr. Lucky" because Harris managed to dodge bullets and avoid land mines.
Harris won four Emmys and the a DuPont/Columbia Award. In the spring of 1978, before traveling to Jonestown, Harris broadcast an investigative piece on international terrorism that ran on NBC Nightly News.
On November 14, 1978, Harris accompanied California congressman Leo Ryan, NBC cameraman Bob Brown, NBC producer Bob Flick, NBC sound engineer Steve Sung and several other journalists to Georgetown, Guyana. The group was investigating rumors of torture, kidnapping and other offenses by the Peoples Temple in an agricultural commune located 150 miles from Georgetown that the Temple called Jonestown. Harris' son, Jeffrey Humphrey, said that Harris' family was not particularly worried about Harris' safety at the time because of the danger surrounding the war stories Harris had previously covered. Some of Harris' colleagues at NBC, however, had tried to talk him out of travelling to Guyana.
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