Gene Mater, Champion of Press Freedom, Dies at 93

For the next decade, Mr. Mater pursued newspaper work as a reporter for The San Bernardino Sun in California and as an editor at The Star-Ledger of Newark and The New York World-Telegram and Sun.

He joined Radio Free Europe, which broadcast news to countries behind the Iron Curtain, in 1959, knowing that it was funded by the C.I.A. but intending to impose rigorous journalistic standards on its reporting staff, his daughter said. After six years, during which he directed coverage of the Berlin Wall’s construction and other stories, he joined the broadcaster’s parent, the Free Europe Committee, in Manhattan.

CBS hired Mr. Mater as an executive in 1970, and over 15 years there he acted as a spokesman for its broadcast group, sometimes testifying at federal regulatory hearings.

After leaving CBS in 1985, he was a media consultant, helping journalists in Eastern Europe run newspapers after the fall of the Soviet Union and, most recently, working with the Freedom Forum in Washington, often speaking to international journalists about press freedom.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Mater is survived by his son, Rick; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His wife died in 1994.

At the Freedom Forum, Mr. Mater worked at its Newseum, the Washington museum dedicated to journalism that closed last year. It had exhibited eight large segments of the Berlin Wall.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/06/obituaries/gene-mater-dead-covid.html