Award-winning TV journalist Gabe Pressman dies at 93

MANHATTAN -- Emmy-winning TV journalist Gabe Pressman has died at the age of 93.

Pressman's longtime employer, NBC New York, announced his death Friday on Twitter.

Pressman launched his six-decade broadcast career after stints at New Jersey's Newark Evening News and the New York World Telegram and Sun.

He covered the 1956 sinking of the Italian oceanliner Andrea Doria, reports from Israel, riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and countless politicians.

He starred for years at Inner Circle, a charity show that pokes fun at politics.

Pressman graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism.

The New York State Broadcasters Association inductee started working at WRCA radio in 1954. He went to WRCA's television side, now WNBC, in 1956.

In 1972, Pressman moved to WNEW-TV. He rejoined WNBC in 1980.

The New York Press Club released a statement calling Pressman, "a legend and a moral compass."

"Gabe's contributions to the field of journalism extended far beyond what his viewers saw on television," it said. "It was his hard work behind the scenes that kept the cameras rolling when some would have preferred they be turned off; he kept public meetings open, when some would have preferred they be closed."