Larry Bensky, award-winning reporter and veteran KPFA radio broadcaster, died Sunday at the age of 87. Bensky was the national affairs correspondent for Pacifica Radio from 1987 to 1998, notably covering the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings and the 9/11 Commission hearings, among other historical events. Larry Bensky also hosted KPFA’s public affairs show “Sunday Salon” and later the classical music show “Piano.” He also wrote for various publications, including The Nation, and was a professor. In this KPFA clip, Bensky reflects on why he chose the career of journalism.

Larry Bensky: “I thought that bringing people information about things would stir things up. It’s not that bringing people the information automatically brings a cure to humanity’s ills, or we wouldn’t have so many ills. It’s that if you don’t do it, it’s certainly not going to change. So, that’s how I became what I think of as an activist journalist.”

Larry Bensky was also one of the original co-hosts of Democracy Now! in 1996.