After leaving the navy, Fenton began his career in journalism as a domestic and foreign correspondent for the
Baltimore Sun, where he worked from 1961 to 1969. While with the
Sun, he reported on affairs in the
Middle East and Europe, including the 1967
Six-Day War and the 1968 "
Days of May" in Paris. His 1968 reporting earned Fenton an award from the
Overseas Press Club. Fenton joined CBS News as a Rome-based correspondent in 1970, and conducted the first interview with hostages taken that year by the
Palestine Liberation Organization. He later reported on the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the 1973
Yom Kippur War, and the 1974
Turkish invasion of Cyprus. When
Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the
Shah of Iran in 1979, Fenton was the first western journalist to interview Iran's new leader. He later returned to
Tehran to report on the
Iran hostage crisis. In 1991, Fenton was in Israel during the first
Gulf War to report on the effects of
Scud missile attacks from Iraq. Later that year, he was in
Moscow to cover the fall of the
Soviet Union. During the 1990s, Fenton reported on the
wars in the Balkans, and violence in the Middle East and Africa. During his CBS career, Fenton served as the network's Bureau Chief in
Rome, Italy (1970–1973),
Tel Aviv, Israel (1973–1977),
Paris, France (1977–1979), London, United Kingdom (1979–1994),
Moscow, Russia (1994–1996), and London again (1996–2004). ==Later life and death==