John Pilger - Definition and Overview

John Pilger

John Pilger (born 1939) is a left wing Australian journalist from Sydney. Pilger's career in journalism began in 1958, and he has developed his reputation through both his reporting and the various books and documentary films that he has written or produced. On the right he has been subjected to ridicule and scorn, with the late Auberon Waugh in Britain coining the verb 'to pilger'. He is best known in Britain for his investigative documentaries, particularly those on Cambodia and East Timor. He has acted as a war correspondent during conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh and Biafra. He has a son Sam (born in 1973) and a daughter Zoe (born in 1984).

Works

Publications

Pilger has written for the following publications:

• Daily Mirror (UK)
• The Guardian (UK)
• The Independent (UK)
• New Statesman
• The New York Times (US)
• The Los Angeles Times (US)
• The Nation: New York (US)
• The Age: Melbourne (Australia)
• The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
• The Bulletin: Sydney (Australia)
• Green Left Weekly (Australia)

He has also written for various French, Italian, Scandinavian, Canadian and Japanese newspapers and periodicals, among others, and has contributed to the BBC's news service.

Selected documentaries

• 1979
• Japan Behind the Mask 1987
• 1994
• 1995
• 1996
• Apartheid Did Not Die 1998
• Welcome To Australia 1999
• 2000
• Palestine Is Still the Issue 2002
• 2003
• Stealing a Nation 2004

Books

• The Last Day (1975)
• Aftermath: The Stuggles of Cambodia and Vietnam (1981)
• The Outsiders (1984)
• Heroes (1986)
• A Secret Country (1989)
• Distant Voices (1992 and 1994)
• Hidden Agendas (1998)
• The New Rulers of the World (2002)

Play

• The Last Day (1983)

Awards

Awards include:

• Descriptive Writer of the Year (1966)
• Reporter of the Year (1967)
• Journalist of the Year (1967)
• International Reporter of the Year (1970)
• News Reporter of the Year (1974)
• Campaigning Journalist of the Year (1977)
• Journalist of the Year (1979)
• UN Media Peace Prize, Australia 1979 - 80
• UN Media Peace Prize, Gold Medal, Australia 1980 - 81
• TV Times Readers' Award (1979)
• The George Foster Peabody Award, USA (1990)
• American Television Academy Award ('Emmy') (1991)
• British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) - The Richard Dimbleby Award (1991)
• Reporters Sans Frontiers Award, France (1990)
• International de Television Geneve Award (1995)

Quotes

• I know when Bush is lying. His lips move."[1] (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5276.htm)

External link

• JohnPilger.com (http://www.johnpilger.com), also the source for much of this article