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John Pilger

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John Pilger at the 2006 Humber Mouth festival.

John Pilger (born October 9, 1939) is an Australian journalist and documentary filmmaker from Sydney, primarily based in London, England.

Life and career

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. 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. In all of his work, Pilger has been a prominent and fervent critic of Western foreign policy. He is particularly opposed to many aspects of American foreign policy, which he regards as being driven by a largely imperialist agenda.

He has been the subject of much praise, with left-wing intellectuals such as Harold Pinter enthusing about his work: "John Pilger is fearless. He unearths, with steely attention to facts, the filthy truth, and tells it as it is . . . I salute him."(Quoted here). He has also been subjected to criticism, with Auberon Waugh in Britain coining the verb 'to pilger' to denote 'to present information in a sensationalist manner to reach a foregone conclusion'. The verb was also added to the 1991 edition of Oxford English Dictionary of New Words ([1]), but revoked in 1994 following complaints by Pilger. [citation needed] Noam Chomsky has claimed that the reason why journalists have invented the terms 'to pilger' and 'pilgerize' is because, when faced with the uncomfortable facts about the consequences of U.S foreign policy that Pilger presents, 'ridicule' is the only response they are capable of.[2]

File:Tell Me No Lies.jpg
Tell Me No Lies (2004), 2005 Vintage paperback edition

Pilger has a son Sam (born in 1973) and a daughter Zoe (born in 1984).

Criticism of 'mainstream' journalism

Pilger is a strong critic of the institutions and economic forces that structure 'mainstream' journalism. He is particularly scornful of pro-Iraq war commentators on the liberal left, or 'liberal interventionists', such as Nick Cohen and David Aaronovitch.

He said in an address at Columbia University on 14 April 2006:

During the Cold War, a group of Russian journalists toured the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by their hosts for their impressions. ‘I have to tell you,’ said their spokesman, ‘that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV, that all the opinions on all the vital issues were by and large, the same. To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don’t have that. What’s the secret? How do you do it?’[3]

Criticism of Tony Blair

In addition to criticizing the policies of President George W. Bush, Pilger has also taken aim at British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he believes to be just as culpable as President Bush for the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq.

In a column published in New Statesman on 18 August 2006, Pilger ascribed blame for the London Bombings that took place in July 2005 to Blair, whose decision to support the invasion of Iraq, and the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, generated the rage that he claims precipitated those bombings.

In the same column, Pilger described Blair as a war criminal for supporting Israel's actions during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. He also asserted in the same column that Blair gave permission to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 to initiate what would ultimately become Operation Defensive Shield. [1]

Support of Hugo Chavez

Pilger is a supporter[4] of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He has recently signed a letter supporting the refusal of the Chavez government to renew the broadcasting licence of Venezuela's largest television network Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). The letter claims that the station openly supported and allegedly colluded in a 2002 coup attempt against Chavez's democratically elected government. Pilger and other signatories suggest that if the BBC or ITV used their news broadcasts to publicly support a coup against the British government, they would suffer consequences. [5].

Works

Publications

Pilger has written for the following publications:

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. He is on the advisory board of UKWatch.

Selected documentaries

Films

DVDs

Books by Pilger

  • The Last Day (1975)
  • Aftermath: The Struggles of Cambodia and Vietnam (1981)
  • The Outsiders (1984)
  • Heroes (1986)
  • A Secret Country (1989)
  • Distant Voices (1992 and 1994)
  • Hidden Agendas (1998)
  • Reporting the World: John Pilger's Great Eyewitness Photographers (2001)
  • The New Rulers of the World (2002)
  • Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and its Triumphs (ed.) Cape (2004)
  • Blowin' in the wind (2004)
  • Freedom Next Time (2006)

Play

  • The Last Day (1983)

Biography

  • Hayward, Anthony (2002). In the Name of Justice: The Television Reporting of John Pilger. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New Ed edition. ISBN 0747558981.

Awards

Awards include:

Quotes

  • "There is no War on Terrorism; it is the great game speeded up. The difference is the rampant nature of the superpower, ensuring infinite dangers for us all."[6]
  • "More terrorists are given training and sanctuary in the United States than anywhere on earth. They include mass murderers, torturers, former and future tyrants and assorted international criminals. This is virtually unknown to the American public, thanks to the freest media on earth."[6]
  • "During my lifetime, America has been constantly waging war against much of humanity: impoverished people mostly, in stricken places."[7]
  • "In these surreal days, there is one truth. Nothing justified the killing of innocent people in America last week and nothing justifies the killing of innocent people anywhere else." (referring to 9/11)[7]

References

  1. ^ Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America FILM REVIEW: Palestine is Still the Issue
  2. ^ Noam Chomsky Chomsky Answers Guardian
  3. ^ Paul Craig Roberts What we know and don’t know about 9/11
  4. ^ Chávez is a threat because he offers the alternative of a decent society
  5. ^ Television's role in the coup against Chávez
  6. ^ a b The journalism and films of John Pilger. Internet Archive copy
  7. ^ a b John Pilger Blair has made Britain a target

External links

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