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Josh Rushing

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Josh Rushing
Born (1972-07-24) July 24, 1972 (age 52)[1]
Lewisville, TX
Allegiance United States
Service / branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service1990-2004
Rank Captain
Battles / wars2003 Invasion of Iraq
Other workAl Jazeera
Josh Rushing
Born
Joshua Rushing
Occupation(s)Journalist, Al Jazeera English
SpousePaige Rushing
Children4 sons, 1 daughter
Websitehttp://www.joshrushing.com/

Josh Rushing is an award-winning broadcast journalist and photographer. He co-hosts the emmy-winning Fault Lines, the flagship Al Jazeera English show about the Americas. He is also a former officer of the United States Marine Corps [USMC].

Broadcasting career

Rushing has been with Al Jazeera English since the run-up to its launch. As an international correspondent, Rushing has hosted and produced programs all over the world. So far in 2011 Rushing has filmed two Fault Lines episodes in Mexico - Mexico: Impunity and Profits, and Mexico's Hidden War - plus a third in Colombia. He has also traveled to Iraq, for the eighth time, to provide special news coverage marking the 6-month milestone before the planned withdrawal of the US military.

Author

Rushing’s book, Mission AlJazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World, was published by Palgrave-MacMillan in 2007. The book blends his personal story with a unique behind-the-scenes look into the controversial AlJazeera broadcast networks. Rushing is also published in Reader’s Digest's 10th Anniversary of 9/11 special edition.

Rushing blogged regularly for AJE and the Huffington Post before beginning his own online journal.

In the Press

Every major news outlet has covered Rushing's career: The Daily Show, The Today Show, Anderson Cooper 360, NPR's Fresh Air and All Things Considered, The O'Reilly Factor, GQ Magazine (read the unabridged version on author Matt Power's website), Fast Company (cover), the LA Times (front page), USA Today (front page), the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and countless more.

Press commentary about Rushing:

  • “Mr. Rushing as a sort of AlJazeera Anderson Cooper: the same earnest emotiveness, the same blue-eyed magnetism.... He has that charisma—a presence that pops....” The New York Observer[2]
  • “What's the opposite of the Ugly American? Josh Rushing fills the bill.” The Wall Street Journal [3]
  • “AlJazeera’s Matt Lauer” GQ Magazine[4]
  • “Open, earnest, articulate—characteristics that should make any American proud.” L.A. Times[5]
  • “Earnest and thoughtful, a patriot and a skeptic—with shrewd observations…” Salon.com[6]
  • “His star turn made blue-state audiences swoon and marked him as a matinee idol for the nervous new century: a U.S. Marine, clean-cut, thoughtful, culturally sensitive....The hunk of war.” The New York Observer[7]

Military career

Rushing enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1990 and completed basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California.

[8] He was selected for Public Affairs and attended the Defense Information School (DINFOS) in 1991. He was selected for the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP) and studied at the University of Texas at Austin where he received a dual degree in Ancient History and Classic Civilization in 1999. Rushing became a Mustang upon his graduation from UT and moved to Quantico, Virginia, to further his military officer training at The Basic School (TBS). Though slated to be a Marine Corps aviator at TBS, a hearing loss prevented Rushing from completing flight school. Instead, he returned to Public Affairs and reported to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Rushing moved to Los Angeles in 2002 where he represented the Marine Corps in Hollywood in the Marine Corps Motion Picture and Television Liaison Office.

Aware of future military operations in the Middle East, Rushing volunteered to deploy with forward units before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Rushing was assigned to United States Central Command (CENTCOM) in Doha, Qatar, during Operation Iraqi Freedom where he served as a spokesperson to General Tommy Franks. Unbeknownst to him, an independent film, Control Room, captured his efforts to communicate the American message on Al Jazeera Arabic. The documentary debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and enjoyed theatrical release across the world.[9] After the Pentagon ordered him not to comment on the film,[10] he left the Marine Corps after 14 years of active duty service in October 2004 and later helped start Al Jazeera English in 2005.[11]

Personal life

Rushing was born in Lewisville in Texas in 1972. He is married, with a daughter and four sons.

Notes

  1. ^ Memmott, Mark (September 28, 2005). "Marine joins Al-Jazeera". USA Today.
  2. ^ Sinderbrand, Rebecca (March 26, 2007). "Ex-Marine Matinee Idol on Al-Jazeera". The New York Observer.
  3. ^ Morgenstern, Joe (June 18, 2004). "Vivid Documentary 'Control Room' Goes Backstage at Al-Jazeera". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ Power, Matthew (June 2006). "Al Jazeera's Matt Lauer". GQ Magazine.
  5. ^ Editorial (August 5, 2004). "A Credit to the Corps". L.A. Times online repost by democraticunderground.com.
  6. ^ Lamb, Scott (June 4, 2004). "Muzzling a Marine". Salon.com.
  7. ^ Sinderbrand, Rebecca (March 26, 2007). "Ex-Marine Matinee Idol on Al-Jazeera". The New York Observer.
  8. ^ Rushing, Josh Rushing (June 20, 2007). "Ex-Marine Josh Rushing on his Journey from Military Mouthpiece to Al Jazeera Correspondent". Democracy Now! (Interview). Interviewed by Amy Goodman.
  9. ^ Schulman, Daniel (November–December 2006). "The Education Of Lieutenant Rushing". Mother Jones.
  10. ^ Mazzetti, Mark (August 2, 2004). "Marine Lands in Film, Collides With Superiors: A military spokesman is silenced after candid comments in a movie on Al Jazeera and Iraq war". L.A. Times online repost by commondreams.org.
  11. ^ Donnelly, Sally B. (September 27, 2005). "Al Jazeera Hires an Ex-Marine". The New York Observer.

References

Books
  • Rushing, Josh (2007). Mission: Al-Jazeera. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1403979057.
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