Jump to content

Robert Parry (journalist): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Cdaddyv96 (talk | contribs)
324 edits
mNo edit summary
m →Life and career: Inclusion of AP articles on Nicaragua Drugs
 
(85 intermediate revisions by 50 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|American investigative journalist (1949–2019)}}
{{Primary sources|date=April 2017}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name = Robert Parry
| name = Robert Parry
| image =
|image = <!-- filename only, i.e. without "File:" (or "Image:") prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] -->
|image_size =
| image_size =
|alt =
| alt =
|caption =
| caption =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1949|06|24}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1949|06|24}}
|birth_place =
| birth_place = {{nowrap|[[Hartford, Connecticut]], United States}}
|death_date = {{death date and age|2018|01|27|1949|06|24}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|01|27|1949|06|24}}
|death_place =
| death_place = [[Arlington County, Virginia]], United States
|death_cause =
| education =
|education =
| alma_mater = [[Colby College]]
|occupation = [[Investigative journalist]]
| occupation = [[Investigative journalist]]
|years_active =
| years_active =
|employer = [[Associated Press]], ''[[Newsweek]]''
| employer = {{plainlist|
* ''[[The Middlesex Daily News]]'' (before 1974)
|organization =
* [[Associated Press]] (1974–1987)
|known_for = [[Iran-Contra affair]] reporting; ''[[Consortiumnews]]''
* ''[[Newsweek]]'' (1987–1990)
⚫
|notable_works =
|television = ''[[Frontline (PBS)|Frontline]]''
* [[PBS]] ([[Frontline (American TV program)|1990, 1991, 1992]])
* ''Consortium News'' (1995–2018)
|awards = [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]]
}}
⚫
|signature =
|signature_alt =
| organization =
| known_for = {{hlist|[[Iran–Contra affair|Iran–Contra affair reporting]]|[[CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking|CIA–Contra trafficking reporting]]|''Consortium News''}}
⚫
|signature_size =
⚫
| notable_works =
⚫
|website = [https://consortiumnews.com/ Consortiumnews.com]
| television =
| parents =
| children = 4
| spouse = Diane Duston
| awards = {{plainlist|
* [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]] ([[List of George Polk Award winners|1984]])
* [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism#Awards|I. F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence]] (2015)
* [[Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism]] ([[Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism#Previous winners|2017]])
}}
⚫
| signature =
| signature_alt =
⚫
| signature_size =
⚫
| website = {{URL|Consortiumnews.com}}
}}
}}
''' Robert Parry''' (June 24, 1949 - January 27, 2018) was an American [[investigative journalist]] best known for his role in covering the [[Iran-Contra affair]] for the [[Associated Press]] (AP) and ''[[Newsweek]]'', including breaking the [[Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare]] (CIA manual provided to the Nicaraguan contras) and the [[CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US]] scandal in 1985. He was awarded the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]] for National Reporting in 1984 and the [[I. F. Stone|I.F. Stone]] Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard's [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism|Nieman Foundation]] in 2015. He was the editor of ''Consortiumnews'' from 1995 until his death in 2018.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/01/28/us/ap-us-obit-parry.html Investigative Journalist Robert Parry Dies at 68]</ref>


'''Robert Earle Parry''' (June 24, 1949 – January 27, 2018)<ref>[https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/36417795/person/312246553540/ "Robert Earle Parry (1949–2018)."] ''[[Ancestry.com]]''.</ref> was an American [[investigative journalist]]. He was known for his role in covering the [[Iran–Contra affair]] for the [[Associated Press]] (AP) and ''[[Newsweek]]'', including breaking the [[Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare]] (CIA manual provided to the Nicaraguan contras) and the [[CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking|CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking in the U.S.]] scandal in 1985.
==Career==
⚫
Born in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], Parry received a [[B.A.]] in English from [[Colby College]] in [[Waterville, Maine]] in 1971, before beginning his career in journalism in [[Massachusetts]]. He joined the [[Associated Press]] in 1974, moving to its [[Washington, D.C.]] bureau in 1977.<ref>http://www.startribune.com/investigative-journalist-robert-parry-dies-at-68/471569844/</ref> Following the [[United States presidential election, 1980|1980 presidential election]] he was assigned to its Special Assignment (investigative reporting) unit, where he began working on [[Central America]].<ref name=rha>Robert Parry, realhistoryarchives.com, [http://www.realhistoryarchives.com/collections/conspiracies/parryspeech.htm A talk by Robert Parry given in Santa Monica on March 28, 1993]</ref>{{Better source|reason=Parry's talk was published by an unreliable fringe source.|date=April 2017}}


He was awarded the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]] for National Reporting in 1984 and the [[I. F. Stone|I.F. Stone]] Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard's [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism|Nieman Foundation]] in 2015. Parry was the editor of '''''{{Visible anchor|Consortium News}}''''' (''consortiumnews.com'') from 1995 until his death in 2018.<ref name="NYT20180129">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/obituaries/robert-parry-investigative-reporter-dies.html|title=Robert Parry, Investigative Reporter in Washington, Dies at 68|date=January 29, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Roberts|first=Sam|access-date=June 1, 2022}}</ref>
⚫
Parry was a finalist for the 1985 [[Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting]]<ref>http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/robert-parry</ref> and received the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]] for National Reporting in 1984 for his work with the Associated Press on [[Iran-Contra]], where he broke the story that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] had provided an assassination manual to the Nicaraguan Contras ([[Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare]]).<ref>[[Long Island University]], [http://www.liu.edu/Polk/Articles/Past-Winners#1984 George Polk Awards: Previous Award Winners]. Retrieved on September 23, 2013.</ref><ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996">{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Jeff |author-link1=Jeff Cohen (media critic) |last2=Solomon |first2=Norman |author-link2=Norman Solomon |date=January 14, 1996 |title=Robert Parry still investigating—in cyberspace |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19960114&id=3U1WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6-sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6906,2985635&hl=en |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |volume=129 |issue=83 |location=Eugene, Oregon |page=4C |access-date=July 4, 2015}}</ref> In mid-1985 he wrote the first article on [[Oliver North]]'s involvement in the affair, and, together with [[Brian Barger]], in late 1985 he broke the [[CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US]] scandal,<ref name="Robert Parry 1985">Brian Barger and Robert Parry, "Reports Link Nicaraguan Rebels to Cocaine Trafficking", Associated Press (December 20, 1985).</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=August 2017}} helping to spark Senator [[John Kerry]]'s interest in investigating Iran-Contra.<ref>Robert Parry, 25 October 2004, Salon.com, [http://www.salon.com/2004/10/25/contra/ How John Kerry exposed the Contra-cocaine scandal ]</ref> The Associated Press had refused to publish the drug trafficking story, and only relented when its Spanish-language newswire service accidentally published a translation.<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996"/> Barger and Parry continued to press their investigation of North even as most of the media declined to follow it up, eventually publishing a story in mid-1986, based on 24 sources, which led to a Congressional committee asking questions of North. After North denied the allegations, Barger was pushed out of the Associated Press, and Parry was unable to publish any further follow-ups to the story until after [[Eugene Hasenfus]]' plane ([[Corporate Air Services HPF821]]) was shot down in Nicaragua in October 1986.<ref name=rha/> After finding out that his boss had been "conferring with [Oliver] North on a regular basis", Parry left AP in 1987 to join ''[[Newsweek]]'',<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996"/> which he left in 1990.<ref name=Kennedy/>


==Life and career==
⚫
In August 1990 [[PBS]]' ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'' asked Parry to work on the [[October Surprise conspiracy theory]],<ref name=rha/> leading to Parry making several documentaries for the program,<ref name=Kennedy/><ref>Frontline, 16 April 1991, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/ The Election Held Hostage]</ref><ref>PBS, Frontline, 7 April 1992, {{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/1016.html |title=Investigating the October Surprise |accessdate=2012-08-25 |deadurl=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825012451/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/1016.html |archivedate=August 25, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> broadcast in 1991 and 1992. He continued to pursue it after a Congressional investigation had concluded the story was untrue, turning his ''Frontline'' research into a book published in 1993,<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Trick-Treason-October-Surprise-Mystery/dp/187982308X Trick or Treason: The October Surprise Mystery]</ref> and in 1994 he unearthed "a treasure-trove of government documents" supporting the theory,<ref name=Kennedy/> "showing that the [Congressional] task force suppressed incriminating CIA testimony and excluded evidence of big-money links between wealthy Republicans and Carter's Iranian intermediary, [[Cyrus Hashemi]]".<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996"/> In 1996, ''[[Salon.com|Salon]]'' wrote about his work on the theory, saying that "his continuing quest to unearth the facts of the alleged October Surprise has made him ''[[persona non grata]]'' among those who worship at the altar of conventional wisdom."<ref name=Kennedy>Dan Kennedy, 11 June 1996, Salon.com, [http://www.salon.com/media/media960611.html Parry's Thrust] ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990903035245/http://salon.com/media/media960611.html |date=September 3, 1999 }})</ref>
⚫
Born in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], Parry received a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in English from [[Colby College]] in [[Waterville, Maine]] in 1971 and began his career in journalism in [[Framingham, Massachusetts]] working for his father's newspaper ''The Middlesex Daily News''.<ref name="NYT20180129" /> He joined the [[Associated Press]] in 1974, moving to its [[Washington, D.C.]] bureau in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startribune.com/investigative-journalist-robert-parry-dies-at-68/471569844/|title=Investigative journalist Robert Parry dies at 68|website=Startribune.com|access-date=February 3, 2018}}</ref> Following the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 presidential election]] he was assigned to its Special Assignment (investigative reporting) unit, where he began working on [[Central America]].<ref name=rha>Robert Parry, realhistoryarchives.com, [http://www.realhistoryarchives.com/collections/conspiracies/parryspeech.htm A talk by Robert Parry given in Santa Monica on March 28, 1993]</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Parry's talk was published by an unreliable fringe source.|date=April 2017}}


⚫
Parry was a finalist for the 1985 [[Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/robert-parry|title=Finalist: Robert Parry of Associated Press|website=Pulitzer.org|access-date=February 3, 2018}}</ref> and received the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]] for National Reporting in 1984 for his work with the Associated Press on [[Iran-Contra]], where he broke the story that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] had provided an assassination manual to the Nicaraguan Contras ([[Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare]]).<ref>[[Long Island University]], [http://www.liu.edu/Polk/Articles/Past-Winners#1984 George Polk Awards: Previous Award Winners]. Retrieved on September 23, 2013.</ref><ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996">{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Jeff |author-link1=Jeff Cohen (media critic) |last2=Solomon |first2=Norman |author-link2=Norman Solomon |date=January 14, 1996 |title=Robert Parry still investigating—in cyberspace |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19960114&id=3U1WAAAAIBAJ&pg=6906,2985635&hl=en |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |volume=129 |issue=83 |location=Eugene, Oregon |page=4C |access-date=July 4, 2015}}</ref> In mid-1985, he wrote the first article on [[Oliver North]]'s involvement in the affair and, together with [[Brian Barger]] in late 1985, he broke the [[CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US]] scandal,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brian |first1=Barger |last2=Robert |first2=Parry |title=Nicaragua Drugs |url=https://archive.org/details/AP-CIA-Contras-Cocaine-1985 |website=National Archive |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=29 May 2024}}</ref> helping to spark Senator [[John Kerry]]'s interest in investigating Iran–Contra.<ref>Robert Parry, 25 October 2004, Salon.com, [http://www.salon.com/2004/10/25/contra/ How John Kerry exposed the Contra-cocaine scandal]</ref> The Associated Press had refused to publish the drug trafficking story, and only relented when its Spanish-language newswire service accidentally published a translation.<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996" /> Barger and Parry continued to press their investigation of North even as most of the media declined to follow it up, eventually publishing a story in mid-1986, based on 24 sources, which led to a Congressional committee asking questions of North. After North denied the allegations, Barger was pushed out of the Associated Press, and Parry was unable to publish any further follow-ups to the story until after [[Eugene Hasenfus]]' plane ([[Corporate Air Services HPF821]]) was shot down in Nicaragua in October 1986.<ref name=rha />{{Primary source inline|date=August 2019}} After finding out that his boss had been "conferring with [Oliver] North on a regular basis", Parry left AP in 1987 to join ''[[Newsweek]]'',<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard; January 14, 1996" /> leaving the publication in 1990.<ref name=Kennedy />
⚫
When journalist [[Gary Webb]] published his newspaper series [[Dark Alliance]] in 1996 alleging that the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] had allowed the Contras to smuggle cocaine into the US to make money for their efforts, Parry supported Webb amidst heavy criticism from the media.<ref>{{cite book|last=Webb|first=Gary|year=1999|pp=480|title=[[Dark Alliance]]|publisher=[[Seven Stories Press]]|isbn=978-1-888363-93-7|ref=harv}}</ref>


⚫
In August 1990, [[PBS]]' ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'' asked Parry to work on the [[1980 October Surprise theory]],<ref name=rha /> leading to Parry making several documentaries for the program,<ref name=Kennedy /><ref>Frontline, 16 April 1991, [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/ The Election Held Hostage]</ref><ref>PBS, Frontline, 7 April 1992, {{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/1016.html |title=Investigating the October Surprise |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=2012-08-25 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825012451/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/1016.html |archive-date=August 25, 2012 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> broadcast in 1991 and 1992. In 1996, ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'' wrote about his work on the theory, saying that "his continuing quest to unearth the facts of the alleged October Surprise has made him ''[[persona non grata]]'' among those who worship at the altar of conventional wisdom."<ref name=Kennedy>Dan Kennedy, 11 June 1996, Salon.com, [http://www.salon.com/media/media960611.html Parry's Thrust] ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990903035245/http://salon.com/media/media960611.html |date=September 3, 1999}})</ref>
⚫
In 1995, Parry founded the Consortium for Independent Journalism Inc. (CIJ) as a non-profit, US-based independent news service which publishes the website ''Consortiumnews''.<ref name=briefnarrative>Robert Parry, 28 December 2011, [http://consortiumnews.com/2011/12/28/a-brief-narrative-of-consortiumnews/ A Brief Narrative of Consortiumnews]</ref>


⚫
When journalist [[Gary Webb]] published his newspaper series "[[Dark Alliance series|Dark Alliance]]" in 1996 alleging that the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] had allowed the Contras to smuggle cocaine into the US to make money for their efforts, Parry supported Webb amidst heavy criticism from the media.<ref>{{cite book|last=Webb|first=Gary|year=1999|pages=480|title=[[Dark Alliance (book)|Dark Alliance]]|publisher=[[Seven Stories Press]]|isbn=978-1-888363-93-7}}</ref>
⚫
In October 2015 Parry was awarded the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard's [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism]], "for his career distinguished by meticulously researched investigations, intrepid questioning, and reporting that has challenged mainstream media.".<ref>{{Cite web|title = Nieman Foundation - Robert Parry Receives I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence|url = http://nieman.harvard.edu/events/robert-parry-receives-i-f-stone-medal-for-journalistic-independence/|website = nieman.harvard.edu|access-date = 2016-02-08}}</ref>


⚫
In 1995, Parry founded the Consortium for Independent Journalism Inc. (CIJ) as a non-profit, US-based independent news service which publishes the website ''Consortium News''.<ref name=briefnarrative>Robert Parry, 28 December 2011, [http://consortiumnews.com/2011/12/28/a-brief-narrative-of-consortiumnews/ A Brief Narrative of Consortiumnews] Consortiumnews.com</ref>
⚫
In June 2017, Parry was awarded the [[Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism|url = http://www.marthagellhorn.com/index.htm|access-date = 2017-07-03}}</ref>


⚫
In October 2015, Parry was awarded the [[I.F. Stone]] Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard's [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism]], "for his career distinguished by meticulously researched investigations, intrepid questioning, and reporting that has challenged mainstream media.".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nieman Foundation – Robert Parry Receives I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence|url=http://nieman.harvard.edu/events/robert-parry-receives-i-f-stone-medal-for-journalistic-independence/|website=Nieman.harvard.edu|access-date=2016-02-08}}</ref>
⚫
==Books==

⚫
* ''Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, The Press & Project Truth'' (1992)
⚫
In June 2017, Parry was awarded the [[Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism |url=http://www.marthagellhorn.com/index.htm|website=Marthagellhorn.com|access-date=2017-07-03}}</ref>
* ''Trick or Treason: The October Surprise Mystery'' (1993)

⚫
* ''The October Surprise X-Files: The Hidden Origins of the Reagan-Bush Era'' (1996)
Parry died on January 27, 2018, following several strokes caused by undiagnosed [[pancreatic cancer]] he had suffered from for the previous four or five years of his life.<ref>[https://consortiumnews.com/2018/01/28/robert-parrys-legacy-and-the-future-of-consortiumnews/ "Robert Parry's Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews"], Parry, Nat. ''Consortiumnews'', 28 January. Retrieved 4 February 2018.</ref>
⚫
* ''Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq'' (2004)

⚫
* ''Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush'' (2007)
==Publications==
⚫
* ''America's Stolen Narrative: From Washington and Madison to Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes to Obama'' (2012)
⚫
===Books===
* [[iarchive:foolingamericaho0000parr|''Fooling America: How Washington Insiders Twist the Truth and Manufacture the Conventional Wisdom''.]] [[William Morrow and Company|William Morrow]], 1992.
* [[iarchive:trickortreasonoc00parr|''Trick or Treason: The October Surprise Mystery''.]] Sheridan Square Press, 1993. {{ISBN|978-1879823082}}. {{OCLC|28294820}}.
⚫
* ''The October Surprise X-Files: The Hidden Origins of the Reagan-Bush Era''. 1996.
⚫
* [[iarchive:losthistorycontr0000parr|''Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, The Press & Project Truth''.]] Media Consortium, 1999.
⚫
* [[iarchive:secrecyprivilege0000parr|''Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq''.]] Media Consortium, 2004.
⚫
* [[iarchive:neckdeep00robe|''Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush'']], with Sam and Nat Parry. Media Consortium, 2007.
⚫
* ''America's Stolen Narrative: From Washington and Madison to Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes to Obama''. 2012.

===Articles===
* "Iran-Contra's Untold Story." ''[[Foreign Policy (magazine)|Foreign Policy]]'', no. 72 (Autumn 1988), pp.&nbsp;3–30. {{doi|10.2307/1148818}}. {{JSTOR|1148818}}.
* [https://archive.org/details/Parry-Contra-Cocaine-1997 "Contra-Cocaine: Big Media's Big Mistakes."] ''I.F. Magazine'' (July/August 1997), pp.&nbsp;9–12.
* [https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/06/robert-parry-when-us-house-saw-ukraines-neo-nazis/ US House Admits Nazi Role in Ukraine]. ''Consortium News'', June 12, 2015.


==References==
==References==

{{Reflist|3}}
{{Reflist|3}}


==External links==
==External links==
* ''[http://www.consortiumnews.com Consortiumnews]''
* ''[http://www.consortiumnews.com Consortium News]''
* [https://consortiumnews.com/tag/robert-parry/ Articles by Robert Parry at ''Consortium News'' website]
* [https://www.patreon.com/posts/radio-war-nerd-8732460 Interview with Robert Parry on Lost History & Death of U.S. Journalism]
* [https://consortiumnews.com/2018/02/01/outpouring-of-support-honors-robert-parry/ Outpouring of Support Honors Robert Parry]
* {{IMDb name|id=2608353}}
* {{IMDb name|id=2608353}}


Line 63: Line 91:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Robert}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Robert}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Writers from Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Colby College alumni]]
[[Category:Journalists from Connecticut]]
[[Category:American alternative journalists]]
[[Category:American alternative journalists]]
[[Category:American investigative journalists]]
[[Category:American investigative journalists]]
[[Category:American online journalists]]
[[Category:American online journalists]]
[[Category:Associated Press reporters]]
[[Category:Associated Press reporters]]
[[Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Virginia]]
[[Category:George Polk Award recipients]]
[[Category:George Polk Award recipients]]
[[Category:American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American male writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]

Latest revision as of 06:32, 29 May 2024

Robert Parry
Born(1949-06-24)June 24, 1949
Hartford, Connecticut, United States
DiedJanuary 27, 2018(2018-01-27) (aged 68)
Arlington County, Virginia, United States
Alma materColby College
OccupationInvestigative journalist
Employers
Known for
SpouseDiane Duston
Children4
Awards
Websiteconsortiumnews.com

Robert Earle Parry (June 24, 1949 – January 27, 2018)[1] was an American investigative journalist. He was known for his role in covering the Iran–Contra affair for the Associated Press (AP) and Newsweek, including breaking the Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare (CIA manual provided to the Nicaraguan contras) and the CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking in the U.S. scandal in 1985.

He was awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984 and the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard's Nieman Foundation in 2015. Parry was the editor of Consortium News (consortiumnews.com) from 1995 until his death in 2018.[2]

Life and career

[edit]

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Parry received a B.A. in English from Colby College in Waterville, Maine in 1971 and began his career in journalism in Framingham, Massachusetts working for his father's newspaper The Middlesex Daily News.[2] He joined the Associated Press in 1974, moving to its Washington, D.C. bureau in 1977.[3] Following the 1980 presidential election he was assigned to its Special Assignment (investigative reporting) unit, where he began working on Central America.[4][better source needed]

Parry was a finalist for the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting[5] and received the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984 for his work with the Associated Press on Iran-Contra, where he broke the story that the Central Intelligence Agency had provided an assassination manual to the Nicaraguan Contras (Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare).[6][7] In mid-1985, he wrote the first article on Oliver North's involvement in the affair and, together with Brian Barger in late 1985, he broke the CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US scandal,[8] helping to spark Senator John Kerry's interest in investigating Iran–Contra.[9] The Associated Press had refused to publish the drug trafficking story, and only relented when its Spanish-language newswire service accidentally published a translation.[7] Barger and Parry continued to press their investigation of North even as most of the media declined to follow it up, eventually publishing a story in mid-1986, based on 24 sources, which led to a Congressional committee asking questions of North. After North denied the allegations, Barger was pushed out of the Associated Press, and Parry was unable to publish any further follow-ups to the story until after Eugene Hasenfus' plane (Corporate Air Services HPF821) was shot down in Nicaragua in October 1986.[4][non-primary source needed] After finding out that his boss had been "conferring with [Oliver] North on a regular basis", Parry left AP in 1987 to join Newsweek,[7] leaving the publication in 1990.[10]

In August 1990, PBS' Frontline asked Parry to work on the 1980 October Surprise theory,[4] leading to Parry making several documentaries for the program,[10][11][12] broadcast in 1991 and 1992. In 1996, Salon wrote about his work on the theory, saying that "his continuing quest to unearth the facts of the alleged October Surprise has made him persona non grata among those who worship at the altar of conventional wisdom."[10]

When journalist Gary Webb published his newspaper series "Dark Alliance" in 1996 alleging that the Reagan administration had allowed the Contras to smuggle cocaine into the US to make money for their efforts, Parry supported Webb amidst heavy criticism from the media.[13]

In 1995, Parry founded the Consortium for Independent Journalism Inc. (CIJ) as a non-profit, US-based independent news service which publishes the website Consortium News.[14]

In October 2015, Parry was awarded the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence by Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, "for his career distinguished by meticulously researched investigations, intrepid questioning, and reporting that has challenged mainstream media.".[15]

In June 2017, Parry was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.[16]

Parry died on January 27, 2018, following several strokes caused by undiagnosed pancreatic cancer he had suffered from for the previous four or five years of his life.[17]

Publications

[edit]

Books

[edit]
  • Fooling America: How Washington Insiders Twist the Truth and Manufacture the Conventional Wisdom. William Morrow, 1992.
  • Trick or Treason: The October Surprise Mystery. Sheridan Square Press, 1993. ISBN 978-1879823082. OCLC 28294820.
  • The October Surprise X-Files: The Hidden Origins of the Reagan-Bush Era. 1996.
  • Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, The Press & Project Truth. Media Consortium, 1999.
  • Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq. Media Consortium, 2004.
  • Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, with Sam and Nat Parry. Media Consortium, 2007.
  • America's Stolen Narrative: From Washington and Madison to Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes to Obama. 2012.

Articles

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Robert Earle Parry (1949–2018)." Ancestry.com.
  2. ^ a b Roberts, Sam (January 29, 2018). "Robert Parry, Investigative Reporter in Washington, Dies at 68". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  3. ^ "Investigative journalist Robert Parry dies at 68". Startribune.com. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Robert Parry, realhistoryarchives.com, A talk by Robert Parry given in Santa Monica on March 28, 1993
  5. ^ "Finalist: Robert Parry of Associated Press". Pulitzer.org. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  6. ^ Long Island University, George Polk Awards: Previous Award Winners. Retrieved on September 23, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c Cohen, Jeff; Solomon, Norman (January 14, 1996). "Robert Parry still investigating—in cyberspace". Eugene Register-Guard. Vol. 129, no. 83. Eugene, Oregon. p. 4C. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  8. ^ Brian, Barger; Robert, Parry. "Nicaragua Drugs". National Archive. Associated Press. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  9. ^ Robert Parry, 25 October 2004, Salon.com, How John Kerry exposed the Contra-cocaine scandal
  10. ^ a b c Dan Kennedy, 11 June 1996, Salon.com, Parry's Thrust (Archived September 3, 1999, at the Wayback Machine)
  11. ^ Frontline, 16 April 1991, The Election Held Hostage
  12. ^ PBS, Frontline, 7 April 1992, "Investigating the October Surprise". PBS. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ^ Webb, Gary (1999). Dark Alliance. Seven Stories Press. p. 480. ISBN 978-1-888363-93-7.
  14. ^ Robert Parry, 28 December 2011, A Brief Narrative of Consortiumnews Consortiumnews.com
  15. ^ "Nieman Foundation – Robert Parry Receives I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence". Nieman.harvard.edu. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  16. ^ "The Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism". Marthagellhorn.com. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  17. ^ "Robert Parry's Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews", Parry, Nat. Consortiumnews, 28 January. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Robert_Parry_(journalist)&oldid=1226210307"