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Jeremy Scahill

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Jeremy Scahill
Jeremy Scahill giving a lecture at Sacramento City College on May 3, 2007
Born
Jeremy Scahill

1974 (36)
United States
OccupationInvestigative journalist
Websitehttp://www.thenation.com

Jeremy Scahill (born c. 1974) is an investigative journalist and author from the United States whose work focuses on most notably the use of private military companies. He is the author of the best-selling book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, winner of a George Polk Book Award.[1] He also serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now!. He is also a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute and a frequent contributor to The Nation.[2]

Career

Jeremy Scahill started his career as an unpaid intern at Democracy Now. He "basically stalked Amy Goodman for about a year," offering to feed her cat and wash her windows until she gave him the internship. While at Democracy Now he learned the technical side of radio, and learned "journalism as a trade, rather than an academic study."[3]

He then would approach various people asking for donations to fund his trips to countries around the world. During this time he was not receiving any income for his work. He would send dispatch's to "places like Commondreams, Alternet, and Counterpunch.[4]

Until 1998, Scahill was a regular contributor to the Catholic Worker. He campaigned vigorously against US policy towards Cuba, arguing that the Helms-Burton Act "discards ... sovereignty ... and attempts to supersede International law with US law" and "creates a legal framework authorizing financial and military support for armed subversion of a sovereign nation".[5]

Scahill and colleague Amy Goodman were co-recipients of the 1998 Polk Award for their radio documentary "Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship", which investigated the Chevron Corporation's role in the killing of two Nigerian environmental activists.[6] Scahill's work appears frequently on Alternet, Commondreams, Counterpunch, Truthout, Antiwar.com, Huffington Post and many other news sites.

Scahill has reported from post-invasion Iraq; the former Yugoslavia, where he covered the 1999 NATO bombing;[7] and from post-Katrina Louisiana.[8] He has been a vocal critic of private military contractors, particularly Blackwater Worldwide, the subject of his book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.[9] The book was the focus of a two-part interview and discussion with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! in March 2007.[10] The book received numerous accolades, including the Alternet Best Book of the Year Award, a spot on the Barnes & Noble and Amazon lists of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007, and another Polk Award. He is the 2009 recipient of the second annual Izzy Award for Special Achievement in Independent Media.[11][12]. Scahill has appeared on ABC World News, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CNN, MSNBC, PBS’s The NewsHour, Bill Moyers Journal and is a frequent guest on other radio and TV programs in the United States.

Scahill served as an election correspondent for HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Scahill has twice testified before the US Congress on the U.S. government's use of mercenary forces. On 19 April 2007, Scahill was a guest on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart was critical of Scahill's book.[13] On 3 Oct 2007 Stewart then expressed some remorse for his attitude during his interview with Scahill.[14] He also appears frequently on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC.

References

  • Scahill, Jeremy. "US Law Further Tightens Noose on Cuban People". Catholic Worker, June - July, 1997.

Notes

  1. ^ Polk Awards press release 2007
  2. ^ The Nation website
  3. ^ CSPAN lecture
  4. ^ CSPAN lecture
  5. ^ Metaphoria, August 1997, Volume 4 Nr.12, Issue 48
  6. ^ Polk Awards press release 1998
  7. ^ Selves and Others
  8. ^ Democracy Now!
  9. ^ New York: Nation Books, 2007. ISBN 1-56025-979-5 (hardcover); revised and updated edition, 2008. ISBN 1-56858-394-X
  10. ^ part one part two
  11. ^ "Jeremy Scahill Wins Izzy Award for Special Achievement in Independent Media". Democracy Now. 24 March 2010.
  12. ^ "Investigative Journalist Jeremy Scahill Wins Izzy Award for Independent Media". Ithaca College. 24 March 2010.
  13. ^ "April 19, 2007: Jeremy Scahill". Comedy Central. 19 April 2007.
  14. ^ "Daily Show Host Jon Stewart Apologizes to Jeremy Scahill for Hostile Interview on Blackwater Book". Democracy Now!. 3 Oct 2007.

Audio and Video

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