John Pilger | |
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Born | Bondi, New South Wales, Australia | 9 October 1939
Died | 30 December 2023 London, England | (aged 84)
Nationality |
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Education | Sydney Boys High School |
Occupations |
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Spouse |
Scarth Flett (divorced) |
Partner | Jane Hill |
Children | 2, including Zoe |
Awards | Full list |
Website | Official website |
John Richard Pilger (/ˈpɪldʒər/; 9 October 1939 – 30 December 2023) was an Australian journalist, writer, scholar and documentary filmmaker.[1] From 1962, he was based mainly in Britain.[2][3][4] He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.[5]
Pilger was a critic of American, Australian, and British foreign policy, which he considered to be driven by an imperialist and colonialist agenda. He criticised his native country's treatment of Indigenous Australians. He first drew international attention for his reports on the Cambodian genocide.[6]
Pilger's career as a documentary film maker began with The Quiet Mutiny (1970), made during one of his visits to Vietnam, and continued with over 50 documentaries thereafter. Other works in this form include Year Zero (1979), about the aftermath of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, and Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy (1993). His many documentary films on indigenous Australians include The Secret Country (1985) and Utopia (2013). In the British print media, Pilger worked at the Daily Mirror from 1963 to 1986,[7] and wrote a regular column for the New Statesman magazine from 1991 to 2014.
Pilger won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award in 1967 and 1979.[8] His documentaries have gained awards in Britain and abroad,[7] including a BAFTA.[9]