Famous Journalists of Today

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Journalism is the process of performing certain activities, including the production of written, audio or visual material for fact finding and sharing the information with the public through multimedia. Performers of these activities, the journalists, have to face very dangerous situations quite frequently, as not all the countries are equally safe for the journalists. Russia, Afghanistan, Philippines, Colombia, Mexico, Algeria, Somalia, Brazil, India and Pakistan are reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists as the deadliest countries for journalists between 1992 and 2011. According to this committee, 887 journalists had been killed and 145 journalists had been jailed during this period during the performance of their journalistic activities. Depending upon the objectives and mode of activity, journalism is usually classified as Broadcast journalism, Advocacy journalism, Yellow journalism, Drone journalism, Photojournalism and Investigative journalism. Bold and unbiased journalism keeps a watch over the discrepancies of the government and the individuals in a society.

1. Wolf Blizter

Wolf Blizter
Wolf Blizter

Wolf Isaac Blitzer, commonly known as Wolf Blitzer, was born to the Polish Jewish holocaust survivor parents Cesia Blitzer and David Blitzer on March 22, 1948 in Augsburg, Germany. He graduated from the University of Buffalo and earned his Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. He is fluent in Hebrew and has contributed in many Israeli newspapers. He started his career as a journalist in the Tel Aviv bureau of the Reuters news agency in the early 1970s. Since 1992, he has been working for CNN and is is currently the host of The Situation Room, CNN Newsroom. He is one of the most identified broadcast journalists in the world. From 1992 to 1999, he was CNN’s White House Correspondent and was honored with an Emmy Award for his excellent coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

2. Julian Paul Assange

Julian Paul Assange
Julian Paul Assange

Julian Paul Assange was born on July 3, 1971 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. During his formative years, he became a hacker. Currently, he is one of the most known and, probably the most controversial journalists, the world over on account his Wiki Leaks. He is an Australian publisher, activist and an investigative journalist. He founded the Wikileaks in 2006, explaining that the philosophy behind it was to ‘radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed …’ He came into prominence in 2010 after he started publishing U.S. diplomatic and military documents. He is subject to a European Arrest Warrant since November 2010 and, after the dismissal of his appeal by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, he is on diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

3. Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour was born to an Iranian Muslim father and an English Christian mother on January 12, 1958 in London, England. She was raised in Iran and then was educated at Holy Cross Convent in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, New Hall School, in Chelmsford, Essex and received her degree in Journalism from the University of Rhode Island. As Chief International Correspondent for CNN, she is known all over the world and is highly reputed for her fair and courageous coverage of the international events. She has reported many major international crises, including Israel, Palestinian territories, Rwanda, Somalia Iran, Pakistan and United States during Hurricane Katrina. She has interviewed many heads of state, including the French President Jacques Chirac, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the Iranian Presidents Mohammad Khatami and Mahmood Ahmadinejad.

4. Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper was born to Wyatt Emory Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt on June 3, 1967 in New York City, New York, U.S. He graduated from Yale University. He is an American broadcast journalist, best known for his news show Anderson Cooper 360. He had no formal education in journalism, yet he excelled as a journalist. He lived in Vietnam for one year and learned the Vietnamese language at the Hanoi University. He reported from Burma, Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia. He has covered many important events, including tsunami damage in Sri Lanka, the death of Pope John Paul II, and the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles and the Cedar Revolution in Beirut, Lebanon.

5. John King

John King
John King

John King was born on August 30, 1963 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was educated at the Boston Latin School and the University of Rhode Island. He is a famous American journalist. He started his career in 1991 as a writer at the Associated Press. He covered the 1992 and 1996 Presidential elections. The Associated Press Managing Editors’ Association awarded him a prize in 1991 for his impressive coverage of the Gulf War in Kuwait. He served CNN as the senior White House correspondent from 1999 to 2005. He was promoted to the position of CNN’s chief national correspondent and holds the position currently. John King broke and confirmed the death news of Osama Bin Laden to CNN viewers on May 2, 2011.

6. Erin Isabelle Burnett

Erin Isabelle Burnett
Erin Isabelle Burnett

Erin Isabelle Burnett was born to Kenneth King Burnett and Esther Margaret Burnett on July 2, 1976 in Mardela Springs, Maryland, U.S. She was educated at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware, and Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. She is an American broadcast journalist and is best known for her show Erin Burnett OutFront on CNN. She has reported from various dangerous locations, including the borders of Rwanda, Mali, Afghanistan, Israel, China and United Arab Emirates. Brunett investigated and reported that a big Chemical company Transammonia was doing business in Iran. She was nominated for an Emmy award for this report.

7. Piers Morgan

Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan

Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan, commonly known as Piers Morgan, was born to Eamon Vincent O’Meara and Gabrielle Georgina Sybille on March 30, 1965, in Guildford, Surrey, England. He attended the independent school Cumnor House, Chailey School, Lewes Priory School. He studied journalism at Hallow College and started his career by joining the South London News, as a reporter in 1985. In 2007, he appeared as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent. He won the U.S. celebrity version of The Apprentice. CNN announced on September 8, 2010 that Morgan would replace the legendary broadcast journalist, Larry King.

8. Jake Tapper

Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper

Jacob Paul Tapper, better known as Jake Tapper, was born to Theodore S. and Helen Anne on March 12, 1969 in New York City, New York, U.S. He was raised in the Queen Village, Pennsylvania, in the Jewish faith. He attended Akiba Hebrew Academy and graduated from Dartmouth College. He worked at ABC News and CNN as a broadcast journalist. He is best known for the coverage of the inauguration of President Obama, which earned him an Emmy Award for excellent live coverage of the event. He was honored with three Merriman Smith Memorial Awards for broadcast journalism by the White House Correspondent’s Association. His book, The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor was a New York Times nonfiction best seller.

9. Hamid Mir

Hamid Mir
Hamid Mir

Hamid Mir was born on July 23, 1966 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. He attended Government Central Model School, and University Laboratory School New Campus, Lahore. He earned his Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Punjab, Pakistan. He is a Pakistani Broadcast and investigative journalist and is best known for interviewing Osama bin Laden, thrice. He was the first journalist to interview Osama bin Laden after 9/11 and both BBC and CNN declared it as an international scoop. He has also interviewed many state heads and celebrities, including Tony Blair, L.K. Advani and Condoleezza Rice. In addition to numerous other awards, he is the recipient of the second highest Pakistani civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz.

10. John Cody Fidler-Simpson

John Cody Fidler-Simpson
John Cody Fidler-Simpson

John Cody Fidler-Simpson CBE was born on August 9, 1944 in London, England. He was educated at St Paul’s School, Dulwich College Preparatory School and Magdalene College; Cambridge. He has served the BBC for a long time. He has reported from over 120 countries and many war zones. He traveled with the exiled Iranian Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, from Paris to Tehran on February 1, 1979. Millions of the Iranians received their leader and his return culminated into the historic Iranian Revolution.

Conclusion

With the popularity and increased use of internet, there is an increasing dissemination of information and active public sharing in the process of journalism through internet and related hard and software. With the provision of professional quality cameras in the cell phones, amazing footage of the events are sometimes received, while they are still unfolding. Spontaneity and untempered reporting are quintessential to journalism. George Bernard Shaw wrote ‘A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes.’

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