David Pallister (born as David Pallister Clark; 15 March 1945 – 4 September 2021) was a British

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

. He worked on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' for many years, specialising in

miscarriages of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

, the

arms trade Arms trade may refer to: *the global markets for any product of the arms industry *Small arms trade *Illegal arms trade (arms trafficking) See also *Arms Trade Treaty *Arms control *Nuclear proliferation * Chemical weapon proliferation *Arms race ...

, corruption in international business, and British and international politics, terrorism and

terrorist financing Terrorism financing is the provision of funds or providing financial support to individual terrorists or non-state actors. Most countries have implemented measures to counter terrorism financing (CTF) often as part of their money laundering l ...

(post

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

), mercenaries, race relations and Africa. For ten years from 1983 he was ''The Guardian''s London-based correspondent for

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

; he also covered the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

, the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n famine and the Sri Lankan civil war. He changed his name to avoid confusion with another journalist with the same name who was a co-founder of ''

The Leveller ''The Leveller'' was a British political magazine, collectively produced in London from 1976 to 1982 by a shifting coalition of radicals, socialists, marxists, feminists, and others of the British left and progressive movements. It was published ...

'' magazine.

Biography

Born in Newcastle, he studied history at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, graduating in 1967. He began working as a reporter on the ''

Stockport Express ''Stockport Express'' is the local newspaper of Stockport, England. It had an average circulation of 5,217 copies per issue in 2017. It is published every Wednesday. The sister free paper the Stockport Times, published every Thursday and distri ...

'', going on to the ''Manchester Free Press'' and the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

''. In 1974, he joined ''The Guardian'', where his commitment was to investigative journalism. Notable stories he covered included the

death of Blair Peach Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in a ...

and the cases of the

Guildford Four Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

and the

Birmingham Six The Birmingham Six were six Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the C ...

. His international coverage in the 1980s and '90s focused on Africa, particularly the political elections in Nigeria, as well as Ethiopia; he also wrote on the civil wars in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

. He worked for the ''Guardian'' until leaving the paper in 2009. He was centrally involved as a personal libel defendant in the

dénouement Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and schola ...

Jonathan Aitken Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a British author, Church of England priest, former prisoner and former Conservative Party politician. Beginning his career in journalism, he was elected to Parliament in 1974 (serving u ...

, causing Aitken to be convicted and jailed for

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

. Pallister was a member of the ''Guardian'' teams for the

British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by '' The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named ...

for the Neil Hamilton Affair (1997) and the Aitken case (1998). He won a Project Censored Award from

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's ...

(2002, with

Greg Palast Gregory Allyn Palast (born June 26, 1952) is an author and a freelance journalist who often worked for the BBC and ''The Guardian''. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but he has also worked with labour unions and consumer adv ...

) on the failure of the FBI to investigate the

Bin Laden family The Binladin family ( ar, عائلة بن لادن, ) is an Arab family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of Saudi Binladin Group, a multinational construct ...

. In 1999 his reporting of the

Stephen Lawrence Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

case was shortlisted for a

Commission for Racial Equality The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to address racial discrimination and promote racial equality. The commission was established in 1976, and disbanded in 2007 when its ...

media award. He was the author (with Sarah Stewart and Ian Lepper) of ''South Africa Inc.: The Oppenheimer Empire'' (Simon & Schuster, 1987). He helped

Gerry Conlon Gerard Patrick "Gerry" Conlon (1 March 1954 – 21 June 2014) was an Irish man known for being one of the Guildford Four who spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of being a Provisional IRA bomber. Biography Gerard Conlon was ...

of the

with his autobiography, '' Proved Innocent'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1990). With Luke Harding and David Leigh, he was an author of ''The Liar: The Fall of Jonathan Aitken'' (Penguin, 1997). In 2012 Pallister joined the investigative news website Exaro, writing about unrest at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa. He was on the editorial advisory board of the

Bureau of Investigative Journalism The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (typically abbreviated to TBIJ or "the Bureau") is a nonprofit news organisation based in London. It was founded in 2010 to pursue "public interest" investigations. Roy Greenslade Roy Greenslade (born 31 December 1946) is a British author and freelance journalist, and a former professor of journalism. He worked in the UK newspaper industry from the 1960s onwards. As a media commentator, he wrote a daily blog from 2006 to ...

"Journalism bureau opens for business with seven investigations on the go"
''The Guardian'', 27 April 2010.

References

External links

* 1945 births 2021 deaths English male journalists The Guardian journalists British investigative journalists Alumni of the University of Liverpool {{UK-journalist-stub