David Louis Finkel (born October 28, 1955) is an American journalist. He won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in 2006 as a staff writer at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. As of January 2017, he was national enterprise editor at the ''Post''. He has also worked for the ''Post''s foreign staff division. He wrote '' The Good Soldiers'' and '' Thank You for Your Service''. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow.

Work

Finkel's book '' The Good Soldiers'' describes several months he spent in 2007 as an

embedded reporter Embedded journalism refers to war correspondents being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel, it first came to be used in ...

with 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, also known as the "2-16 Rangers", as they worked to stabilize a portion of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. The logs of

Chelsea Manning Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...

's IM chats with

Adrian Lamo Adrián Alfonso Lamo Atwood (February 20, 1981 – March 14, 2018) was an American threat analyst and Hacker (computer security), hacker. Lamo first gained media attention for breaking into several high-profile computer networks, including those ...

state that David Finkel was given the Collateral Murder video but did not release it. David Finkel has never publicly disclosed whether he had the video or not. In a washingtonpost.com webchat, he said, "I based the account in my book '' The Good Soldiers'' on multiple sources, all unclassified. Without going into details, I'll say the best source of information was being there n Iraq" At a February 2013 pretrial hearing, Manning stated that Finkel "was quoting, I feel in verbatim, the audio communications of the aerial weapons team crew." She said, however, that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. "Reading his account," she explained, "one would believe the engagement was somehow justified as 'payback' for an earlier attack that led to the death of a soldier."

Awards

*1995 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for a story about racial and class conflict. *2001 Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism International Print Prize for "Invisible Journeys" about illegal immigration. *2006

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear p ...

, citing "his ambitious, clear-eyed case study of the United States government's attempt to bring democracy to

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

.""The 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Explanatory Reporting"
The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2013-11-01. With short biography and reprints of 3 works (December 2005 ''Washington Post'' articles). *2010 Cornelius Ryan Award for ''The Good Soldiers''. *2010 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize for ''The Good Soldiers''. *2013

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media Erikson is a common Scandinavian patronymic surname meaning "son of Erik", itself an Old Norse given name. There are other spelling variations of this surname, as it is common amongst Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns. Erikson is uncommon as a ...

(awarded by the Erikson Institute of the

Austen Riggs Center The Austen Riggs Center is a psychiatric treatment facility in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1913 as the Stockbridge Institute for the Study and Treatment of Psychoneuroses, it was renamed the Austen Fox Riggs Foundation in 1919. ...

) for his investigative reporting at ''The Washington Post''.

Education

Finkel earned a Bachelor's degree in broadcasting from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1977.

Personal life

He lives in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, area.http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/david-finkel-thank-you-your-service/ Promotional announcement for Finkel's 2013 appearance at the Pitzker Military Library

References

External links

*
Lecture
on ''The Good Soldiers'' at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and research library for the study of military history located in a state-of-the art facility in Kenosha, WI. The institution was founded in 2003, ...

Lecture
on ''Thank You for Your Service'' at the

Interview on ABC RN with Paul Barclay
about ''The Good Soldier''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Finkel, David L. 1955 births American male journalists American military writers MacArthur Fellows Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners University of Florida alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people)