Michael Goldfarb (born September 20, 1950) is an American author, journalist, and broadcaster based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

since 1985. In the United States, he worked for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

from 1990 to 2005.

Early life and career

Goldfarb was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and grew up in suburban

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Upon graduating from

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

, he returned to New York to work as an actor. Under the name Michael Govan he appeared in productions at

Long Wharf Theatre Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared. Fo ...

and Arena Stage. In 1984-85 he was a founding member of the Pearl Theatre Company in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Journalism

In November 1985, Goldfarb moved to London to pursue a career in journalism. He has reported from 25 countries on five continents. He reported on the arts for British and American newspapers, particularly ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

''. He became a critic for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

and this work led him into broadcast journalism with

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR). From 1990 to 1998, Goldfarb worked for NPR and from 1996 to 1998 he was its London Bureau Chief. He covered

British politics The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and Convention (norm), convention, operates as a Unitary state, unitary parliamentary democracy. A Hereditary monarchy, hereditary Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch, ...

, the

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

and the five-year-long peace process in Northern Ireland. He also reported from Bosnia and Iraq. Throughout this period he worked with the ''BBC'' and in 1994 won British radio's highest honor, the

Sony Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

, for his essays on the American Midwest, titled ''Homeward Bound''. In 1999, he was a fellow at the

Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center that explores the intersection and impact of media, politics and public policy in theory and practice. Among other activities, the center or ...

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

. In 2000, he joined the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

NPR affiliate WBUR, as Senior Correspondent for the documentary series "Inside Out". Goldfarb's programs won numerous awards including the DuPont-Columbia award for ''Surviving Torture: Inside Out''; the

RTNDA The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dir ...

Edward R. Murrow Award for ''Ahmad's War: Inside Out''; and the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

's Lowell Thomas Award for ''British Jihad: Inside Out''. However, in 2005 he was suddenly made redundant and forced to return to freelance work. In 2016, he launched the FRDH podcast. He frames his storytelling through the idea that journalism is the First Rough Draft of History and draws on the history he has reported and lived and written about. He continues to make documentaries for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, Radio 4, the

World Service The BBC World Service is a British public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speec ...

and Radio 5 and is a regular panelist on the BBC News programme ''

Dateline London ''Dateline London'' is a weekly BBC News discussion group, discussion programme. A panel discussion, panel of four leading journalists, lecturers, and foreign correspondents discussed top news stories from an international perspective. The last e ...

''. He writes op-eds for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and contributes occasionally to ''The Guardian''.

Books

While covering the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

as an unembedded reporter in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

, Goldfarb worked closely with the Iraqi newspaper editor Ahmad Shawkat. Following Shawkat's assassination in October 2003, Goldfarb wrote the story of his friend's life, which was published in 2005. ''Ahmad's War, Ahmad's Peace: Surviving Under Saddam, Dying in the New Iraq'' was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2005. In 2009, Goldfarb published his next book: ''Emancipation: How Liberating Europe's Jews From the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance''. It is a popular history of how Jews and European society were changed by the opening of the ghettos during the era of

Jewish emancipation Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It included efforts withi ...

, which began during the French Revolution.ReformJudaism.org: Book Review: Emancipation: How Liberating Europe's Jews from the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance
Retrieved 2021-11-02

Works

*''Ahmad's War, Ahmad's Peace: Surviving Under Saddam, Dying in the New Iraq'' New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006. , *''Emancipation: How Liberating Europe's Jews From the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance'' New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009. ,

References

External links

FRDH Podcast website

The Jewish Chronicle 27 May 2009: Interview with Michael Goldfarb
Relinked 2021-11-02

Retrieved 2018-15-05
BBC Radio 4 Archive, Sat 24 Mar 2018: The King and Kennedy Assassinations: If the Dead Could Speak
Relinked 2021-11-02 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldfarb, Michael 1950 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male journalists American male non-fiction writers Antioch College alumni Harvard Kennedy School people Jewish American journalists Jewish American non-fiction writers Journalists from New York City