Paul Watson (journalist)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Paul Richard Watson (born July 13, 1959) is a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
, Pulitzer Prize-winner, and author of three books: ''Where War Lives,'' ''Magnum Revolution: 65 Years of Fighting for Freedom,'' and ''Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition'' (2017). The Guardian newspaper named ICE GHOSTS one of the best science books of 2017. The CBC, Canada’s national broadcaster, put ''Ice Ghosts'' at the top of its 2017 "Holiday Gift Guide: 12 Books for the Science and Nature Enthusiast on Your List."


Biography

Watson was born in
Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
. He was awarded the 1994
Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. From 2000 it has used the "breaking news" name but it is considered a continuation of the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photogr ...
for his photograph, taken in 1993 while covering the civil war in
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
for the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...
'' newspaper. The photograph depicted US Army 160th SOAR, Super 64 crew chief Staff Sgt. William Cleveland's body being dragged by Somalis through the streets of
Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...
. His reporting and photography spans almost three decades and includes conflicts in more than a dozen countries on several continents. Among those are: Eritrea, Somalia, southern Sudan, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Romania, Serbia, and Kosovo, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Iraq, and Syria. While at the ''Toronto Star'', Watson earned four Canadian National Newspaper Awards for photography and stories on the child sex trade in Asia, anarchy in Somalia following the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, and the torture and murder of a Somali teen by Canadian soldiers after a U.S.-led force intervened to end a famine in 1992. He received the Drummer General’s Award in 2007 for his book '' Where War Lives'', based on his experiences as a war journalist. ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' of
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
named it one of the "year’s 100 most notable books". His second book, ''Magnum Revolution: 65 Years of Fighting for Freedom'', showcases the legendary agency's photographers' images of, and personal insights into uprisings spanning almost seven decades. It was co-written with ''The New Yorkers Jon Lee Anderson and published by Prestel in Europe, the U.S., and Canada in 2012. Watson was featured in director Martyn Burke's 2012 documentary ''Under Fire: Journalists in Combat'', which was shortlisted for an Academy Award. The film won a prestigious Peabody Award in 2013. His work is on permanent display at the Newseum, in Washington, D.C., in the journalism museum's Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery. Watson is also the subject of the Kennedy Award-winning play by
Dan O'Brien Daniel Dion O'Brien (born July 18, 1966) is an American former decathlete and Olympic gold medalist. He won the Olympic title in 1996, three consecutive world championships (1991, 1993, 1995), and set the world record in 1992. Early life ...
entitled ''The Body of an American'', staged in London in 2014. The collaboration led to O'Brien's book of poetry ''War Reporter'', published in the U.S. and Europe in 2013. Paul Watson holds a Master's Degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York. He was the South Asia bureau chief for the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', where his coverage area included
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, and
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. He was Southeast Asia bureau chief, based in Jakarta when he left the ''Los Angeles Times'' to return to ''The Toronto Star'' in July 2009. He also served as Balkans bureau chief for the ''LA Times'' during his decade as a foreign correspondent with the newspaper. In 2015, Watson resigned from the Toronto Star, where he was a multi-media reporter covering the Arctic and Aboriginal beat. He also did foreign assignments in Afghanistan, Syria, Russia, and India in his second stint at ''The Toronto Star'', which was then Canada's largest circulation daily newspaper. He wrote that his resignation followed The Star's decision to kill an investigative story into the then Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which planned to use the historic 2014 discovery of the wreck of Sir John Franklin's flagship, HMS ''Erebus,'' for political propaganda. The story was then published by BuzzFeed and won a silver Canadian National Magazine Award for investigative reporting, as well as a silver Digital Publishing Award for long-form storytelling. Watson was the only journalist aboard CCGS ''Sir Wilfrid Laurier'', a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the lead vessel in the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition, when archeologists aboard found ''Erebus'' in eastern Queen Maud Gulf, in the same area where Inuit had said for generations a large ship went down. Watson tells the story of the hunt for the lost Franklin Expedition in his 2017 book ''Ice Ghosts''. In 2018, Ice Ghosts was a finalist for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.


Awards

*
Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. From 2000 it has used the "breaking news" name but it is considered a continuation of the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photogr ...
, 1994 *National Magazine Award (Silver), 2016 *Digital Publishing Award (Silver), 2016 * Robert Capa Gold Medal, Overseas Press Club of America. *
George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...
, foreign reporting *Freedom of the Press Award,
National Press Club (USA) The National Press Club is a professional organization and social community in Washington, D.C. for journalists and communications professionals. It hosts public and private gatherings with invited speakers from public life. The club also offers ...
, Washington, D.C. *Hal Boyle Award, foreign reporting,
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 ...
of America *
South Asian Journalists Association The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) was founded in 1994 in New York City. Sree Sreenivisan, Dilip Massand, M.K. Srinivasan and Om Malik co-founded SAJA as a networking organization for South Asian journalists. It is a group of more th ...
’s Daniel Pearl Award, honouring the best print reporting from the region, for coverage of Afghanistan *Canadian National Newspaper Awards


References


External links


Paul Watson's Website
*Watson, Paul (2007). '' Where War Lives'' McClelland & Stewart Ltd. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Paul Canadian photojournalists Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners Living people 1959 births School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni