John Pilger facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Pilger
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Pilger in August 2011
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| Born | 9 October 1939 Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
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| Died | 30 December 2023 (aged 84) London, England
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| Nationality |
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| Education | Sydney Boys High School |
| Occupation |
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| Spouse(s) |
Scarth Flett
(divorced) |
| Partner(s) | Yvonne Roberts |
| Children | 2, including Zoe |
| Awards | Full list |
John Richard Pilger (born October 9, 1939, died December 30, 2023) was a famous Australian journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He lived mostly in Britain since 1962. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.
Pilger was known for criticizing the foreign policies of the United States, Australia, and Britain. He believed these policies were driven by a desire for control and power over other countries. He also spoke out against how Australia treated its native people. Pilger first became known around the world for his reports on the terrible events in Cambodia.
His career making documentaries started with The Quiet Mutiny (1970). He made this film during one of his trips to Vietnam. Since then, he made over 50 documentaries. Other important films include Year Zero (1979), which showed what happened after the Pol Pot government in Cambodia. Another was Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy (1993). He also made many films about Indigenous Australians, like The Secret Country (1985) and Utopia (2013). In Britain, Pilger worked for the Daily Mirror newspaper from 1963 to 1986. He also wrote a regular column for New Statesman magazine from 1991 to 2014.
Pilger won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award in 1967 and 1979. His documentaries also won many awards in Britain and worldwide, including several BAFTA awards. Pilger often wrote about what he saw as dishonest practices in the main news media.
Contents
Early Life and Education
John Richard Pilger was born on October 9, 1939, in Bondi, New South Wales, Australia. His parents were Claude and Elsie Pilger. His older brother, Graham, was an activist for disabled people. Graham later advised the Australian government. John Pilger's father's family was German. His mother's family had English, German, and Irish roots. Two of his mother's great-great-grandparents were Irish convicts sent to Australia. His mother was a French teacher.
John and his brother went to Sydney Boys High School. There, John started a student newspaper called The Messenger. After school, he joined a four-year training program for journalists. This program was with the Australian Consolidated Press.
Newspaper and Television Career
Newspaper Work
Pilger started his career in 1958 as a copy boy for the Sydney Sun newspaper. Later, he worked for the Daily Telegraph in Sydney. He was a reporter, sports writer, and editor there. He also worked as a freelance writer and for the Sunday Telegraph. After moving to Europe, he was a freelance reporter in Italy for one year.
In 1962, Pilger moved to London. He worked as an editor for British United Press and then for Reuters. In 1963, he joined the English Daily Mirror newspaper. He started as an editor and later became a reporter. He also became a feature writer and the Chief Foreign Correspondent. While working for the Daily Mirror in the United States, he saw the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles in 1968. Pilger was a war correspondent in many conflicts. These included the Vietnam War, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Biafra. He was fired from the Mirror in 1985.
Pilger helped start a new newspaper called News on Sunday in 1984. He was hired as the Editor-in-Chief in 1986. However, he resigned before the first issue came out. He had disagreements with the newspaper's founders and committees.
Pilger returned to the Mirror in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. For many years, he wrote a column for the New Statesman magazine, from 1991 to 2014. In 2018, Pilger said his written journalism was no longer wanted in mainstream media. He said The Guardian was probably its last home. His last column for The Guardian was in November 2019.
Television Work
In 1969, Pilger and some filmmakers started a company called Tempest Films. They wanted to make documentaries. Pilger's television career began with World in Action in 1969. He made two documentaries that were shown in 1970 and 1971. These were the first of over fifty films he would make.
The Quiet Mutiny (1970) was filmed during the Vietnam War. It showed the changing spirits and open rebellion of American soldiers. Pilger later said this film was a "scoop" because it was the first to show these problems. He made other documentaries about the United States' involvement in Vietnam. These included Vietnam: Still America's War (1974) and Vietnam: The Last Battle (1995).
Pilger also had a regular documentary series called Pilger on the ITV network. This series ran for five seasons from 1974 to 1977. It became very popular in Britain.
Documentaries and Career: 1978–2000
Cambodia
In 1979, Pilger and his team went into Cambodia. This was after the Pol Pot government was overthrown. They took photos and wrote reports that were exclusive to them. Their first report was a special issue of the Daily Mirror and sold out quickly. They also made an ITV documentary called Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia.
After Year Zero was shown, people donated about $45 million to help Cambodia. This money helped provide important medicine and clothing. Brian Walker, who directed Oxfam, said that the film created "a solidarity and compassion" across Britain.
Pilger and his team made four more films about Cambodia. One film, Cambodia – The Betrayal (1990), led to a legal case against him. The case was settled, and Pilger and Central Television had to pay damages. Pilger said the case failed because the government stopped witnesses from speaking, saying it was for national security. The film was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Award in 1991.
Australia's Indigenous Peoples
Pilger often criticized how the Australian government treated Indigenous Australians. In 1969, Pilger visited Jay Creek in Central Australia. He saw the terrible conditions that Aboriginal people lived in. He compared it to apartheid in South Africa. He saw children who were not getting enough food. He also learned about Aboriginal children being taken from their families.
Pilger made several documentaries about Indigenous Australians. These include The Secret Country: The First Australians Fight Back (1985) and Welcome to Australia (1999). His book on the topic, A Secret Country, was published in 1989. He returned to this topic with his film Utopia, released in 2013.
East Timor
Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy
In East Timor, Pilger secretly filmed Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy. This film was about the harsh Indonesian occupation of East Timor, which started in 1975.
Death of a Nation helped create a worldwide protest. This protest eventually led to Indonesia leaving East Timor. East Timor then became an independent country in 2000. When Death of a Nation was shown in Britain, it was the most-watched documentary in 15 years.
Documentaries and Career Since 2000
Palestine Is Still the Issue
Pilger's documentary Palestine Is Still the Issue came out in 2002. Pilger said the film showed how "an historic injustice has been done to the Palestinian people." He believed that until Israel's occupation ended, there would be no peace. The film caused complaints from the Israeli embassy and other groups. They said it was inaccurate and biased.
The UK television regulator, the Independent Television Commission (ITC), investigated the complaints. The ITC found that the film was not in breach of their rules. They said the film gave enough chance for a pro-Israeli government view.
Stealing a Nation
Pilger's documentary Stealing a Nation (2004) tells the story of the people of the Chagos Islands. The film focuses on how Britain and the USA forced the Chagossian people to leave their homes between 1967 and 1973. They were moved to Mauritius. The film also shows the poor living conditions the islanders faced after being moved. Diego Garcia, the largest island, was given to the United States government. They built a large military base there.
In 2000, the International Court of Justice called the removal of the Chagossian people a "crime against humanity." Pilger strongly criticized Tony Blair for not doing enough about this ruling.
In March 2005, Stealing a Nation won the Royal Television Society Award.
Latin America: The War on Democracy (2007)
The documentary The War on Democracy (2007) was Pilger's first film shown in cinemas. The film looks at how the US has interfered in Latin American countries since 1945. It shows how the US helped remove governments and put leaders friendly to them in power. It talks about the US role in the overthrow of Chile's elected leader Salvador Allende in 1973. He was replaced by a military dictator. Pilger interviews former CIA agents who say they were part of secret campaigns against democratic governments in South America.
Pilger also explores the US Army School of the Americas. Many South American military members were trained there. The film also details the attempt to overthrow Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez in 2002. It shows how the people of Caracas reacted. Pilger said the film is about people fighting to be free from a modern type of slavery.
The War on Democracy won the Best Documentary award at the One World Media Awards in 2008.
The War You Don't See (2010)
The War You Don't See is about how the media influences war. It focuses on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands. The film starts with a video leaked by Chelsea Manning and released by WikiLeaks. In an interview, Julian Assange describes WikiLeaks as an organization that helps people within powerful systems speak out. The documentary suggests that the CIA uses information to control public opinion. It also claims that the media often follows the official story. Pilger states that "propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home."
Utopia (2013)
With Utopia, Pilger returned to the experiences of Indigenous Australians. He called it "the denigrating of their humanity." The film's title comes from Utopia, an Aboriginal homeland in the Northern Territory. Pilger said that "very little" has changed since his first film about Aboriginal people in 1985. He said that the problems faced by Indigenous Australians are like apartheid.
Critics said the film showed how Indigenous communities live on land rich in minerals. This land is wanted by mining companies. They also noted that when Pilger let the people speak for themselves, the injustices were very clear.
The Coming War on China (2016)
The Coming War on China was Pilger's 60th film for ITV. The film premiered in the UK in December 2016. In the documentary, Pilger warns that nuclear war is no longer just a possibility. He says that the biggest build-up of American-led military forces since World War II is happening now. These forces are near Russia and in Asia and the Pacific, facing China. Pilger argues that the rise of China as an economic power is seen as a threat to the United States' power.
The film tells the story of what happened to the Marshall Islanders after 1946. The US used Bikini Atoll for nuclear tests. The islanders were like test subjects for the effects of radiation. Critics called the film "sane, sober, necessary, deeply troubling." They also said it showed the "historical horrors of the US military in the Pacific."
The Dirty War on the National Health Service (2019)
Pilger's The Dirty War on the National Health Service was released in the UK in 2019. It looked at changes to the NHS since it started in 1948. Pilger argued that governments have been secretly trying to privatize the NHS slowly. He predicted that moving towards privatization would create more poverty and homelessness. He believed this chaos would then be used to argue for more "reform." Critics described the documentary as a "fierce, necessary film."
Personal Life
Pilger was married to journalist Scarth Flett. Their son, Sam, was born in 1973 and is a sports writer. Pilger also had a daughter, Zoe Pilger, born in 1984, with journalist Yvonne Roberts. Zoe is an author and art critic.
John Pilger died in London on December 30, 2023, at the age of 84.
Honours and Awards
The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards
- 1966: Descriptive Writer of the Year
- 1967: Journalist of the Year
- 1970: International Reporter of the Year
- 1974: News Reporter of the Year
- 1978: Campaigning Journalist of the Year
- 1979: Journalist of the Year
Other awards
- 1991: Television Richard Dimbleby Award, BAFTA
- 1991: At 19th International Emmy Awards Emmy for documentary 'Cambodia, the Betrayal'
- 2009: Sydney Peace Prize
- 2011: Grierson Trust Award, UK
- 2017: Order of Timor-Leste
Legacy
The John Pilger Archive, which holds his papers, is kept at the British Library. You can find his papers through the British Library catalogue.
See also
In Spanish: John Pilger para niños
