John Pilger, Australian-English journalist, director, and producer
John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He is also currently Visiting Professor at Cornell University in New York.Pilger is a strong critic of American, Australian, and British foreign policy, which he considers to be driven by an imperialist and colonialist agenda. Pilger has also criticised his native country's treatment of Indigenous Australians. He first drew international attention for his reports on the Cambodian genocide.His career as a documentary film maker began with The Quiet Mutiny (1970), made during one of his visits to Vietnam, and has continued with over 50 documentaries since. Other works in this form include Year Zero (1979), about the aftermath of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, and Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy (1993). His many documentary films on indigenous Australians include The Secret Country (1985) and Utopia (2013). In the British print media, Pilger worked at the Daily Mirror from 1963 to 1986, and wrote a regular column for the New Statesman magazine from 1991 to 2014.
Pilger won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award in 1967 and 1979. His documentaries have gained awards in Britain and worldwide, including multiple BAFTA honours. The practices of the mainstream media are a regular subject in Pilger's writing.
1939Oct, 9
John Pilger
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Events on 1939
- 3Mar
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. - 1Apr
Francisco Franco
Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender. - 6Sep
Nazi Germany
World War II: South Africa declares war on Nazi Germany. - 14Dec
Soviet Union
Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland. - 24Dec
Pope Pius XII
World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.