Jeffrey Gettleman
Jeffrey A. Gettleman (born 1971) is an American Pulitzer prize-winning journalist. Since 2018, he has been the South Asia bureau chief of The New York Times based in New Delhi.[1] From 2006-July 2017, he was East Africa bureau chief for The Times.[2]
Jeffrey Gettleman | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 22, 1971 |
| Education | Cornell University, AB University of Oxford, MA |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Notable credit(s) | The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, St. Petersburg Times, Cherwell |
| Spouse | Courtenay Morris (m. 2005) |
Background edit
Personal life edit
Jeffrey was born in 1971, the son of Robert William Gettleman (b. 1943),[3] a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois,[4] and Joyce R. Gettleman, a psychotherapist with a private practice in Evanston.[5] Gettleman's sister Lynn Gettleman Chehab is a physician. In an interview with The Times of Israel, the journalist wrote that Gettleman "was raised in a suburban Jewish Chicago household".[6]
Gettleman is married to Courtenay Morris,[7] a former assistant public defender who is now a web producer for the Times. The couple first met while both were attending Cornell University. The wedding was held on October 29, 2005 at their home in Hoboken, New Jersey, with Gettleman's father officiating at the ceremony.[8]
Education edit
Gettleman graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1989, and Cornell University in 1994 with a B.A. in Philosophy.[9] Initially, he did not know what he wanted to do after graduation, so took a leave of absence to back pack around the world which he says help set his life trajectory. However, when a professor suggested journalism as a profession, he scoffed at the idea, saying "That was the dumbest idea I had heard... who wants to work for a boring newspaper?".[10] Beginning in 1994, he was a communications officer for the Save the Children organization in Addis Ababa.
After his graduation from Cornell, Gettleman received a Marshall Scholarship to attend Oxford University, where he received a master's degree in Philosophy in June 1996. While at Oxford, he was the first American editor of Cherwell, the university's student newspaper.[7][11]
Career edit
Gettleman began his journalism career as a city hall and police reporter for the St. Petersburg Times from 1997 to 1998. In 1999, he transferred to the Los Angeles Times as a general assignment reporter. He became bureau chief in Atlanta two years later, and was also a war correspondent for the broadsheet in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
In 2002, Gettleman joined The New York Times as a domestic correspondent in Atlanta, where he later became the bureau chief. He reported from Iraq beginning in 2003, where he did a total of five tours. After a stint as a reporter for the paper's Metro desk in 2004, he became a foreign correspondent in July 2006 for the Nairobi-based East Africa bureau of The New York Times. Only a month later, he would be named chief.[7]
Currently, Gettleman covers over ten countries, often under difficult circumstances. He has focused the majority of his work on events in Congo, Kenya and Tanzania in East-Central Africa, where he has reported on atrocities involving rape, mutilation as well as ritualized murders of albinos, among other issues. His often straightforward, non-cynical approach toward such difficult stories has been colloquially dubbed the "Gettleman method" by Jack Shafer.[10][12][13]
Gettleman has also covered conflicts in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt and Yemen. In the 2004 spring, he along with photographer Lynsey Addario were abducted for several hours by militants in Fallujah. According to Gettleman, the pair were eventually released because he had successfully posed as Greek and concealed his passport in Addario's trousers, where he had guessed his captors would not search.[12]
In addition, Gettleman has served as a commentator on CNN, BBC, PBS, NPR and ABC.[14]
In 2017, Gettlemen published his memoir, Love, Africa: A Memoir of Romance, War, and Survival.[15]
Awards edit
- First place for general reporting by Florida Press Club (1997)
- First place for spot news by Tampa Bay Society of Professional Journalists (1997 and 1998)
- Los Angeles Times Editorial Award for Breaking News (2001)
- Overseas Press Club Award (2003)
- Overseas Press Club Award (2008)
- George Polk Award for International Reporting (2011)[16]
- Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (2012)[17]
References edit
- ^ "Jeffrey Gettleman". The New York Times. 2019-07-14. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
- ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey (June 27, 2017). "Romance, War, Survival: A Correspondent Looks Back on His Experience in East Africa". The New York Times. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ^ Biographical data for Judge Robert W. Gettleman - United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 2008-09-17 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 18 May 2007.
- ^ The White House Office of the Press Secretary press release, dated 16 August 1994.
- ^ Interview with Honorable Judge Robert W. Gettleman Archived 2012-07-11 at archive.today
- ^ Borschel-Dan, Amanda (2 June 2018). "Interview: In memoir 'Love, Africa,' a NYT reporter shakes off the frat boy to become a man". timesofisrael.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b c . Atlantic Media Company. Archived from the original on 2011-08-19.
- ^ "Courtenay Morris and Jeffrey Gettleman". The New York Times. 30 October 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
- ^ The New York Times Ask a Reporter Q&A: Jeffrey Gettleman
- ^ a b Schindler, Max (April 6, 2011). "New York Times Reporter Jeffrey Gettleman '94 Chronicles His Time in Africa". The Cornell Daily Sun. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
- ^ "Interview: Jeffrey Gettleman". Cherwell. 26 January 2013.
- ^ a b Shafer, Jack (March 4, 2009). "Jeffrey Gettleman's World of War". Slate. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
- ^ Feinman, Sacha (October 26, 2004). "NY Times correspondent in Iraq discusses experience as hostage". The Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
- ^ "Jeffrey Gettleman". The New York Times.
- ^ Mohamed, Nadifa (2017-07-03). "Stories of a Lifelong Fascination With Africa". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
- ^ "Jeffrey Gettleman: On Reporting Somalia's Crisis". NPR. March 26, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
- ^ "2012 Pulitzer Prizes". pulitzer.org. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
External links edit
- Appearances on C-SPAN