World's most influential journalists
Edited by Enid Chen

November 8th this year marked the fifth Chinese Journalist's Day, which was officially set in 2000. However, according to the regulations promulgated by the State Council, journalists don't have a day off work on the special day. November 8, 1937 was the founding date of the Association of Chinese Youth Journalists, which was the predecessor of the present Association of Chinese Journalists. Hereby we introduce some of the most influential and world-famous journalists. With a glimpse at their vivid stories, you will catch the sight of what it is like to be a journalist.

今年的11月8日是中国第五个记者节,然而记者节是一个不放假的工作节日,像往常一样,无数的记者仍然忙碌在各自的工作岗位上.今天,我们向读者介绍世界历史上几位最有影响力的著名记者,以他们鲜活的经历向您展示记者这一职业的酸甜苦辣.

A born reporter!

Joseph Pulitzer was an American journalist and publisher, who created along with William Randolph Hearst a new and controversial type of journalism. Pulitzer saw himself as a crusader on the side of people and a spokesman for democracy. He supported labor, attacked trusts and monopolies, and revealed political corruption. When journalism was not a respectable way of earning one's living, Pulitzer was committed to raising the standards of the profession. Pulitzer was the founder of Pulitzer Prize, which is the most prestigious prize in American journalism.

Joseph Pulitzer was born in Hungary, as the eldest son of Hungarian Jews. In 1864 he emigrated from Hungary to the United States.

Pulitzer was fluent in German, French, and Hungarian, but his English was still awkward. After the American Civil War, Pulitzer eventually found work as a reporter, first in St. Louis on the Westliche Post, a German-language newspaper. "He was a born reporter", said one of his colleagues later. In 1871 he acquired a part ownership of the paper. In the 1860s he participated in politics and studied law, but he practiced only a short time. In 1869 he was elected to the Missouri Legislature, and in 1874 Pulitzer was admitted to the bar in Washington D.C., where he worked as a correspondent of the New York Sun.

The purchase of the New York World in 1883 from the controversial financier Jay Gould turned out to be a successful decision, and made him wealthy. The magazine increased in stature through its crusades against great business monopolies, lotteries, and white slavery. In 1885 he was elected to Congress from New York, but he resigned after a few months' service. Two years later he founded the Evening World in New York, although he began at that time to withdraw from direct management of his publications. At the age of forty, he was struck blind, but he still continued to run his press empire for twenty-two more years.

Pulitzer died of heart disease on October 29, 1911. Through his will, he established the Columbia University School of Journalism, which was one of his chief desires, and annual Pulitzer Prizes for literature, drama, music, and journalism.


Joseph Pulitzer
1847-1911

Role model for female journalists

Oriana Fallaci is best known as an uncompromising political interviewer and the most excellent female journalist in the 20th century.

Oriana Fallaci was born in Florence, Italy on June 29, 1930. Fallaci's writing, both as a journalist and a novelist, indicate that the social and political state of Italy both before her birth and during her youth had a significant impact on her life. It was from these circumstances that she emerged as what many consider to be "the greatest political interviewer of modern times."

At the age of 16, Fallaci "discovered the power of words, and decided to become a writer". As she described it: "I sat at the typewriter for the first time and fell in love with the words that emerged like drops, one by one, and remained on the white sheet of paper. Every drop became something that if spoken would have flown away, but on the sheets as words, became solidified, whether they were good or bad". She began her career as a journalist with a crime column in an Italian daily paper, but her abilities quickly won her recognition and worldwide assignments to interview political figures as well as international events. Her writing is insightful, complex and full of vivid description.

It is Fallaci's focus on power relationships as well as her interviewing and writing style that place her far ahead of others in the field. She has interviewed such figures as former CIA Director William Colby, Pakistani Prime Minister Ali Bhutto, and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, concentrating on their roles as dominant figures in the international political system.

One of her most famous political interviews, at least in the minds of Americans, was with former U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. Prior to Fallaci's interview, Kissinger had revealed little to the press about his life and personality. However, during her questioning, Fallaci kept after the Secretary of State to explain the star-like status he enjoyed as a diplomat. Initially he dodged the question, but after relentless prodding by Fallaci, Kissinger gave in. He said, "Sometimes I see myself as a cowboy leading the caravan alone astride his horse, a wild west tale if you like". As a result of this interview, Kissinger received criticism for months afterward. Even years later, Kissinger still referred to the Fallaci interview as "the most disastrous conversation I ever had with any member of the press". It is interesting to note, however, that Fallaci considers her interview with Kissinger one of the worst she's ever had.

In addition to being a world-renowned journalist, Fallaci has also written several works of fiction.


Oriana Fallaci
1930 -

Brave combat photojournalist

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1913, Robert Capa's original name was Andrea Friedman.

Firm in his belief that "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough," Capa put himself in the middle of the action. Robert Capa was somewhat careless as a photographer but was carefully dedicated as a man. He participated with courage in almost every great tragedy of his time, and never lost heart nor faith. He was incredibly quick to guess the truth. Knowing the truth, he took risks, risks which were never calculated to hurt anyone but himself. Like most he had faults, but his faults were invariably charming and his virtues never boring.

His remarkable picture of a dying Spanish soldier in the trenches during the Spanish civil war made him famous overnight around the world. Later assignments involved landing in France with the first wave of D-Day forces and jumping with paratroopers into Germany during World War II. On May 25, 1954, the career of Robert Capa, whose exploits as a war photographer had made him a legend in modern photography, came to an abrupt end when he stepped on a land mine on an obscure battlefield in Indochina. At that time, he was under assignment for Life Magazine, for which he had worked on and off throughout his career.


Robert Capa
1913-1954

Pioneering photojournalist

Margaret Bourke White was one of the world's first and most famous photojournalists. She used photography to document the Great Depression and World War II, creating the photo essay, in which one picture or a series of pictures are used to tell a story. During the Second World War she was the only female photographer permitted in war zones by the U.S. Army. Capturing significant moments in the war on film, Bourke White also snapped memorable portraits of world leaders, such as Churchill, Stalin, and Gandhi.


Margaret Bourke White
1904-1971

Vocabulary
crusader: 改革者
monopoly: 垄断
dodge: 回避
relentless: 不留情面的
astride: 骑
paratrooper: 伞兵