John F. Burns

John F. Burns (John Fisher Burns) (born October 4, 1944) is a British journalist, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He gives international reporting for The New York Times and frequently appears on PBS.

Born in Nottingham, England, his family emigrated to Canada when he was young where he later studied at McGill University. In the early 1970s, Burns wrote for the Canadian (Toronto-based) newspaper "Globe and Mail", covering both local stories and later serving as a China correspondent. Burns joined "The New York Times" in 1975, reporting, at first, for the paper's metropolitan section, and has written ever since for the newspaper in various capacities. He has been assigned to and headed several of the "Times" foreign bureaus. He along with fellow "Times" journalists John Darnton and Michael T. Kaufman won the 1978 George Polk Award for foreign reporting for coverage of Africa. Burns was also the "Times" bureau chief in Moscow from 1981 to 1984.

In 1986, while chief of the "Times" Beijing bureau, Burns was incarcerated on suspicion of espionage by the Chinese government. Charges were dropped after an investigation, but Burns was subsequently expelled from the country. Burns was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting citing "his courageous and thorough coverage of the destruction of Sarajevo and the barbarous killings in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina." [http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?1678,15] Some of Burns's reporting in Bosnia and Herzegovina was later put in doubt for using questionable sources (cf. Borislav Herak). [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=1667] [http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=%5CSpecialReports%5Carchive%5C200603%5CSPE20060322a.html] [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=12321]

Burns received his second Pulitzer in 1997, this time "For his courageous and insightful coverage of the harrowing regime imposed on Afghanistan by the Taliban." [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/international-reporting/] Burns was based in Baghdad during the lead up to the Iraq war in 2003 and has written extensively on the war and the subsequent occupation. In July 2007, Burns succeeded Alan Cowell as bureau chief in London. On September 30, 2007, Burns received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

Burns is a frequent contributor to PBS, including a number of appearances on the "Charlie Rose show" and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" via satellite from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Burns is married to Jane Scott-Long, who manages the "Times" Baghdad Bureau.

External links

* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/john_f_burns/index.html New York Times - Times Topics: John F Burns] recent and archived news articles
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* [http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/6e09ae1f-4c6d-4217-b96d-32a88a452bf8 Transcript: John Burns interviewed by Hugh Hewitt] February 9, 2007
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4986491654806405622&q=tvshow%3ACharlie_Rose Video: John Burns Interviewed by Charlie Rose] January 24, 2007
* [http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/03/john-burns-interview-with-bill-maher.html Video: John Burns Interviewed by Bill Maher] March 10th 2006
* [http://www.q-and-a.org/Program/index.asp?ProgramID=1114 Transcript/Video/Available DVD/VHS: John Burns interviewed by Brian Lamb on C-Span's Q&A] February 11, 2007