Richard Behar

Richard Behar is an award-winning investigative journalist who has written on the staffs of leading magazines including "Forbes", "Time" and "Fortune" over a twenty-two year period from 1982-2004. His work has also appeared on CNN and PBS. As of July 2005, Behar coordinates Project Klebnikov, a global media alliance launched to investigate the murder of journalist Paul Klebnikov and related lines of inquiry. Since 2004, his freelance investigative reports have also appeared in "BBC News", "Forbes", FoxNews.com and Fast Company magazine.

Education and career

Behar was raised on Long Island and is a 1982 graduate of New York University (NYU). Before joining "Time" in 1989, he was a reporter and associate editor for "Forbes" magazine for six years. He has also worked at the "New York Times" as a researcher and writer. Behar reported extensively about organized crime and the business backgrounds of politicians for "Time", for whom Behar wrote a widely acclaimed 1993 cover story on the World Trade Center bombing.

In 1991, he wrote "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", a "Time" cover story on Scientology.Richard Behar, [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html "Ruined lives. Lost fortunes. Federal crimes:] Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam -- and aiming for the mainstream", book rev. of "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", "Time Magazine", May 6, 1991: 50, rpt. in "cs.cmu.edu", accessed May 11, 2007. [Part of "Special Report (cover story)".] ] The acclaimed article won several awards.cite news|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_July_16/ai_18489022 |title=Judge dismisses Church of Scientology's $416 million lawsuit against TIME Magazine |work=Time Magazine press release via Business Wire |date=July 16, 1996 |accessdate=2006-06-01 ] The Church of Scientology brought several lawsuits over the article, all of which were eventually dismissed. While investigating the story, he experienced some of Scientology's Fair game tactics:

I later learned, a copy of my personal credit report -- with detailed information about my bank accounts, home mortgage, credit-card payments, home address and Social Security number -- had been illegally retrieved from a national credit bureau called Trans Union. The sham company that received it, "Educational Funding Services" of Los Angeles, gave as its address a mail drop a few blocks from Scientology's headquarters. The owner of the mail drop is a private eye named Fred Wolfson, who admits that an Ingram associate retained him to retrieve credit reports on several individuals. Wolfson says he was told that Scientology's attorneys "had judgments against these people and were trying to collect on them." He says now, "These are vicious people. These are vipers." Ingram, through a lawyer, denies any involvement in the scam. ... After that, however, an attorney subpoenaed me, while another falsely suggested that I might own shares in a company I was reporting about that had been taken over by Scientologists (he also threatened to contact the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). A close friend in Los Angeles received a disturbing telephone call from a Scientology staff member seeking data about me -- an indication that the cult may have illegally obtained my personal phone records. Two detectives contacted me, posing as a friend and a relative of a so-called cult victim, to elicit negative statements from me about Scientology. Some of my conversations with them were taped, transcribed and presented by the church in affidavits to TIME's lawyers as "proof" of my bias against Scientology.Richard Behar, [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html "Ruined lives. Lost fortunes. Federal crimes:] Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam -- and aiming for the mainstream", book rev. of "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", "Time Magazine", May 6, 1991: 50, accessed May 11, 2007. [Part of "Special Report (cover story)".] ]

A 2003 report by Behar in "Fortune" explored Donald Rumsfeld's role in helping North Korea build its potential Nuclear weapon capacity, in an article entitled "Rummy’s North Korea Connection: What Did Donald Rumsfeld Know About ABB’s Deal to Build Nuclear Reactors There? And Why Won’t He Talk About It?" Behar is the only known journalist to have read the infamous "Phoenix Memo," the pre 9-11 FBI document that warned that Osama bin Laden supporters were enrolled in flight-training schools across the country.

In October, 2004, Behar left "Time, Inc." to pursue book writing and various independent projects, including the launch of Project Klebnikov, a global media alliance investigating the July, 2004, murder of Paul Klebnikov, who was then the editor-in-chief of "Forbes Russia". Behar also serves on the advisory committee of New York University's business journalism Master's program (BER).

Recognition

Behar was included among the 100 best business journalists (the "100 luminaries") of the 20th century by the TJFR business journalism trade group.

In 1999, legendary investigative columnist Jack Anderson called Behar "one of the most dogged of our watchdogs." [http://www.richardbehar.com/bio.html]

Awards

Behar has won 20 awards for his reporting, including:
*Four awards in recognition of his 1991 story for "Time" about Scientology:
#Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business and financial journalism (1992)
#Conscience-in-Media Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (1992) [http://www.asja.org/awards/awarhist.php Awards history] at American Society of Journalists and Authors.]
#Worth Bingham Prize (1992)
#Leo J. Ryan Award [cite news | last = Behar | first = Richard | title = Richard Behar, acceptance speech, 1992 Leo J. Ryan award | work = (OLD) Cult Awareness Network conference, Los Angeles | year = 1992 | url = http://www.lermanet.com/scientologyscandals/behar.htm
accessdate = 2007-10-25] cite news | last =Henderson | first =Bob | title =Hubbard from Pinellas to Russia | work =St. Petersburg Times | page =1 | date =1992-12-28 ]
*George Polk Award for his 1995 story about the strong-arm tactics used by the Allstate Insurance Co. against its own employees [http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/prev/prev90.html]
*Business Journalist of the Year Award from the City of London Corporation [http://www.bjoya.org/winners.vc?year=2001]
*Daniel Pearl Award in post-9/11 journalism [http://www.danielpearl.com/news_and_press/press_releases/saja_awards.html]
*Overseas Press Club Award for post-9/11 journalism in Pakistan [http://www.opcofamerica.org/opc_awards/2002/awards_2002.php]
*Jack Anderson Award (twice) for "Top Investigative Reporter of the Year" -- 1997 and 1999
*"Fortune" was awarded the National Magazine Award for public interest for two articles written by Behar on organized crime's influence in the garbage-hauling industry (1997) [http://www.magazine.org/Editorial/National_Magazine_Awards/Searchable_Database/]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.richardbehar.com RichardBehar.com] - Richard Behar's official home page
* [http://www.projectklebnikov.org ProjectKlebnikov.org] - 'The global media alliance investigating the July 9th, 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine'
* [http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=573&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported Independent-Media.tv] - 'Rummy's North Korea Connection', Richard Behar (April 28, 2003)
* [http://www.lermanet.com/scientologyscandals/behar.htm LermaNet.com] - 'Leo Award Winner Richard Behar at CAN Conference 1992'
* [http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/allstate2.htm LermaNet.com] - 'Stalked by Allstate: Being an agent for the giant insurer can be tough-- even terrifying. An extraordinary war between a company and its own troops is only getting fiercer.' Richard Behar (1995)
* [http://www.newsbios.com/newslum/behar.htm NewsBios.com] - 'Richard Behar'
* [http://www.lermanet.com/scientologyscandals/behar.htm Acceptance Speech] , for Leo J. Ryan award
* [http://www.rickross.com/reference/est/estpt13.html "Fuzzy, But Fervent"] , in "The Winds of Werner", by Richard Behar and Ralph King, Jr., originally published in "Forbes", November 18, 1985: 44; rpt. in "rickross.com", accessed August 27, 2006. (An article about The Hunger Project and Werner Erhard.)