Editing John Pilger (section)

==Newspaper and television career==

=== Newspaper ===
Beginning his career in 1958 as a copy boy with the ''Sydney Sun'', Pilger later moved to ''[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|Daily Telegraph]]'' in Sydney, where he was a reporter, sportswriter and sub-editor.<ref name="Pilgerbio" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/media/media/2013/05/hold-front-page-we-need-free-media-not-order-mates|title=Hold the front page! We need free media not an Order of Mates|last=Pilger|first=John|date=8 May 2013|work=New Statesman|access-date=22 April 2017}}</ref> He also freelanced and worked for the Sydney ''Sunday Telegraph'', the daily paper's sister title. After moving to Europe, he was a freelance correspondent in Italy for a year.<ref name="Hayward4">Hayward (2008), p. 4.</ref>

Settling in London in 1962 and working as a sub-editor, Pilger joined British United Press and then [[Reuters]] on its Middle-East desk.<ref name="Hayward4" /> In 1963, he was recruited by the English ''[[Daily Mirror]]'', again as a sub-editor.<ref name="Hayward4" /> Later, he advanced to become a reporter, a feature writer, and chief foreign correspondent for the title. While living and working in the United States for the ''Daily Mirror'', on 5 June 1968 he witnessed the [[assassination of Robert F. Kennedy]] in Los Angeles during his presidential campaign.<ref>John Pilger & Michael Albert, [http://www.zcommunications.org/the-view-from-the-ground-by-john-pilger "The View From The Ground"], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130219060727/http://www.zcommunications.org/the-view-from-the-ground-by-john-pilger |date=19 February 2013 }} ''Znet'', 16 February 2013.</ref> He was a [[war correspondent]] in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], [[Cambodian humanitarian crisis|Cambodia]], [[Bangladesh Liberation War|Bangladesh]] and [[Nigerian Civil War|Biafra]]. Nearly eighteen months after [[Robert Maxwell]] bought the ''Mirror'' (on 12 July 1984), Pilger was sacked by [[Richard Stott]], the newspaper's editor, on 31 December 1985.<ref>Roy Greenslade, ''Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2003 [2004 (pbk)], p. 401.</ref> Pilger was banned from South Africa in 1967.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |title=Danger - Pilger still at large |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/danger-pilger-still-at-large-1151923.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241211033136/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/danger-pilger-still-at-large-1151923.html |archive-date=2024-12-11 |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Pilger was a founder of the ''[[News on Sunday]]'' tabloid in 1984 and became its editor-in-chief in 1986.<ref name="Heroes572">John Pilger, ''Heroes'', London: Vintage, 2001 edition, pp. 572–73.</ref> During the period of hiring staff, Pilger was away for several months filming ''The Secret Country'' in Australia. Prior to this, he had given editor Keith Sutton a list of people who he thought might be recruited for the paper, but found on his return to Britain that none of them had been hired.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074s7x ''Lefties: 3: A Lot of Balls''], BBC Four, 11 October 2007.</ref>

Pilger, however, came into conflict with those around him. He disagreed with the founders' decision to base the paper in Manchester and then clashed with the governing committees; the paper was intended to be a workers' co-operative.<ref name="Greenslade494">Roy Greenslade [https://books.google.com/books?id=KPR0pB9UCS4C&pg=PA494 ''Press Gang: How Newspapers Make Profits From Propaganda''], London: Pan, 2003 [2004], pp. 494–95.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110525125629/http://www.bjr.org.uk/data/2006/no2_front_pages "Gone and (largely) forgotten"], ''British Journalism Review'', 17:2, 2006, pp. 50–52.</ref> Sutton's appointment as editor was Pilger's suggestion, but he fell out with Sutton over his plan to produce a left-wing ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|Sun]]'' newspaper.<ref name="Greenslade494" /> The two men ended up producing their own dummies, but the founders and the various committees backed Sutton.<ref name="Greenslade494" /> Pilger, appointed with "overall editorial control",<ref name="Heroes572" /> resigned at this point before the first issue appeared.<ref>Maurice Smith, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19870213&id=TPQ9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=AEkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4948,2993964 "A Newspaper In Pursuit Of Lost Ideals"], ''Glasgow Herald'', 13 February 1987, p. 13.</ref> The first issue appeared on 27 April 1987 and ''The News on Sunday'' soon closed.

Pilger returned to the ''Mirror'' in 2001 after the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 attacks]], while [[Piers Morgan]] was editor.<ref>Hayward (2008), p. 10.</ref> In discussing why he left the paper after only being there for 18 months, he told Ian Burrell of the Independent in 2008: "It was a very rewarding 18 months," he says. "I was happy to keep on writing for the Mirror, but Piers was under pressure from the management and American shareholders who objected to the kind of journalism that he was publishing, often written by me. It was a myth that the readers didn't want a serious approach to journalism in a popular newspaper.""<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |title=Pilger's law: 'If it's been officially denied, then it&rsquo;s |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/pilger-s-law-if-it-s-been-officially-denied-then-it-rsquo-s-probably-true-959206.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231026190210/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/pilger-s-law-if-it-s-been-officially-denied-then-it-rsquo-s-probably-true-959206.html |archive-date=2023-10-26 |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}}</ref>

His most frequent outlet for many years was the ''[[New Statesman]]'', where he had a fortnightly column from 1991 when [[Steve Platt]] was editor to 2014.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.redpepper.org.uk/beyond-the-dross/|title=Beyond the dross|last1=Pilger|first1=John|date=July 2010|work=Red Pepper|last2=Platt|first2=Steve}}</ref><ref name="Walker">{{cite news|url=http://pressgazette.co.uk/john-pilger-says-guardian-column-was-axed-in-purge-of-journalists-saying-what-the-paper-no-longer-says/|title=John Pilger says Guardian column was axed in 'purge' of journalists 'saying what the paper no longer says'|last=Walker|first=James|date=26 January 2018|work=Press Gazette|access-date=26 January 2018}}</ref> In 2018, Pilger said his "written journalism is no longer welcome" in the mainstream and that "probably its last home" was in ''[[The Guardian]]''. His last column for ''The Guardian'' was in November 2019.<ref name="Walker" />

=== Television ===
With the actor [[David Swift (actor)|David Swift]], and the film makers [[Paul Watson (documentary filmmaker)|Paul Watson]] and [[Charles Denton (television and film producer)|Charles Denton]], Pilger formed Tempest Films in 1969. "We wanted a frontman with a mind of his own, rather like another [[James Cameron (journalist)|James Cameron]], with whom [[Richard Marquand|Richard <nowiki>[Marquand]</nowiki>]] had worked", Swift once said. "Paul thought John was very charismatic, as well as marketing extremely original, refreshingly radical ideas." The company was unable to gain commissions from either the BBC or [[ITV (TV channel)|ITV]], but did manage to package potential projects.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hayward|first=Anthony|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/apr/18/david-swift-obituary|title=David Swift obituary|work=The Guardian|date=18 April 2016|access-date=18 April 2016}}</ref>

Pilger's career on television began on ''[[World in Action]]'' ([[Granada Television]]) in 1969, directed by Denton, for whom he made two documentaries broadcast in 1970 and 1971, the earliest of more than fifty in his career. ''The Quiet Mutiny'' (1970) was filmed at Camp Snuffy, presenting a character study of the common US soldier during the [[Vietnam War]]. It revealed the shifting [[morale]] and open rebellion of American troops. Pilger later described the film as "something of a scoop" – it was the first documentary to show the problems with morale among the drafted ranks of the US military. In an interview with the ''[[New Statesman]]'', Pilger said:

<blockquote>When I flew to New York and showed it to [[Mike Wallace]], the star reporter of [[CBS]]' ''[[60 Minutes]]'', he agreed. "Real shame we can't show it here".<ref>Pilger, John (11 September 2006). [http://www.newstatesman.com/node/192475 "The revolution will not be televised"], ''New Statesman''.</ref> </blockquote>

He made other documentaries about the United States involvement in Vietnam, including ''Vietnam: Still America's War'' (1974), ''Do You Remember Vietnam?'' (1978), and ''[[Vietnam: The Last Battle]]'' (1995).

During his work with BBC's ''Midweek'' television series during 1972–73,<ref name="Hayward5">Hayward (2008), p. 5.</ref> Pilger completed five documentary reports, but only two were broadcast.

Pilger was successful in gaining a regular television outlet at [[Associated Television|ATV]]. The ''Pilger'' half-hour documentary series was commissioned by [[Charles Denton (television and film producer)|Charles Denton]], then a producer with ATV, for screening on the British ITV network. The series ran for five seasons from 1974 until 1977,<ref name="Hayward5" /> at first running in the UK on Sunday afternoons after ''[[Weekend World]]''. The theme song for the series was composed by [[Lynsey de Paul]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312186/fullcredits|title=Pilger (TV Series 1974– )|access-date=26 May 2018|website=IMDb}}</ref> Later the program was scheduled in a weekday peak-time evening slot. The last series included "A Faraway Country" (September 1977) about dissidents in [[Czechoslovakia]], then still part of the Communist Soviet bloc. Pilger and his team interviewed members of [[Charter 77]] and other groups, clandestinely using domestic film equipment. In the documentary Pilger praises the dissidents' courage and commitment to freedom and describes the communist totalitarianism as "fascism disguised as socialism".<ref>[http://johnpilger.com/videos/a-faraway-country ''A Faraway Country''], JohnPilger.com, Retrieved 23 January 2012.</ref>

Pilger was later given an hour slot at 9&nbsp;pm, before ''[[ITV News at Ten|News at Ten]]'', which gave him a high profile in Britain. After ATV lost its franchise in 1981, he continued to make documentaries for screening on ITV, initially for [[ITV Central|Central]], and later via [[Carlton Television]].