Benjamin Joffe-Walt
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Joffe-Walt is a writer, reporter, and editor. His writing has appeared in various news outlets, including The Economist
, BBC
, The Guardian
, The New Statesman
, The Sunday Telegraph
, The Boston Globe
, The San Francisco Chronicle, Al-Quds newspaper, Arab News
, Colors magazine, and Change.org
. He has won several awards for his coverage of the Middle East, Africa, and environment. Joffe-Walt is probably most notable for his false reporting in The Guardian of injuries suffered by Chinese activist Lü Banglie
..
, Birzeit University
, McGill University
, and the University of Toronto
and was involved in various social causes. During his university studies he trained as a medic and worked as a forest fire-fighter.
in 2004 and began writing for various publications. In May that year he became one of the first journalists to successfully sneak into Darfur, Sudan to report on the genocide, a feat he accomplished by illegally walking from Chad to Sudan across an uninhabited part of the Saharan desert. From Darfur he reported on rape campaigns, secret trials of Sudanese Air Force pilots who refused to bomb Darfurian civilians, and other human rights issues. He served as The Telegraph
's Chief Africa correspondent from 2004 to 2005, reporting from places including the Congo, Somalia, and South Africa.
and dispatched to China. A few weeks after arriving, he was sent to report on hunger strikes by imprisoned activists in Taishi Village in Panyu District Guangzhou, Guangdong province. Taishi villagers had been trying to remove their village committee head whom they viewed as corrupt, a movement widely supported by activists and intellectuals across China. Joffe-Walt and his entourage were attacked by a mob and Joffe-Walt's equipment destroyed as they tried approaching the village on October 8, 2005. Lü Banglie
(吕邦列), a democracy activist with Joffe-Walt at the time, was reported by Joffe-Walt as being quickly beaten unconscious by the mob, with the report leaving many to believe Lü dead.
Joffe-Walt and the paper were criticized for his eyewitness account of the beating, which appeared on the cover of The Guardian and gave the impression that Mr Lü may have died. Days later when Mr Lü was located, his injuries were found to be serious but less severe than reported by Joffe-Walt. Joffe-Walt was accused of endangering himself and his entourage, and of lying.
Many argued the criticism was overdone, claiming that conservative British pundits out to discredit The Guardian and Chinese bloggers concerned with the overall role of foreign media in China were exploiting the bad luck of a reporter trying to highlight a human rights issue and caught in a violent situation rarely witnessed by foreign correspondents and which he had made efforts to avoid.
For its part The Guardian was criticized for putting Joffe-Walt in a dangerous position by sending a young journalist to a violent hotspot a few weeks after arriving in China, then printing his eyewitness account of a traumatic incident without seriously considering his ability to report on it reliably and objectively.
Following the incident, The Guardian had Joffe-Walt flown out of China after fears that the episode could lead to threats on his life.
Following The Guardian, Joffe-Walt has written extensively on the Middle East and North Africa for outlets including Arab News
, the Palestinian Al Quds newspaper, The Palestine Telegraph
, the American Task Force on Palestine
, The Jerusalem Post
, Yemen Times
, Gulf Times
, Daily News Egypt
, the Ethiopian Review
, and the Journal of Turkish Weekly
.
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The New Statesman
The New Statesman
The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
, The Sunday Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, The San Francisco Chronicle, Al-Quds newspaper, Arab News
Arab News
Arab News is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia, in the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam. The Editor-in-Chief is Khaled Al-Maeena. The publisher of Arab News is Saudi Research & Publishing Company , a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group .Arab News was...
, Colors magazine, and Change.org
Change.org
Change.org is an online platform for social change launched on February 7, 2007 by current CEO Ben Rattray and Mark Dimas, and certified as a B Corporation in January, 2011. Its stated mission is to "empower anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change."...
. He has won several awards for his coverage of the Middle East, Africa, and environment. Joffe-Walt is probably most notable for his false reporting in The Guardian of injuries suffered by Chinese activist Lü Banglie
Lu Banglie
Lu Banglie is a pro-democracy activist in China. Lu is a farmer from Baoyuesi village in Hubei province. During a period of drought in 2000, Lu began campaigning for reductions in the taxes levied upon poor farmers. Since that time Lu has campaigned on issues of land seizures, corruption, and...
..
Early life
Joffe-Walt studied history, education, and feminist studies at Oberlin CollegeOberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Birzeit University
Birzeit University
Birzeit University is a university located in Birzeit near Ramallah, Palestinian territories. BZU is among the foremost tertiary educational institutes in the Palestinian territories and has played a significant role in the Palestinian political dialogue.- History :The institution was originally...
, McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, and the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and was involved in various social causes. During his university studies he trained as a medic and worked as a forest fire-fighter.
Africa writing and reporting
Joffe-Walt moved to JohannesburgJohannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
in 2004 and began writing for various publications. In May that year he became one of the first journalists to successfully sneak into Darfur, Sudan to report on the genocide, a feat he accomplished by illegally walking from Chad to Sudan across an uninhabited part of the Saharan desert. From Darfur he reported on rape campaigns, secret trials of Sudanese Air Force pilots who refused to bomb Darfurian civilians, and other human rights issues. He served as The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
's Chief Africa correspondent from 2004 to 2005, reporting from places including the Congo, Somalia, and South Africa.
Lu Banglie report
In 2005 Joffe-Walt was hired as a features writer by The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and dispatched to China. A few weeks after arriving, he was sent to report on hunger strikes by imprisoned activists in Taishi Village in Panyu District Guangzhou, Guangdong province. Taishi villagers had been trying to remove their village committee head whom they viewed as corrupt, a movement widely supported by activists and intellectuals across China. Joffe-Walt and his entourage were attacked by a mob and Joffe-Walt's equipment destroyed as they tried approaching the village on October 8, 2005. Lü Banglie
Lu Banglie
Lu Banglie is a pro-democracy activist in China. Lu is a farmer from Baoyuesi village in Hubei province. During a period of drought in 2000, Lu began campaigning for reductions in the taxes levied upon poor farmers. Since that time Lu has campaigned on issues of land seizures, corruption, and...
(吕邦列), a democracy activist with Joffe-Walt at the time, was reported by Joffe-Walt as being quickly beaten unconscious by the mob, with the report leaving many to believe Lü dead.
Joffe-Walt and the paper were criticized for his eyewitness account of the beating, which appeared on the cover of The Guardian and gave the impression that Mr Lü may have died. Days later when Mr Lü was located, his injuries were found to be serious but less severe than reported by Joffe-Walt. Joffe-Walt was accused of endangering himself and his entourage, and of lying.
Many argued the criticism was overdone, claiming that conservative British pundits out to discredit The Guardian and Chinese bloggers concerned with the overall role of foreign media in China were exploiting the bad luck of a reporter trying to highlight a human rights issue and caught in a violent situation rarely witnessed by foreign correspondents and which he had made efforts to avoid.
For its part The Guardian was criticized for putting Joffe-Walt in a dangerous position by sending a young journalist to a violent hotspot a few weeks after arriving in China, then printing his eyewitness account of a traumatic incident without seriously considering his ability to report on it reliably and objectively.
Following the incident, The Guardian had Joffe-Walt flown out of China after fears that the episode could lead to threats on his life.
Middle East writing and reporting
While still with The Guardian, Joffe-Walt broke a story on illegal arms sales to Israel and wrote extensively about the growth of UK-based academic boycotts of Israel. His coverage of the boycott movement was criticized both by pro-Palestinian groups as having a pro-Israeli bias, and by pro-Israeli groups as having a pro-Palestinian bias.Following The Guardian, Joffe-Walt has written extensively on the Middle East and North Africa for outlets including Arab News
Arab News
Arab News is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia, in the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam. The Editor-in-Chief is Khaled Al-Maeena. The publisher of Arab News is Saudi Research & Publishing Company , a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group .Arab News was...
, the Palestinian Al Quds newspaper, The Palestine Telegraph
The Palestine Telegraph
The Palestine Telegraph is the first online newspaper based in the Gaza Strip. Its staff is composed of Palestinians and international volunteers, both professional journalists and, "citizen journalists who do not take assignments from editors or paychecks from corporate controlled media."Sameh...
, the American Task Force on Palestine
American Task Force on Palestine
The American Task Force on Palestine is an organization founded in 2003 to advocate that it is in the American national interest to promote an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state that will live alongside Israel in peace and security...
, The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, Yemen Times
Yemen Times
The Yemen Times is unified Yemen's first and most widely-read independent English-language newspaper. The paper is published twice-weekly and has its own printing press, advertising associates and news service....
, Gulf Times
Gulf Times
The Gulf Times newspaper was founded in 1978 as the first publication of the Gulf Publishing and Printing Company in the capital city of Qatar, Doha . One of three English-language newspapers in the country [2006]...
, Daily News Egypt
Daily News Egypt
Daily News Egypt is an Egyptian daily newspaper established in 2005 and owned by Egyptian Media Services. It is affiliated with the International Herald Tribune...
, the Ethiopian Review
Ethiopian Review
Ethiopian Review is an Ethiopian news and opinion journal. It was first launched in August 1944 and discontinued in November 1945.The first editor of the Ethiopian Review was William M. Steen. In 1945, David A. Talbot took over as editor....
, and the Journal of Turkish Weekly
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Journal of Turkish Weekly is a Web site run by the International Strategic Research Organization, targeted towards policymakers. The journal provides Turkish approach on global and regional issues. Established in 2004. It is owned by the USAK Derneği, which publishes other printed and online...
.
Awards
Joffe-Walt was awarded the 2005 CNN Africa Print Journalist of the Year for his coverage of Darfur. He was awarded Young Journalist of the Year by the UK Foreign Press Association for coverage of the forcible relocation of two million Ethiopian farmers in the largest resettlement program ever attempted in Africa. He was also awarded an environmental journalism prize in 2005 by the Society for Environmental Journalism for his work following recycled electronic waste to China.External links
- Benjamin Joffe-Walt, personal website
- @joffewalt, personal twitter account
- LinkedIn profile
- Lightstalkers profile