Phillip Knightley
Encyclopedia
Phillip Knightley is a journalist
, critic
, and non-fiction author, visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln
, England
, and media commentator on the intelligence services and propaganda
.
in Sydney. Two years as a cadet reporter with The Northern Star
(Lismore
) followed. He then temporarily left journalism to become a copra
trader in Fiji before joining the Oceania Daily News (Suva
), which prided itself as being the "First Paper Published in the World Today" because of Suva's proximity to the International Dateline.
Knightley returned to Australia and worked for Herald in Melbourne. He returned to Sydney in 1952 joining the city's Daily Mirror
and covered the Queen
's visit to Australia in 1953/54. He left for London in November 1954 as foreign correspondent for the Daily Mirror, and then went to India
as managing editor of the Bombay (Mumbai
) literary magazine, Imprint
.
Returning to the UK in 1965, he became a special correspondent for the London Sunday Times
, remaining there until 1985. During this time he was a member of the 'Insight' investigative team.
Since leaving the Sunday Times, he has contributed literary criticism to the Mail on Sunday (London), The Independent
(London), The Australian
's Review of Books, The Age
(Melbourne), and the New York Review of Books.
He has lectured on journalism, law, and war at the Australian National Press Club
in Canberra, the Australian Senate
, City University, London
, University of Manchester
, Pennsylvania State University
, University of California Los Angeles, Stanford University
, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
, the Inner Temple
, the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), and to the University of Düsseldorf.
Knightley's main professional interests have been war reporting, propaganda, and espionage. In more than 30 years of writing about espionage he has met most of the spy chiefs of all the major intelligence services in the world, and interviewed numerous officers and agents from all sides during the Cold War
and since. In December 2010, he received media coverage for acting as a bail sureties provider for Wikileaks
founder Julian Assange
.
In 1997, Knightley was a judge for Canada's Lionel Gelber Prize
, which honours the world's best book on international relations. He is the European representative on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and patron of the C.W. Bean Foundation in Canberra. He was made a member of the Order of Australia
in the Queen's Birthday Honours
list in June 2005, for "services to journalism and as an author".
Knightley is married with two daughters called Aliya and Marisa, a son called Kim and two granddaughters. He lives between London
, Sydney
and Goa
in India.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
, and non-fiction author, visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln
University of Lincoln
The University of Lincoln is an English university founded in 1992, with origins tracing back to the foundation and association with the Hull School of Art 1861....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and media commentator on the intelligence services and propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
.
Biography
He began his career in 1946 as a copyboy with The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
in Sydney. Two years as a cadet reporter with The Northern Star
The Northern Star
The Northern Star is a daily newspaper serving Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. The newspaper is owned by APN News & Media.The Northern Star is circulated to Lismore and surrounding communities, from Billinudgel to the north, to Kyogle and Casino to the west and Evans Head to the south and...
(Lismore
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...
) followed. He then temporarily left journalism to become a copra
Copra
Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...
trader in Fiji before joining the Oceania Daily News (Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
), which prided itself as being the "First Paper Published in the World Today" because of Suva's proximity to the International Dateline.
Knightley returned to Australia and worked for Herald in Melbourne. He returned to Sydney in 1952 joining the city's Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror (Australia)
The Daily Mirror was an afternoon paper established by Ezra Norton in Sydney, Australia in 1941, gaining a licence from the Minister for Trade and Customs, Eric Harrison, despite wartime paper rationing. In October 1958, Norton and his partners sold his newspapers to the Fairfax group, which...
and covered the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's visit to Australia in 1953/54. He left for London in November 1954 as foreign correspondent for the Daily Mirror, and then went to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as managing editor of the Bombay (Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
) literary magazine, Imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
.
Returning to the UK in 1965, he became a special correspondent for the London Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
, remaining there until 1985. During this time he was a member of the 'Insight' investigative team.
Since leaving the Sunday Times, he has contributed literary criticism to the Mail on Sunday (London), The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
(London), The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
's Review of Books, The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
(Melbourne), and the New York Review of Books.
He has lectured on journalism, law, and war at the Australian National Press Club
National Press Club (Australia)
The National Press Club is an association of primarily news journalists, but also includes academics, business people and members of the public service, and is based in Canberra, Australia. It was founded in the 1960s as the National Press Luncheon Club by a few journalists with the backing of the...
in Canberra, the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
, City University, London
City University, London
City University London , is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute and became a university in 1966, when it adopted its present name....
, University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
, University of California Los Angeles, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
, the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
, the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
(ICRC), and to the University of Düsseldorf.
Knightley's main professional interests have been war reporting, propaganda, and espionage. In more than 30 years of writing about espionage he has met most of the spy chiefs of all the major intelligence services in the world, and interviewed numerous officers and agents from all sides during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and since. In December 2010, he received media coverage for acting as a bail sureties provider for Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
founder Julian Assange
Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange is an Australian publisher, journalist, writer, computer programmer and Internet activist. He is the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website and conduit for worldwide news leaks with the stated purpose of creating open governments.WikiLeaks has published material...
.
In 1997, Knightley was a judge for Canada's Lionel Gelber Prize
Lionel Gelber Prize
The Lionel Gelber Prize was founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber. The prize is a literary award for the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues. A prize of $15,000 is awarded to the winner...
, which honours the world's best book on international relations. He is the European representative on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and patron of the C.W. Bean Foundation in Canberra. He was made a member of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
in the Queen's Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...
list in June 2005, for "services to journalism and as an author".
Knightley is married with two daughters called Aliya and Marisa, a son called Kim and two granddaughters. He lives between London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
in India.
Awards and honours
- 1980, 1988 – British Press AwardsBritish Press AwardsThe British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. Established in the 1970s, honours are voted on by a panel of journalists and newspaper executives...
Journalist of the Year - one of only two journalists to have won the honor twice - 1982 – British Colour Magazine Writer of the Year
- 1983 – British Chef and Brewer Crime Writer's award - for his investigation into a murder case in Italy
- 1980 – Granada TelevisionGranada TelevisionGranada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
Reporter of the Year - 1975 – Overseas Press Club of AmericaOverseas Press ClubThe Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...
Award for The First Casualty as the best book on foreign affairs. - 2006 – City University, LondonCity University, LondonCity University London , is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute and became a university in 1966, when it adopted its present name....
, Artes Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctor of Arts) for Services to Journalism and Authorship. - 2007 – University of SydneyUniversity of SydneyThe University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctor of Letters) for Services to Journalism and Authorship.
Publications
- The First Casualty on war and propaganda (in the United States, a Book of the Month ClubBook of the Month ClubThe Book of the Month Club is a United States mail-order book sales club that offers a new book each month to customers.The Book of the Month Club is part of a larger company that runs many book clubs in the United States and Canada. It was formerly the flagship club of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc...
main choice) - The Second Oldest Profession, 1986, on espionage (in the United States, a History Club alternative choice)
- Philby, KGB Master Spy, his biography of Kim PhilbyKim PhilbyHarold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
; Knightley was the only Western journalist to interview the famous KGBKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
spy in Moscow in 1988 - An Affair of State, about the 1963 John ProfumoJohn ProfumoBrigadier John Dennis Profumo, 5th Baron Profumo CBE , informally known as Jack Profumo , was a British politician. His title, 5th Baron, which he did not use, was Italian. Although Profumo held an increasingly responsible series of political posts in the 1950s, he is best known today for his...
scandal in Britain, publication of which was banned in the United Kingdom - The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia (with Colin Simpson)
- A Pearl of Days, the history of the Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (UK)The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
- Suffer the Children, about the ThalidomideThalidomideThalidomide was introduced as a sedative drug in the late 1950s that was typically used to cure morning sickness. In 1961, it was withdrawn due to teratogenicity and neuropathy. There is now a growing clinical interest in thalidomide, and it is introduced as an immunomodulatory agent used...
tragedy - The Death of Venice, on attempts to save VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
from permanent flooding - The Rise and Fall of the House of Vestey, on the business empire established by Sir William (later Baron) Vestey in 1897;
- A Hack’s Progress, his autobiography
- Australia: A Biography of a Nation
External links
- http://www.phillipknightley.com – personal web site
- http://www.brisinst.org.au/people/knightley_phillip.html – Brisbane Institute biographies of prominent Australians
- http://evatt.labor.net.au/news/188.html – Evatt Foundation Sydney seminar featuring Phillip Knightley on Investigative Journalism
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/coldwar/cambridge_spies_01.shtml –BBC Wars and Conflict Special Report: The Cambridge Spies by Phillip Knightley
- http://www.paiddirectory.com/NEWS/ – Articles by Phillip Knightley