John Pilger on 50 years spent shining a light into humanity’s darkest corners
- The London-based Australian has dedicated his prolific career to bringing crises, corruption and crimes against humanity to the public sphere
- Ironically, he got his start in journalism under false pretences
Back in 1963, when a newspaper like the Daily Mirror could expect to sell close to five million copies a day, Australian journalist John Pilger was desperately searching for a job in swinging London.
Interviewed by the Mirror’s then assistant editor, Michael Christiansen, Pilger found he seemed to be more interested in recruiting players for the paper’s cricket team.
“You’re just what we want,” he boomed. “An Australian. What do you do best?”
“I bowl,” bluffed Pilger, who knew nothing about the game. “I spin bowl.”
It was the right answer. Pilger was hired on the spot and appointed assistant to the sub-editor in charge of television, gardening, fishing and pets. Not exactly glamorous, but that strategic bluff would serve him well.
It wasn’t long before he was tackling rather more compelling subjects, in time gravitating to chief foreign correspondent, and in subsequent years, Pilger became one of journalism’s foremost crusaders, training his investigative instincts on injustice and government-sponsored duplicity all around the world.
