Jonathan M. Katz

Last updated

Jonathan Myerson Katz (born 1980) is an American journalist and author known for his reporting on the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the role of the United Nations in the ensuing cholera outbreak. [1] [2]

Contents

Background and education

Katz was born in Queens, New York and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. [3] [ failed verification ]

He graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and American Studies in 2002, and with a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism in 2004. During his undergraduate years, he was a reporter, editor, and cartoonist for The Daily Northwestern . [4]

Career

Early career and Associated Press

Katz began working as a reporter while in graduate school at Medill; his assignments included covering the Pentagon for Lee Enterprises at the start of the Iraq War. He reported for the Associated Press as an intern while stationed in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada in fall 2003. In 2004, Katz worked at Congressional Quarterly as a committees reporter. The following year, he joined the AP's Washington Bureau, where he reported that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (then the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination [5] ) had sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation immediately before the price dropped. [6] Katz moved to the Dominican Republic to be AP correspondent in 2006, and then to Port-au-Prince, Haiti in October 2007. His major stories for the AP during this time included articles on the 2008 food crisis and riots, [7] [8] the 2008 Pétion-Ville school collapse, election fraud, [9] as well as hurricanes and tropical storms ravaging the country. [10]

2010 Haiti earthquake, aftermath, and cholera

Katz was the only full-time American correspondent in Haiti when the 2010 Haiti earthquake struck on January 12, 2010. Katz, then 29, was on the second floor of his rented house in the Pétion-Ville neighborhood when the swaying started at approximately 4:45 p.m. [3] He rushed outside barefoot as his house collapsed, borrowed a cell phone on the street, and became the first to report the earthquake; [4] the alert he sent out hit the newswire at the same time as the U.S. Geological Survey's initial report of the quake. [11] In an unusual move for a wire service, the AP ran Katz's first-person account of surviving the quake the next day. [12] In the months after the earthquake, Katz stayed in Haiti to report on the country's recovery [13] and issues with the delivery of foreign aid, specifically from the U.S. [14]

That fall, he reported that UN peacekeepers were the likely cause of a post-quake cholera epidemic that had led to the deaths of at least 6,600 people. [1] [15] For three months, the UN refused to allow an independent investigation. Among the pressures cited by observers as leading to the UN's reversal was Katz's reporting, which (according to medical journalist R. Jan Gurley) "spread almost instantly around the world, irrevocably reframing a massive health crisis and probably changing international policies for years to come". [16] After Katz obtained an internal report condemning the Secretariat for its lack of accountability, the UN admitted having played a role in the outbreak in 2016. [2]

Katz won the 2010 Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism for his reporting on the earthquake and its aftermath. [4] [17] He also received a National Headliners Award, and was a finalist for the Livingston Award and Michael Kelly Award for the "fearless pursuit and expression of truth". [1] [18]

Later career

Katz reported in Mexico during the drug wars. He was an AP editor until leaving the organization in 2012 to write The Big Truck that Went By (published in 2013). [19] [18]

He has become a regular contributor to The New York Times , where he has covered topics such as U.S. police violence and the 2015 murders of Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Katz's work has also appeared in The New Republic , The Guardian , Foreign Policy , Politico , and The New Yorker website, with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, as well as The New York Times Magazine . [20]

In March 2024, U.S. Senator Katie Britt gave the Republican response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address. [21] Katz accused her of misrepresenting the story shared in her response, which Britt had shared on more than one occasion previously, about sex trafficking victim Karla Jacinto Romero. According to research Katz conducted, despite Britt's suggestion that Romero was victimized in the United States under Biden's administration, the events surrounding Romero occurred in Mexico; they also occurred under George W. Bush's administration (between 2004 and 2008), before Biden was even Vice President. [22]

The Racket

Katz began authoring a newsletter on Substack entitled The Racket. Subscriptions, both free and paid, are necessary to read the newsletter. It asserts that it is dedicated to examining "[t]he unseen connections behind international affairs, disaster, politics, and more".

Its September 7, 2022 edition, edited by Tommy Craggs, is entitled, You can't fight fascism without a little partisanship. [23] It addresses what Katz determined to be faulty criticism of the speech that President Joe Biden delivered in Philadelphia on September 1 regarding the "battle for the soul of the nation"; Katz responded directly to several critics who labeled the speech as "partisan".

In 2023, Katz reported dialogue with Substack regarding its new promotion of extremist newsletters, hosted on its platform, to subscribers of other newsletters also hosted on the platform. His issue with Substack and its billing partner, Stripe, was their profiteering from the uninvited promotion of solicitations. Coupled with this was the address sharing they complied to on behalf of extremist authors, an issue that had given rise to a letter to the platform entitled Substackers Against Nazis; it has been signed in objection by other publications and writers on the platform. [24] In his December 23, 2023 edition of his newsletter, entitled The Social Network, [25] Katz provides details and options he is exploring in reaction to assertion by the platform that the policy will continue.

Books

The Big Truck That Went By was shortlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Non-Fiction. It won the 2013 Cornelius Ryan Award for "the best nonfiction book on international affairs", given by the Overseas Press Club of America. Katz received the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in Progress Award, given to support the completion of "significant works of nonfiction", [19] [26] and the resulting book was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, awarded by the Columbia School of Journalism and Harvard's Nieman Foundation to significant works of nonfiction. [26] Katz's first book also won the 2013 WOLA-Duke Human Rights Book Award, given annually by the Washington Office on Latin America and Duke University to honor nonfiction books focusing on human rights, democracy, and social justice in contemporary Latin America. [27]

His second book, Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire, was published in January 2022. It traces the life of Major General Smedley Butler, including his role in foiling the Business Plot to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the long-term consequences of the wars in which Butler fought; to document how he is remembered in the locations of those wars, Katz interviewed Haitian workers and Chinese martial artists and played a bit part in a film in the Philippines. [28] [29] [30]

Awards

For The Big Truck That Went By

For reporting

Related Research Articles

Jay Anthony Lukas was an American journalist and author, best known for his 1985 book Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. Common Ground is a classic study of race relations, class conflict, and school busing in Boston, Massachusetts, as seen through the eyes of three families: one upper-middle-class white, one working-class white, and one working-class African-American.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nieman Foundation for Journalism</span> Journalism institution at Harvard University

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism is the primary journalism institution at Harvard University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti</span> 2004–2017 United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti

The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, also known as MINUSTAH, an acronym of the French name, was a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti that was in operation from 2004 to 2017. The mission's military component was led by the Brazilian Army and commanded by a Brazilian. The force was composed of 2,366 military personnel and 2,533 police, supported by international civilian personnel, a local civilian staff and United Nations Volunteers.

Joseph Medill Patterson Albright is an American retired journalist and author. A descendant of the Medill-Patterson media family, Albright wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times before becoming a reporter and executive at Newsday. He was later Washington and foreign correspondent for Cox Newspapers, receiving several journalism awards and nominations. Albright has authored three books; two with his wife, fellow reporter Marcia Kunstel. He was formerly married to Madeleine Korbel Albright, who later became the first female U.S. Secretary of State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard W. French</span> American journalist

Howard Waring French is an American journalist, author, and photographer, as well as professor since 2008 at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to re-entering academia, he was a longtime foreign correspondent and senior writer with The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pétion-Ville</span> Commune in Ouest, Haiti

Pétion-Ville is a commune and a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the hills east and separate from the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. Founded in 1831 by president Jean-Pierre Boyer, it was named after Alexandre Sabès Pétion (1770–1818), the Haitian general and president later recognized as one of the country's four founding fathers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Weisman</span> American author, professor and journalist

Alan H. Weisman is an American author, professor and journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne-christine d'Adesky</span> American journalist and activist

Anne-christine d'Adesky is an American author, journalist and activist of French and Haitian descent living in New York. She has maintained a deep relationship with Haiti, reporting the 2010 earthquake from a feminist angle, especially noting the impact of the disaster on the lives of teenage girls. She has also contributed to humanitarian projects in East Africa, as well as conducting extensive research into HIV/AIDS and its treatment worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Wilentz</span>

Amy Wilentz is an American journalist and writer. She is a professor of English at the University of California, Irvine, where she teaches Literary Journalism. Wilentz received a 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for her memoir, Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti, as well as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship in General Nonfiction. Wilentz is The New Yorker's former Jerusalem correspondent and is a contributing editor at The Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Haiti earthquake</span> Magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

Nick Perry is a journalist who has worked in the U.S. and New Zealand. Since 2011, he has been the Associated Press correspondent for New Zealand and the South Pacific. He was previously a reporter at The Seattle Times.

Debbie Cenziper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist and nonfiction author. As of November 2022 she writes for ProPublica and is the director of the Medill Investigative Lab at Northwestern University. She spent more than a decade as an investigative reporter at The Washington Post, and has written two nonfiction books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010s Haiti cholera outbreak</span> 2010-2019 cholera outbreak in Haiti

The 2010s Haiti cholera outbreak was the first modern large-scale outbreak of cholera—a disease once considered beaten back largely due to the invention of modern sanitation. The disease was reintroduced to Haiti in October 2010, not long after the disastrous earthquake earlier that year, and since then cholera has spread across the country and become endemic, causing high levels of both morbidity and mortality. Nearly 800,000 Haitians have been infected by cholera, and more than 9,000 have died, according to the United Nations (UN). Cholera transmission in Haiti today is largely a function of eradication efforts including WASH, education, oral vaccination, and climate variability. Early efforts were made to cover up the source of the epidemic, but thanks largely to the investigations of journalist Jonathan M. Katz and epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux, it is widely believed to be the result of contamination by infected United Nations peacekeepers deployed from Nepal. In terms of total infections, the outbreak has since been surpassed by the war-fueled 2016–2021 Yemen cholera outbreak, although the Haiti outbreak is still one of the most deadly modern outbreaks. After a three-year hiatus, new cholera cases reappeared in October 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Walker</span> Journalist

Sebastian Walker is an investigative journalist and an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, who is currently a correspondent and Middle-East bureau chief for Vice on Showtime and VICE News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthieu Aikins</span> Canadian journalist

Matthieu Aikins is a Canadian-American journalist and author best known for his reporting on the war in Afghanistan. He is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, as well as a Puffin Foundation Fellow at the Type Media Center. He has also been a fellow at New America, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Academy in Berlin.

Bryn Mooser is a filmmaker and entrepreneur. In 2012, Mooser co-founded RYOT, a media company specializing in documentary film, virtual/augmented reality and branded content. Over his career, he has produced more than 200 linear and immersive films garnering multiple Emmy Awards, two Oscar nominations, a Peabody and a Cannes Lion. Mooser sold RYOT to Verizon in 2016, becoming a senior vice president and helping create the roadmap for immersive and documentary films for AOL, Yahoo, and Verizon. While at Verizon, Mooser built the branded content studio for AOL/Yahoo, HuffPost and Tumblr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Dreier</span> American journalist

Hannah Dreier is an American journalist. She is a New York Times reporter who specializes in narrative features and investigations. She previously worked at ProPublica, where she was the recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, and The Washington Post, where she was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. She was Venezuela correspondent for The Associated Press during the first four years of the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.

Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack is headquartered in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Haiti earthquake</span> 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Tiburon Peninsula, Haiti

At 08:29:09 EDT on 14 August 2021, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Tiburon Peninsula in the Caribbean nation of Haiti. It had a 10-kilometre-deep (6.2 mi) hypocenter near Petit-Trou-de-Nippes, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Tsunami warnings were briefly issued for the Haitian coast. At least 2,248 people were confirmed killed as of 1 September 2021 and more than 12,200 injured, mostly in the Sud Department. An estimated 650,000 people were in need of assistance. At least 137,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Robert Samuels is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Katz, Jonathan M. (November 20, 2010). "UN worries its troops caused cholera in Haiti". NBC News. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Katz, Jonathan M. (August 19, 2016). "UN admits role in Haiti cholera outbreak". The New York Times . Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Day, Erin (February 20, 2013). "Award-winning Journalist Jonathan Katz brings the story of Haiti to Carmichael's". Louisville Magazine. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "Jonathan Katz Named 2010 Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism Recipient". Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. 2011. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Sen. Frist's political rise slows in pace". NBC News. August 8, 2004. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  6. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M. (September 21, 2005). "Senator Sold Stock Before Price Dropped". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  7. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M. (January 30, 2008). "Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt". National Geographic. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 3, 2008.
  8. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M. (June 1, 2018) [May 9, 2008]. "Matches for Gasoline: A View From Haiti's Food Riots". Pacific Standard. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  9. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M. (December 10, 2009). "Electoral frustrations threaten Haiti vote". The Boston Globe . Associated Press. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  10. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M. (September 5, 2008). "Hanna leaves behind despair in Haiti". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  11. ↑ Leopold, Wendy (September 8, 2011). "BREAKING THE NEWS AGAINST ALL ODDS". northwestern.edu. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  12. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M. (January 13, 2010). "In Haiti, tragedy, a way of life, is redefined". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  13. ↑ Garfield, Bob (January 29, 2010). "The Long Run". On the Media (interview transcript). Archived from the original on June 25, 2015.
  14. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M.; Mendoza, Martha (September 29, 2010). "Haiti Still Waiting For Pledged U.S. Aid". HuffPost . Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 3, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Cholera in Haiti: One Year Later". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 25, 2011. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012.
  16. ↑ "A Muckraker's Award for being Willing to Actually Look at Muck | USC Center for Health Journalism". centerforhealthjournalism.org. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Jonathan Katz accepts Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism". Associated Press. September 23, 2011. Archived from the original on November 30, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  18. 1 2 Katz, Jonathan M. (April 2014). The Big Truck That Went By. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN   978-1137278975.
  19. 1 2 "The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster, by Jonathan M. Katz". Macmillan. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Jonathan M. Katz". Pulitzer Center . Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Katie Britt, Alabama Senator, to Deliver GOP Response to State of the Union". The New York Times . March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  22. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/09/fact-check-katie-britt-sex-trafficking/
  23. ↑ Katz, Jonathan M., You can't fight fascism without a little partisanship , The Racket, Substack, September 7, 2022
  24. ↑ Kabas, Marisa, More than 200 publications join Substackers Against Nazis , The Handbasket, December 16, 2023
  25. ↑ Katz, Jonathan, The Social Network , The Racket, Substack, December 23, 2023
  26. 1 2 "The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards: Past Winners". Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism . Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  27. ↑ "WOLA Duke Book Award". Washington Office on Latin America . Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  28. ↑ Rauchway, Eric (January 21, 2022). "Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler: A Marine hero who saw himself as a 'racketeer for capitalism'". The Washington Post (review). Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  29. ↑ Bajak, Frank (January 18, 2022). "Review: An imperialist repents in 'Gangsters of Capitalism'". ABC News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  30. ↑ Miller, Stuart (January 18, 2022). "The imperialist villian-turned-hero who may have saved America from its first fascist coup". Los Angeles Times (interview). Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  31. ↑ "PEN Announces Finalists for 2015 Awards". ArtsBeat. April 16, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Awards Recipients" (Use pull-down menu to filter by The Cornelius Ryan Award). Overseas Press Club of America . Retrieved July 28, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.