Matt Lee (journalist)

Last updated

Matt Lee
Matt Lee (52745648149).jpg
Lee in 2023
Born (1965-09-09) September 9, 1965 (age 58)
Education Georgetown University (BSFS)
OccupationJournalist
Employer Associated Press
AwardsArthur Ross Media Award (2019) [1]
Lee with United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Albert del Rosario in 2014 Reporter Questions Secretary Kerry, Foreign Secretary del Rosario of the Philippines Before Meeting in Jakarta (15582804745).jpg
Lee with United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Albert del Rosario in 2014

Matthew Lee (born September 9, 1965) [2] is an American journalist and diplomatic writer who has been working for the Associated Press since 2007. He previously wrote for Agence France-Presse from 1995 to 2007, as well as working for The Daily Progress and The Washington Post .

Contents

Early life and education

Lee graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree in international relations in 1989. [3]

Career

After college, he started working at The Washington Post as a news aide, a job he said in a 2019 interview started his interest in journalism. He then proceeded to move to Charlottesville, Virginia to work for The Daily Progress as a local news reporter. [4] In 1994, Lee moved to Cambodia and worked as a freelance reporter for The Cambodia Daily and several international news outlets. In 1995, he joined Agence France-Presse and became their Phnom Penh bureau chief. [3] On June 17, 1997, while covering a firefight in Phnom Penh between gunmen aligned respectively to the two co-rulers of Cambodia, Lee was wounded by shrapnel. [5] From 1999 to 2005, Lee covered the United States Department of State for AFP, before becoming deputy bureau chief of Agence France-Presse's East Africa bureau in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2007, he moved back to Washington D.C. and started covering the United States State Department for the Associated Press. [4]

As the State Department reporter for the Associated Press, Lee has been noted on multiple occasions as unusually assertive in exchanges with State Department Spokespersons Victoria Nuland, [6] Jen Psaki, [7] [8] Ned Price, [9] [10] [11] [12] and Matthew Miller. [13] In an article about the importance of an adversarial press, Nathan J. Robinson of Current Affairs described Lee's February 2022 exchange with Price as "a master class in how journalists should approach government claims". [14]

Personal life

Lee is married and has a daughter. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phnom Penh</span> Capital and largest city of Cambodia

Phnom Penh is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, industrial, and cultural centre. Before Phnom Penh became capital city, Oudong was the capital of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norodom Sihanouk</span> Cambodian politician and King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and 1993 to 2004

Norodom Sihanouk was a member of the Cambodian royal house who led the country as King and Prime Minister. In Cambodia, he is known as Samdech Euv. During his lifetime, Cambodia was under various regimes, from French colonial rule, a Japanese puppet state (1945), an independent kingdom (1953–1970), a military republic (1970–1975), the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979), a Vietnamese-backed communist regime (1979–1989), a transitional communist regime (1989–1993) to eventually another kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hun Sen</span> Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1998 to 2023

Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei TechoHun SenPC is a Cambodian politician, and retired army officer who currently serves as the president of the Senate. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1985 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2023. Hun Sen is the longest-serving head of government in Cambodia's history. He is the president of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which has governed Cambodia since 1979, and has served as a member of the Senate since 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phnom Penh International Airport</span> Primary airport serving Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phnom Penh International Airport, formerly Pochentong International Airport, is the busiest airport in Cambodia and serves as the country's main international gateway. It is Cambodia's second largest airport by area after the new Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport. It is located in the Pou Senchey District, 10 kilometres (5.4 NM) west of Phnom Penh, the nation's capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norodom Sihamoni</span> King of Cambodia since 2004

Norodom Sihamoni is King of Cambodia. He became King on 14 October 2004, a week after the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk.

The Cambodia Daily is a US-based English and Khmer language news site that evolved from a newspaper of the same name that stopped publishing in Cambodia in 2017 due to a tax dispute with the government then led by Hun Sen.

<i>The Phnom Penh Post</i> English-language daily newspaper in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, established 1992

The Phnom Penh Post is a daily English-language newspaper published in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Founded in 1992 by publisher Michael Hayes and Kathleen O'Keefe, it is Cambodia's oldest English-language newspaper and prior to the transferring of ownership, was considered to be one of Cambodia's newspaper of record. The paper was initially published fortnightly as a full-color tabloid; in 2008 it increased frequency to daily publication and redesigned the format as a Berliner. The Phnom Penh Post is also available in Khmer. It previously published a weekend magazine, 7Days, in its Friday edition. Since July 2014, it has published a weekly edition on Saturdays called Post Weekend, which was folded into the paper as a Friday supplement in 2017 and was discontinued in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in Cambodia</span>

Media in Cambodia is largely unregulated and includes radio, television and print media outlets. Private sector companies have moved into the media sector, which represents a change from years of state-run broadcasting and publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Webb</span> Australian journalist (1943–2007)

Kate Webb was a New Zealand-born Australian war correspondent for UPI and Agence France-Presse. She earned a reputation for dogged and fearless reporting throughout the Vietnam War, and at one point she was held prisoner for weeks by North Vietnamese troops. After the war, she continued to report from global hotspots including Iraq during the Gulf War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vietnam Airlines Flight 815</span> 1997 aviation accident

Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 was a scheduled Vietnam Airlines flight which crashed on final approach to Pochentong International Airport in Cambodia on 3 September 1997. The Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-134B-3 airliner crashed approximately 800 metres short of the Phnom Penh runway, killing 65 of the 66 people on board. As of February 2024, it remains the deadliest accident in Cambodian history. Upon investigation, the crash was determined to have been the result of improper actions by the pilot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambodia–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Bilateral relations between the United States and Cambodia, while strained throughout the Cold War, have strengthened considerably in modern times. The U.S. supports efforts in Cambodia to combat terrorism, build democratic institutions, promote human rights, foster economic development, eliminate corruption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambodia–Russia relations</span> Bilateral relations

Cambodia–Russia relations are the bilateral relations of Cambodia and Russia. The relations between both countries were strong since the Soviet era. Russia has an embassy in Phnom Penh. Cambodia has an embassy in Moscow. Both countries are full members of the East Asia Summit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvana Foa</span> American journalist

Sylvana Foa is a former American journalist and public affairs specialist. She was the first woman to serve as the foreign editor of a major international news organisation, the first woman to serve as a news director of an American television network and the first woman to serve as spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reach Sambath</span>

Reach Sambath was a Cambodian journalist and a former spokesperson and Chief of Public Affairs of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), commonly known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, set up to try the most senior Khmer Rouge leaders from 1975 to 1979. Sambath had a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, New York, and a career as a university lecturer at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and a reporter in Cambodia with Agence France-Presse since the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mam Sonando</span> Cambodian radio journalist (born 1942)

Mam Sonando is a Cambodian radio journalist and politician with French dual citizenship. He is the owner and director of Phnom Penh's Beehive Radio, which the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described in 2012 as "one of Cambodia's few independent news outlets". He also acts as a political commentator for the station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Price</span> American political advisor and former intelligence officer (born 1982)

Edward Price is an American diplomat, political advisor and former intelligence officer who serves as the deputy to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations since February 29, 2024.[†] He previously served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State from 2023 to 2024 and the Spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2021 to 2023. He worked at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2006 until 2017.

Techo International Airport is an international airport currently under construction in Kandal Province of Cambodia. Located about 30–40 kilometres south of Phnom Penh, the first phase is expected to be operational by 2025 and will replace the existing Phnom Penh International Airport as the city's main aviation hub. It is planned to span over 2,600 hectares in Kandal Province, and once completed, it will be the ninth largest airport in the world and designated as a 4F class airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Cambodia</span> Property squatting in the country of Cambodia

Squatting is common in the country of Cambodia. Following the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime, the new democratic government introduced land reform. In the capital Phnom Penh, where in 2003 an estimated 25 per cent of the population was squatting, there are informal settlements and occupied buildings.

Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE (SHCH) was established as a free non-governmental hospital in 1996 by Bernard Krisher, an American philanthropist, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The hospital's mission was to help rebuild the country's medical infrastructure by treating patients and training medical personnel and was named in honor of Cambodia's "King Father", Norodom Sihanouk. In 2022, SHCH faced closure by the Cambodian government, alleging unpaid taxes. The Cambodian Journalists Alliance connected the government action to the September 2017 shutdown of The Cambodia Daily which Kirshner had founded.

References

  1. "Matt Lee". American Academy of Diplomacy . Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  2. "Daily Press Briefing – September 9, 2015". U.S. Department of State . Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Matthew Lee Biography". All American Speakers. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "Birthday of the Day: Matt Lee, AP State Department reporter". Politico . September 9, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  5. "Co-rulers vie for power in shaky Cambodia". Sun Journal . AP. June 18, 1997. p. 5A. Retrieved January 4, 2023 via Google News Archive.
  6. Gerstein, Josh (November 1, 2011). "AP journo tweaks State Department over stance on Palestinians". Politico . Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  7. LoGiurato, Brett (September 5, 2013). "Reporter to State Department: Did Everyone At The White House Have A 'Spine-Removal Procedure' This Weekend?". Business Insider . Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  8. Wemple, Erik (April 22, 2014). "AP reporter scorches State Department spokeswoman on Hillary Clinton initiative" . The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  9. "'Where do they go?': State Dept. spokesman cornered on US position toward Palestine". Arab News . March 5, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  10. Kornick, Lindsay (July 7, 2021). "AP reporter stuns Biden State Department spokesperson during press briefing". Fox News . Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  11. Downey, Caroline (February 3, 2022). "Veteran Reporter Tears Into State Department Spox over Russian False-Flag Allegation: 'You Have No Evidence'". National Review . Retrieved August 23, 2022 via Yahoo! News.
  12. Heated exchange between State Department official and veteran reporter. CNN. February 4, 2022 via YouTube.
  13. "Matt Lee Slams State Department at Briefing for Double Standard on Israel". The Jewish Press . Jewish News Syndicate. May 23, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  14. Robinson, Nathan J. (February 4, 2022). "The Urgent Need for Adversarial Journalism". Current Affairs . ISSN   2471-2647 . Retrieved September 6, 2022.