Happily life continues to produce the occasional amazing surprise.
Not sure how many of you will remember “Reds,” the biopic about American journalist John Reed, now buried in the Kremlin wall, that was released on Christmas 1981.
After seeing it, I read Reed’s book about the Russian Revolution and thought that the USSR would be intriguing to cover. Then I embarked upon an engrossing reporting detour through the Middle East that endured some 25 years.
So it was not until March 2014, just as Russia annexed Crimea, that I somewhat unexpectedly finally arrived by train in Moscow with my wife.
This year, even more unanticipated, I shared the 1917 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting with a team from ‘The New York Times.’ Back in the spring of 2016 the Moscow bureau started looking into various forms of skullduggery practiced by the Kremlin to exert its influence globally, from trolling to fake news to hacking.
By the time of the American election, as you know, the issue of Russian meddling had become the story of the year. The Pulitzer committee called it “agenda setting reporting” and aside from all the help and support from editors and colleagues, I am mostly grateful that there are a still a few meaty newspaper jobs around.
Neil MacFarquhar
Neil MacFarquhar
1977