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The Current

Thursday: John Burns looks back on 40 years as a war reporter

After 40 years following stories around the globe, John Burns is finally hanging up his well-worn notebook. Thursday, we speak to New York Times foreign correspondent John Burns on how much war reporting has changed over the years.
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John Burns, New York Times correspondent, speaks with his editors 13 April 1993 over a satellite phone from Sarajevo after being named co-winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for journalism. (NWS/AFP/Getty Images)

"I wasn't always terribly subtle in my balancing of risk and reward."- John Burns, NYT correspondent

Thursday on The Current, we'll bring you a conversation with legendary New York Times foreign correspondent John Burns.

After 40 years following stories around the globe, John Burns is finally hanging up his well-worn notebook. 

He's covered everything from Mao Zedong's China to the rise of ISIS. He cheated death in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, out-ran Saddam Hussein's secret police, and won two Pulitzer Prizes in the process.

But on more than one occasion, he nearly didn't make it. 
 

Listen (above) to an excerpt from our interview.
 

NYT correspondent John Burns (R) is congratulated by American singer Joan Baez after learning that he won the Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting April 13, 1993. (Reuters)

RELATED LINKS

Celebrating John F. Burns, War Reporter and Witness to Era-Defining Events - The New York Times

The Things I Carried Back - John F. Burns, The New York TImes

​The Death of a City: Elegy for Sarajevo - A special report - John F. Burns, The New York Times (1992) 

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