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David Finkel

David Louis Finkel (born October 28, 1955) is an American journalist. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 as a staff writer at The Washington Post.[1][2] As of January 2017, he was national enterprise editor at the Post.[3] He has also worked for the Post's foreign staff division. He wrote The Good Soldiers and Thank You for Your Service. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow.[4]

For the television producer, see Dave Finkel.

David Finkel

David Louis Finkel
October 28, 1955

Reporter, writer

Work[edit]

Finkel's book The Good Soldiers describes several months he spent in 2007 as an embedded reporter with 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, also known as the "2-16 Rangers", as they worked to stabilize a portion of Baghdad.[5]


The logs of Chelsea Manning's IM chats with Adrian Lamo state that David Finkel was given the Collateral Murder video but did not release it.[6] David Finkel has never publicly disclosed whether he had the video or not. In a washingtonpost.com webchat, he said, "I based the account in my book The Good Soldiers on multiple sources, all unclassified. Without going into details, I'll say the best source of information was being there [in Iraq]."[7] At a February 2013 pretrial hearing, Manning stated that Finkel "was quoting, I feel in verbatim, the audio communications of the aerial weapons team crew." She said, however, that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. "Reading his account," she explained, "one would believe the engagement was somehow justified as 'payback' for an earlier attack that led to the death of a soldier."[8]

1995 for a story about racial and class conflict.

Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award

2001 International Print Prize for "Invisible Journeys" about illegal immigration.

Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism

2006 , citing "his ambitious, clear-eyed case study of the United States government's attempt to bring democracy to Yemen."[1]

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting

2010 for The Good Soldiers.[9]

Cornelius Ryan Award

2010 for The Good Soldiers.

J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize

2013 (Nonfiction) shortlist for Thank You for Your Service[10]

National Book Critics Circle Award

2014 (awarded by the Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center) for his investigative reporting at The Washington Post.[11]

Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media

Education[edit]

Finkel earned a Bachelor's degree in broadcasting from the University of Florida in 1977.[12]

Personal life[edit]

He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.[13]

on C-SPAN

Appearances

on The Good Soldiers at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library

Lecture

on Thank You for Your Service at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library

Lecture

about The Good Soldier.

Interview on ABC RN with Paul Barclay

at Library of Congress, with 2 library catalog records

David Finkel