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Daniel Pearl: CWA’s 13th Victim of Terrorism
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, killed by his captors in Pakistan, became the 13th member of the CWA family lost to terrorism.
“The kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl was a senseless act of brutality that serves no purpose of any kind,” said Linda Foley, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA. “He was a professional, willing to risk his life to report the facts to help us all understand one of the most complex and important stories of our time. The circumstances of Danny Pearl’s murder require our country, and all nations that value decency, to stand up and condemn such cold-blooded barbarism.”
On Feb. 21 Pakistani authorities relayed a videotape to the U.S. consulate in Karachi, believed to be authentic, that showed Pearl talking as if conducting an interview, while an unknown assailant approached from behind and cut his throat.
Pearl, 38, was abducted in the port city of Karachi on Jan. 23, while on his way to interview a Muslim fundamentalist leader. Police arrested Sheik Omar Saeed, a prominent Islamic militant who admitted in court that he was involved in the kidnapping. As the CWA News went to press, the United States was still considering its response and Pakistani officials had vowed to round up all who had any connection to Pearl’s kidnapping and murder.
Highly respected and well liked by his colleagues, editors and publisher, Pearl was for much of the 1990s a member of IAPE, the Independent Association of Publishers Employees, which represents more than 2,000 Dow Jones employees at the Journal and the Dow Jones News Service in the United States and Canada. A Princeton, N.J., native and graduate of Stanford University in California, Pearl worked for a time at the Journal’s Atlanta bureau and from 1993 to 1995 from Washington, D.C.
Known as a serious and creative reporter, whose stories often appeared on the front page, Pearl was also loved by colleagues for his lighter side. A versatile musician with a sense of humor, he played guitar, violin and mandolin and loved bluegrass, classical music and rock. In 1993 his band opened for the Kinks in Atlanta.
IAPE affiliated with CWA, to become Local 1096, and joined The Newspaper Guild sector when TNG initiated its merger with CWA in 1997. Pearl became exempt from membership in the late 1990s because of his designation as a foreign correspondent. He reported from London and Paris, and at the time of his death was the Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, based in Bombay, India. He was the ninth foreign correspondent, though the first American reporter, to die violently since the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan.
TNG-CWA passed a resolution at its sector conference Feb. 16 taking a strong stand on behalf of journalists who often face danger in pursuit of truth. It demanded Pearl’s release and condemned his kidnapping as “not just an assault against one man,” but “an assault against his family, his friends, his colleagues, his profession and the rights of all humankind.”
Pearl’s wife, Mariane, is a French freelance journalist, seven months pregnant with their first child, a son, who will only know his father through the memories of others.
He is also survived by his father, Judea, a professor of computer science and statistics and director of the cognitive systems laboratory at UCLA, and his mother, Ruth Pearl, both of Encino, Calif., as well as two sisters, Tamara and Michelle.
“The members of IAPE are deeply saddened by the death of Danny Pearl, our colleague, friend and fellow union member,” said Dawn Kopecki, a Local 1096 executive board member and financial services reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires in Washington. “We grieve for his wife and parents and count ourselves privileged to have worked with and played with this outstanding journalist, fine man and good friend."
“The kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl was a senseless act of brutality that serves no purpose of any kind,” said Linda Foley, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA. “He was a professional, willing to risk his life to report the facts to help us all understand one of the most complex and important stories of our time. The circumstances of Danny Pearl’s murder require our country, and all nations that value decency, to stand up and condemn such cold-blooded barbarism.”
On Feb. 21 Pakistani authorities relayed a videotape to the U.S. consulate in Karachi, believed to be authentic, that showed Pearl talking as if conducting an interview, while an unknown assailant approached from behind and cut his throat.
Pearl, 38, was abducted in the port city of Karachi on Jan. 23, while on his way to interview a Muslim fundamentalist leader. Police arrested Sheik Omar Saeed, a prominent Islamic militant who admitted in court that he was involved in the kidnapping. As the CWA News went to press, the United States was still considering its response and Pakistani officials had vowed to round up all who had any connection to Pearl’s kidnapping and murder.
Highly respected and well liked by his colleagues, editors and publisher, Pearl was for much of the 1990s a member of IAPE, the Independent Association of Publishers Employees, which represents more than 2,000 Dow Jones employees at the Journal and the Dow Jones News Service in the United States and Canada. A Princeton, N.J., native and graduate of Stanford University in California, Pearl worked for a time at the Journal’s Atlanta bureau and from 1993 to 1995 from Washington, D.C.
Known as a serious and creative reporter, whose stories often appeared on the front page, Pearl was also loved by colleagues for his lighter side. A versatile musician with a sense of humor, he played guitar, violin and mandolin and loved bluegrass, classical music and rock. In 1993 his band opened for the Kinks in Atlanta.
IAPE affiliated with CWA, to become Local 1096, and joined The Newspaper Guild sector when TNG initiated its merger with CWA in 1997. Pearl became exempt from membership in the late 1990s because of his designation as a foreign correspondent. He reported from London and Paris, and at the time of his death was the Journal’s South Asia bureau chief, based in Bombay, India. He was the ninth foreign correspondent, though the first American reporter, to die violently since the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan.
TNG-CWA passed a resolution at its sector conference Feb. 16 taking a strong stand on behalf of journalists who often face danger in pursuit of truth. It demanded Pearl’s release and condemned his kidnapping as “not just an assault against one man,” but “an assault against his family, his friends, his colleagues, his profession and the rights of all humankind.”
Pearl’s wife, Mariane, is a French freelance journalist, seven months pregnant with their first child, a son, who will only know his father through the memories of others.
He is also survived by his father, Judea, a professor of computer science and statistics and director of the cognitive systems laboratory at UCLA, and his mother, Ruth Pearl, both of Encino, Calif., as well as two sisters, Tamara and Michelle.
“The members of IAPE are deeply saddened by the death of Danny Pearl, our colleague, friend and fellow union member,” said Dawn Kopecki, a Local 1096 executive board member and financial services reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires in Washington. “We grieve for his wife and parents and count ourselves privileged to have worked with and played with this outstanding journalist, fine man and good friend."