Journalist to Discuss Haiti Earthquake, Aftermath

Journalist Jonathan Katz, former chief correspondent in Haiti for The Associated Press, will visit Knox College to discuss his experiences reporting on the earthquake in Haiti and its aftermath.

His lecture, "The Big Truck That Went By: Reconstruction and Missed Opportunity in Post-Earthquake Haiti," will be in Ferris Lounge of Seymour Union at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 4.

Katz currently is working on a book manuscript, The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster. (Photo of Jonathan Katz, above, by Tommy Giglio.)

As the only full-time foreign correspondent in Haiti, Katz was first to report in the international news media about that country's devastating earthquake in January 2010. Through his work, he also was instrumental in tracing the source of a subsequent, deadly cholera epidemic to United Nations peacekeeping troops stationed in Haiti.

Katz's reporting has appeared regularly in major media outlets, including The Washington Post and MSNBC.com, and he has been featured in interviews appearing on several broadcast outlets, including BBC World News America, NBC Nightly News, and NPR.

His reporting in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake has earned him numerous honors, including the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism, a first-place National Headliners award, and multiple Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club of New York awards.

In March 2012, Katz's The Big Truck That Went By won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, which is meant to support the completion of a "significant work of non-fiction." The award is given by Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Katz has worked as a writer, reporter, and editor in 10 countries and territories around the world, spending 3½ years as AP's chief correspondent in Haiti. He also has covered congressional and military affairs from Washington, D.C., previously working for Congressional Quarterly and Lee Newspapers.

Katz earned a bachelor's degree in history and American studies from Northwestern University in 2002 and a master's in journalism from Northwestern's Medill School in 2004.

His appearance at Knox College is sponsored by the Eleanor Stellyes Center for Global Studies, which brings guest speakers from around the world to the Knox campus.