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Vince Beiser

Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles. He has exposed conditions in California's harshest prisons, trained with troops bound for Iraq, ridden with the first responders to Haiti's earthquake and hunted down other stories from around the world for publications including Wired, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Harper's, The Atlantic, The Village Voice, The New Republic, The Nation, Playboy, and Rolling Stone. He has also been a senior editor for Mother Jones, a special projects reporter for The Oakland Tribune, and a senior writer for The Jerusalem Report, Israel's leading news magazine.

Vince's work has been honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Columbia, Medill and Missouri Graduate Schools of Journalism, the National Mental Health Association, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and many other institutions. He has also twice been part of a team that won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, the magazine industry's highest honor.

His articles have been featured in several textbooks and anthologies, and have been translated into half-a-dozen languages and reprinted around the world in publications from GQ-South Africa to Reader's Digest-Asia.

Vince has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows on CBS, BBC, NPR and other networks, and on many panel discussions and lectures. He graduated with highest honors (Summa cum Laude) from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies.

Vince is also the co-author of a feature film screenplay commissioned by director Steven Soderbergh.

RESUME

Freelance journalism
I am currently a full-time freelancer specializing in social issues, criminal justice, technology, and the intersections of all three. I have reported from over two dozen countries on assignments for Wired, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, The Village Voice, Playboy, Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and many other publications. My articles have won numerous awards (see below) and have been reprinted in anthologies, text books, and periodicals around the world.

Job history
April 2014-July 2014: Founding Editor of TakePart World. Conceived, developed and launched this online news and information hub aimed at changing how Americans think about the developing world. The website was a project of Participant Media, producer of such documentaries as "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Waiting for Superman," with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

December 2011-December 2013: Articles Editor at Pacific Standard. Part of the team that conceived and launched this award-winning bimonthly print and daily online magazine of cutting-edge research and ideas, which was nominated in its second year for a National Magazine Award. Wrote, assigned, and edited articles of every length for both platforms.

November 2005 - December 2010: Taught classes on investigative journalism and freelancing techniques for MediaBistro, a media professionals’ association.

July 2007 - January 2008: Senior Editor with the digital arm of Wired Science, a PBS television series based on Wired magazine.

November 1999 – October 2002: Senior Editor with MotherJones.com, the online sister publication of Mother Jones magazine.Assigned, edited and wrote articles from daily briefs to in-depth features, produced special investigative projects, supervised four interns, and wrote articles for print magazine. Headed team producing award-winning Web-based investigation into the economic and social costs of prisons in all 50 states.

September 1998 - November 1999: Freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, specializing in criminal justice issues. In addition to some of the publications noted above, my work appeared in LA Weekly, Spin and other publications.

July 1997 - August 1998: Special Projects Writer with The Oakland Tribune, a Pulitzer Prize-winning California daily. Wrote in-depth news features on a wide range of topics, with emphasis on health, technology and criminal justice issues. My articles also appeared in the Tribune’s six sister newspapers.

September 1994 - July 1997: Senior Writer with The Jerusalem Report, Israel’s leading news magazine. Covered political, social and religious issues in New York City and nationwide, from the presidential elections to an exclusive interview with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

April 1993 - May 1994: Correspondent for Maclean’s, Canada’s national news magazine, covering the conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and other ex-Yugoslav republics. Co-authored reports on Bosnia and Croatia for Human Rights Watch.

April 1992 - April 1993: Staff Writer with The Prague Post weekly newspaper in the Czech Republic. Covered social and economic issues and eventual break-up of post-Communist Czechoslovakia.

February 1991 - April 1992: Associate Editor with Adbusters, a media analysis magazine based in Vancouver, Canada. Assigned, edited and wrote articles, from briefs to features.

March 1990 - January 1991: English Editor with Jerusalem Press Service, a news agency in Jerusalem, Israel. Wrote daily field reports from the West Bank and Gaza Strip for distribution to international media.

Awards and Honors — Individual
Winner:

      Media for Liberty Award, a $50,000 prize for a work of journalism “that examines    

     the link between economic and political liberty.”

Society of Professional Journalists award for explanatory journalism

Los Angeles Press Club award for in-depth magazine feature

National Mental Health Association Media Award

National Council on Crime and Delinquency award (twice)

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Media Award

 

Finalist:

Investigative Reporters & Editors award

Columbia Graduate School of Journalism/Online News Association award

Missouri School of Journalism Lifestyle Journalism award

John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism

Los Angeles Press Club - Magazine Investigative Report award (four times)

Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for In-Depth News Story

 

Fellowships:

Casey Journalism Center (University of Maryland)

Knight Digital Media Center (University of California, Berkeley)

 

Team Member:

National Magazine Award for General Excellence (two wins, one nomination)

Alternative Press Award winner (three times)

Project Censored award winner

Webby award finalist

 

Education           

University of California, Berkeley: Bachelor of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Studies, completed 1989. Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude).

American University in Cairo, Egypt: Academic year abroad, 1986 -1987.

 

Other skills   

Conversational Spanish, French, and Arabic. Some Serbo-Croat.

 

Video and audio editing with Final Cut Pro. Familiar with WordPress, InDesign and some HTML.