English journalist, television presenter and author
David Morris Aaronovitch
(born 8 July 1954)
[1]
is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He is a regular columnist for
The Times
and the author of
Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country
(2000),
Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History
(2009) and
Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists
(2016). He won the
Orwell Prize
for political journalism in 2001, and the
What the Papers Say
"Columnist of the Year" award for 2003. He previously wrote for
The Independent
and
The Guardian
.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Aaronovitch is the son of
communist
intellectual and
economist
Sam Aaronovitch
,
[2]
and brother of actor
Owen Aaronovitch
and author and screenwriter
Ben Aaronovitch
. His parents were atheists whose "faith was
Marxism
", according to Aaronovitch, and he is
ethnically
half
Jewish
and half Irish.
[3]
He has written that he was brought up "to react to wealth with a
puritanical
pout".
[4]
Aaronovitch attended
Gospel Oak Primary School
until 1965, Holloway County Comprehensive (now
Holloway School
)
[5]
until 1968, and
William Ellis School
from 1968 to 1972, all in London. He studied
Modern History
at
Balliol College, Oxford
. Aaronovitch completed his education at the
Victoria University of Manchester
, graduating in 1978 with a
2:1
BA (Hons)
in History.
While at Manchester, Aaronovitch was a member of the 1975
University Challenge
team that lost in the first round after answering most questions with the name of a
Marxist
("
Trotsky
", "
Lenin
", "
Karl Marx
" or "
Che Guevara
"). The tactics were a protest against the fact that the
University of Oxford
and
Cambridge University
were allowed to enter each of their colleges into the contest as a separate team, even though the colleges were not universities in themselves.
[6]
Aaronovitch was initially a
Eurocommunist
, and was active in the
National Union of Students
(NUS). There he got to know the president at the time,
Charles Clarke
, who later became
Home Secretary
. Aaronovitch himself succeeded
Trevor Phillips
as president of the NUS from 1980 to 1982. He was elected on a
Left
Alliance ticket.
Career in journalism
[
edit
]
Aaranovitch began his media career in the early 1980s as a television researcher and later producer for the
ITV
programme
Weekend World
. In 1988, he began working at the BBC as founding editor of the political current affairs programme
On the Record
.
He moved to print journalism in 1995, working for
The Independent
and
The Independent on Sunday
as chief leader writer, television critic, parliamentary sketch writer and columnist until the end of 2002.
He began contributing to
The Guardian
and
The Observer
in 2003 as a columnist and feature writer. Aaronovitch's columns appeared in
The Guardian
'
s
G2
section. His desire for his pieces to appear on the main comment pages, according to
Peter Wilby
, was reportedly vetoed by the section editor,
Seumas Milne
, although Aaronovitch himself does not know if Milne was involved in the decision.
[7]
Since June 2005, he has written a regular column for
The Times
that he set to depart from in March 2023 following an announcement he made in January 2023 on Twitter.
[8]
He has also been a columnist for
The Jewish Chronicle
. In addition, Aaronovitch has written for a variety of other major British news and opinion publications, such as the
New Statesman
. In addition, he has written for
New Humanist
, and is an "honorary associate" of its publisher, the
Rationalist Association
.
Aaronovitch also presents or contributes to radio and television programmes, including the BBC's
Have I Got News for You
and
BBC News 24
. In 2004 he presented
The Norman Way
, a three-part
BBC Radio 4
documentary looking at regime change in
1066
.
Aaronovitch also hosted the
BBC
series
The Blair Years
(2007), which examined the
prime ministership of Tony Blair
. Some journalists were unimpressed with Aaronovitch or dismissed the series.
[9]
[10]
Political views
[
edit
]
Aaronovitch said the case had "been made" for the
2003 invasion of Iraq
and that he "reluctantly support[ed] military action," his "biggest reason" being "the failure of "vigilant containment" to help the people of Iraq."
[11]
[12]
Since the invasion he maintains the view that it liberated
Iraqis
, and has played down the significance of
Iraq
's putative
weapons of mass destruction
. However, he wrote in 2003: "If nothing is eventually found, I ? as a supporter of the
war
? will never believe another thing that I am told by our government, or that of the
US
ever again. And, more to the point, neither will anyone else. Those weapons had better be there somewhere."
[13]
On 7 September 2018, he labelled people who ask him about the article "lamebrains".
[14]
He remains a strong supporter of former Prime Minister
Tony Blair
.
[15]
In late 2005, Aaronovitch was co-author, with
Oliver Kamm
and journalist
Francis Wheen
, of a complaint to
The Guardian,
after it published an apology to
Noam Chomsky
for an interview by
Emma Brockes
, in which she asserted that Chomsky had denied the
Srebrenica massacre
.
[16]
[17]
A
Guardian
readers' editor found that the newspaper had misrepresented Chomsky's position on the Srebrenica massacre, and that judgement was upheld in May 2006 by an external ombudsman, John Willis.
[18]
In his column of 5 September 2013, Aaronovitch criticized the Labour leader
Ed Miliband
for allegedly providing no alternative to military intervention in Syria, after the use of
chemical weapons
in the
Ghouta attacks
of 21 August 2013.
[19]
[20]
For Aaronovitch, "politically [Miliband] is not a presence at all, he is an absence" and "is neither hunter nor prey, he is scavenger. He is a political vulture."
[21]
During 2013, though Aaronovitch had vigorously supported the bombing campaigns against Iraq, Libya and Syria, he became the chairman of the
human rights
organisation
Index on Censorship
, succeeding
Jonathan Dimbleby
in the role.
[22]
In May 2014, he criticised
Glenn Greenwald
's involvement in the
Edward Snowden
NSA
revelations, and characterised Greenwald as "a stilted writer of overlong, dishonest and repetitive polemics." In response to Aaronovitch's article in an interview with
Media Lens
Greenwald commented on "the hilarious, inane irony of having someone who publicly cheered for the worst political crime of this generation ? the attack on Iraq ? trying to deny other people “journalist” status on the ground that they seek to “change the world” rather than simply report."
[23]
In August 2014, Aaronovitch was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to
The Guardian
expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's
referendum on that issue
.
[24]
[25]
In 2016, he endorsed the
United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union
in the 23 June referendum.
[26]
Aaronovitch later said that
Brexit
would eventually be reversed as the number of older voters, who typically voted for Britain to leave the
European Union
, gradually die.
[27]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Aaronovitch lives in London with his wife and three daughters.
[28]
In 2011, Aaronovitch was the victim of a "medical accident" following routine surgery.
[29]
He survived
septicemia
thanks to
antibiotics
, a treatment that was not available to his grandmother, who died of an infection following an insect bite in 1930. This experience led him to become an advocate for
Antibiotic Research UK
and the charity's work to promote proper antibiotic use and the development of new antibiotics.
Works
[
edit
]
- Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country
(Fourth Estate, 2000)
ISBN
978-1-84115-540-1
- No Excuses for Terror
, a 45-minute documentary film that "criticizes how the anti-Israel views of the far-left and far-right have permeated the mainstream media and political discourse."
[30]
- Blaming the Jews
, a 45-minute documentary film that evaluates anti-Semitism in Arab media and culture.
- God and the Politicians
, 28 September 2005, a documentary film that looks at the important question of the increasing religious influence on politics in the UK
- Voodoo Histories: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History
, Jonathan Cape, 2009,
ISBN
978-0-224-07470-4
[31]
Published in the US in 2010 by
Riverhead Books
,
ISBN
978-1-59448-895-5
- Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists
. Jonathan Cape, 2016.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Index entry"
.
FreeBMD
. ONS
. Retrieved
27 August
2017
.
- ^
Barker, Martin (1992).
Haunt of Fears: Strange History of the British Horror Comics Campaign
, University Press of Mississippi.
ISBN
978-0-87805-594-4
- ^
"The JDOV talks no.3 - David Aaronovitch: Choosing a faith"
.
The Jewish Chronicle
. 3 January 2017
. Retrieved
18 May
2017
.
- ^
Stephen Byers and the sad ghost of new Labour
Archived
26 May 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
The Old Camdenians Club
. Retrieved 31 January 2015
- ^
Kelner, Simon (22 April 2013).
"How did Manchester get so good at University Challenge? Fingers on the buzzers, please"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
28 July
2016
.
- ^
Wilby, Peter (16 April 2016).
"The Thin Controller"
.
New Statesman
. Retrieved
17 April
2016
.
- ^
Maher, Bron (16 January 2023).
"David Aaronovitch to depart The Times after 18 years"
.
Press Gazette
. Retrieved
26 July
2023
.
- ^
Cooke, Rachel
(22 November 2007).
"A great big rip-off"
.
New Statesman
. Retrieved
11 April
2020
.
- ^
Lawson, Mark
(17 November 2007).
"The Blair Years: Economical with the candour"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
11 April
2020
.
- ^
Aaronovitch, David (18 February 2003).
"Dear marcher, please answer a few questions"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
23 July
2023
.
- ^
Aaronovitch, David (11 February 2003).
"War or peace - blood will still be spilled"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Aaronovitch, David (29 April 2003).
"Those weapons had better be there ..."
The Guardian
.
- ^
Aaronovitch, David (7 September 2018).
"If you search you will find that I responded to the first thousand unoriginal lamebrains who raised it on here. Then, about half a decade ago I thought, 'nah', and just muted"
.
- ^
Nelson, Fraser (5 September 2013).
"David Aaronovitch: Syria vote shows Ed Miliband is a 'vulture' not a
eader'
"
.
The Spectator
. Archived from
the original
on 7 September 2013
. Retrieved
5 September
2013
.
- ^
The Chomsky Complaint
David Aaronovitch's weblog, 20 March 2006.
Archived
16 November 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Brockes, Emma (31 October 2005). "The Greatest Intellectual?",
The Guardian
(London); the background was that
Chomsky
complained that Brockes' article was defamatory in implying he denied the fact of the
Srebrenica massacre
of 1995. The article has since been withdrawn from the
Guardian's
website, but, as Chomsky is opposed to
censorship
, it remains available on the official Chomsky website
Chomsky.info
Archived
3 January 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Willis, John (25 May 2006).
External Ombudsman Report
,
The Guardian
.
- ^
Sellstrom, Ake
; Scott Cairns; Maurizio Barbeschi (13 September 2013).
"United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic ? Report on the Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in the Ghouta Area of Damascus on 21 August 2013"
(PDF)
. United Nations.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 18 September 2013
. Retrieved
19 September
2013
.
- ^
"UN Chemical Weapons Report Will Confirm Sarin Gas Used in Aug. 21 Attack"
. 16 September 2013. Archived from
the original
on 9 December 2013
. Retrieved
17 September
2013
.
- ^
David Aaronovitch
"Ed Miliband is no leader. He is a vulture"
,
The Times
(subscription), 5 September 2013, cited by Fraser Nelson
"David Aaronovitch: Syria vote shows Ed Miliband is a ‘vulture’ not a ‘leader’"
Archived
7 September 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
,
The Spectator
(Coffee House blog), 5 September 2013
- ^
"Winners ? Index Awards 2013"
, Index on Censorship, 21 March 2013
- ^
David Aaronovitch
"After Snowden, do you feel less safe?"
New Statesman
, 28 May 2014
- ^
"Scottish independence: Celebrities call for Scots No vote"
, BBC News Scotland, 7 August 2014
- ^
Peter Dominiczak
"Sir Mick Jagger joins 200 public figures calling for Scotland to stay in the UK"
,
The Sunday Telegraph
, 10 August 2014;
- ^
"Party Animals: Brexit could drag all of Europe into disaster"
.
The Times
. 11 February 2016
. Retrieved
4 January
2017
.
- ^
"BBC Two - Newsnight, 'The Brexit generation is dying out'
"
. bbc.co.uk. 4 January 2018
. Retrieved
13 January
2020
.
- ^
"About David Aaronovitch, from penguin.com"
. Archived from
the original
on 30 December 2013
. Retrieved
2 September
2013
.
Not found 21 July 2022
- ^
David Aaronovitch video from Antibiotic Research UK AGM 2017
, retrieved
8 September
2022
- ^
"No excuses for terror"
Archived
25 November 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
,
Honest Reporting
, September 2006.
- ^
"Debunking conspiracy theories"
,
BBC Breakfast
, 8 May 2009. Not found 21 July 2022
External links
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]
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