James Cameron (journalist)
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Mark James Cameron (1911 - 26 January 1985) was a prominent British journalist, in whose memory the annual James Cameron Memorial Lecture is given.
Cameron was born in Battersea, London of Scottish parentage; his father, William Ernest Cameron, was a barrister who also wrote novels under the pseudonym "Mark Allerton".
Cameron began his career as an office dogsbody with the Weekly News in 1935. Having worked for Scottish newspapers and for the Daily Express in Fleet Street, he was rejected for military service in World War II. After the war, his experience reporting on the Bikini Atoll nuclear experiments turned him into a committed pacifist and a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He continued to work for the Express until 1950, briefly joined Picture Post (where he and photographer Bert Hardy covered the Korean War stunningly, winning the Missouri Pictures of the Year Award for "Inchon" and losing "Picture Post" editor Sir Tom Hopkinson his job when Hopkinson went to bat for the pair on their Pusan U.N. atrocities coverage, as publisher Sir Edward Hulton opted to self-censor/abort the latter coverage), and then spent eight years with the News Chronicle. In his last years, he wrote a regular column for The Guardian.
Cameron also did illustration work, especially in his early career. Working in Scotland for D. C. Thomson, he provided drawings for the sensationalist items carried in Thomson's publications. At one point he rebelled when asked to draw a murder of a young girl, over-embellishing it with excesses of blood and other grisly detail. Called to Thomson's office, to his surprise he was rebuked merely for exposing her underwear, with no mention of the blood.
He was married three times, to Elma, Elizabeth and Moni; and had three children, Desmond, Elma and Fergus. Besides journalism and history, he wrote two volumes of autobiography: Point of Departure, a chronicle of his life, and An Indian Summer, about his relationship with India; his marriage to Moni, an Indian; and his serious car accident and near death in Calcutta.
With the advent of television, Cameron became well-known as a broadcaster, presenting several BBC series including Cameron Country. He also wrote a successful radio play, The Pump (1973), based on his experience of open heart surgery.
[edit] Bibliography
- Touch of the Sun (1950)
- Mandarin Red (1955)
- 1914: A Portrait of the Year (1959)
- The African Revolution (1961)
- 1916: Year of Decision (1962)
- Men of Our Time (1963)
- Witness in Vietnam (1966)
- Point of Departure (1967) ISBN 0-85362-175-6
- What a Way to Run the Tribe (selected journalism) (1968)
- An Indian Summer (1974) ISBN 0-14-009569-1
- The Making of Israel (1976)
- Wish You Were Here: The English at Play (with Patrick Ward) (1977)
[edit] James Cameron Awards for Journalism
There is an annual James Cameron Award Ceremony held in London.
Previous Winners
2004
- James Cameron Memorial Award for Outstanding Journalism, John Ware
- Special Posthumous Award, Paul Foot
2002
- James Cameron Memorial Award for reporting from Africa, Chris McGreal
