| Jeffrey Gettleman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1971 |
| Occupation | journalist |
| Title | East Africa Bureau Chief |
| Spouse(s) | Courtenay Morris |
| Notable credit(s) | The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, St. Petersburg Times, Cherwell |
Jeffrey A. Gettleman (born 1971) is an American journalist who has been the East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Nairobi, Kenya, since 2006.
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Gettleman graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1990, and Cornell University in 1994 with a B.A. in Philosophy.[1] Initially he did not know what he wanted to do after graduation, so took a leave of absence to back pack around the world which he says help set his life trajectory. However, when a professor suggested journalism as a profession, he scoffed at the idea, saying "That was the dumbest idea I had heard... who wants to work for a boring newspaper?”.[2] Beginning in 1994, he was a communications officer for Save the Children organization in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
After his graduation from Cornell, he received a Marshall Scholarship to attend Oxford University, where he received a Masters degree in Philosophy in June 1996. While at Oxford, Gettleman was the first American editor of Cherwell, the university's student newspaper.[3]
He began his Journalism career as a city hall and police reporter for the St. Petersburg Times from 1997-1998. In 1999, Gettleman joined the Los Angeles Times as a general assignment reporter. Two years later he became bureau chief in Atlanta, he was also a war correspondent for them in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
In 2002, Gettleman joined The New York Times as a domestic correspondent in Atlanta, where he later became the bureau chief. He reported from Iraq beginning in 2003, where he did a total of five tours. After a stint as a reporter for the papers Metro desk in 2004, he would become a foreign correspondent for the East Africa bureau of The New York Times, located in Nairobi in July 2006. Only a month later he would be named chief.[3]
Currently he covers over ten countries, focusing the majority of his work on the conflicts in Kenya, Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. During his time working in these countries, he has been kidnapped multiple times, threatened, held at gun point, and been shot at.[2][4][5] He is known for his style of coverage on horrific events, dubbed by Jack Shafer as the Gettleman method, he plays it straight and direct, is easy on the cynicism, and reports without a hint of any world weariness. His realism on the subjects he covers provides a snap shot of reality that the majority of his readers will never experience.
He has been a commentator on CNN, BBC, PBS, NPR and ABC.[6]
Gettleman is the son of Robert W. Gettleman (b. 1943),[7] a judge of the United State District Court for the Northern District of Illinois,[8] and Joyce R. Gettleman, a psychotherapist with a private practice in Evanston, Illinois.[9] Gettleman's sister Lynn Gettleman Chehab is a physician.
Gettleman is married to Courtenay Morris,[3] a former assistant public defender who is now a web producer for the Times.