years_active birth_place alias nationality credits birth_date article_title education name occupation
1974 - 1995 boise , idaho chris harper , chris j. harper american '' newsweek '' beirut bureau chief -lrb- 1979-1980 -rrb- 01 october 1951 christopher j. harper
 bachelor university of nebraska-lincoln , 1973 's degree in journalism and english literature , christopher j. harper print and television reporter , educator
christopher j. harper

christopher j. harper is a longtime journalist and educator who worked for the associated press , `` newsweek '' , abc news , `` 20/20 '' , new york university , and temple university .
born october 1 , 1951 , in boise , idaho , harper graduated with a bachelor 's degree in journalism and english literature from the university of nebraska -- lincoln in 1973 .
he earned a master 's degree in journalism in 1974 from northwestern university .
as a reporter for `` newsweek '' , harper was one of the few journalists who actually saw the more than 900 bodies in jonestown , guyana , in november 1978 .
his reporting was nominated for a national magazine award .
as beirut bureau chief for `` newsweek '' in 1979-1980 , harper reported on the continuing lebanese civil war and the iran hostage crisis .
he was expelled from iraq in 1980 for his reporting about saddam hussein , whom harper described as `` the butcher of baghdad . ''
as cairo bureau chief for abc news in 1981 , harper was expelled on september 11 , 1981 , for his reporting about president anwar sadat 's problems with islamic fundamentalists .
sadat was killed three weeks after the expulsion by members of an islamic group , which later became the basis for al-qaeda .
during his work as a correspondent and then bureau chief in rome from 1981 to 1986 , harper reported on the 1981 plot to kill pope john paul ii , 1982 israeli invasion of lebanon , the 1983 bombing of the marine barracks that left 241 soldiers and navy seaman dead , and the 1985 hijacking of twa flight 847 for which he and his team were nominated for five emmy awards .
harper joined `` 20/20 '' in 1986 and worked there until 1995 .
he produced investigations about a variety of subjects , including airline safety and drug safety , which resulted in the indictment of top officials of one airline company and the banning of a top-selling drug in europe .
he left the news business to teach journalism at new york university in 1995 and later at temple university , where he headed the award-winning multimedia urban reporting lab .
harper has edited and written seven books , including one of the first about the digital age and its influence on journalism .
the 1998 book , `` and that 's the way it will be '' , received acclaim from a variety of reviewers .
his 2011 book , `` flyover country '' , documents the history of his high school graduation class of 1969 from lincoln high school in sioux falls , south dakota .
