birth_place status credits birth_date gender spouse article_title occupation
chicago , illinois married '' the new york times '' 31 august 1949 male celia w. dugger barry bearak
 journalist , professor of journalism
barry bearak

barry leon bearak -lrb- born august 31 , 1949 , in chicago -rrb- is an american journalist and educator who has worked as a reporter and correspondent for `` the miami herald '' , `` the los angeles times '' , and `` the new york times '' .
he taught journalism as a visiting professor at the columbia university graduate school of journalism .
bearak won the 2002 pulitzer prize for international reporting for his penetrating accounts of poverty and war in afghanistan .
the pulitzer prize committee cited him `` for his deeply affecting and illuminating coverage of daily life in war-torn afghanistan . '' .
bearak was also a pulitzer finalist in feature writing in 1987 .
on april 3 , 2008 , bearak was taken into custody by zimbabwean police as part of a crackdown on journalists covering the 2008 zimbabwean election .
he was charged with `` falsely presenting himself as a journalist '' in violation of the strict accreditation requirements that were imposed by the government of robert mugabe .
despite worldwide condemnation and court petitions that were filed immediately to release him from detention , bearak remained in a detention cell in harare for 5 days .
on april 7 , 2008 bearak was released on bail by a zimbabwean court .
on april 16 , 2008 , a zimbabwean court dismissed the charges against bearak , saying that the state had failed to provide evidence of any crime , and ordered that bearak and stephen bevan , a british freelance reporter who had also been accused of violating the country 's stiff journalism laws , be released .
immediately following the court ruling , mr. bearak left zimbabwe and returned to his home in johannesburg . ''
