Vince Beiser

Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles. He has exposed conditions in California's harshest prisons, trained with troops bound for Iraq, ridden with the first responders to Haiti's earthquake and hunted down other stories from around the world for publications including The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Harper's, The Atlantic, Wired, The Village Voice, The New Republic, The Nation and Rolling Stone. He has also been a senior editor for Mother Jones, a special projects reporter for The Oakland Tribune, and a senior writer for The Jerusalem Report, Israel's leading news magazine.

Vince's work has been honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Columbia, Medill and Missouri Graduate Schools of Journalism, the National Mental Health Association, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and many other institutions. He has also twice been part of a team that won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, the magazine industry's highest honor.

His articles have been featured in several textbooks and anthologies, and have been translated into half-a-dozen languages and reprinted around the world in publications from GQ-South Africa to Reader's Digest-Asia.

Vince has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows on CBS, BBC, NPR and other networks, and on many panel discussions and lectures. He graduated with highest honors (Summa cum Laude) from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies.

Vince is also the co-author of a feature film screenplay commissioned by director Steven Soderbergh.

RESUME

EXPERIENCE
October 2002 – present: Freelance journalist specializing in criminal justice, social issues and technology. My work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, The Village Voice, The Atlantic, Wired and many other publications.

August 2008 - present: Contributing Editor to Miller-McCune, a new national magazine of social and political issues.

November 2005 - present: Instructor with MediaBistro, a nationwide media professionals’ association. Teach classes on investigative journalism and freelancing techniques.

July 2007 - January 2008: Senior Editor with the digital arm of Wired Science, a PBS television series based on Wired magazine.

November 1999 – October 2002: Senior Editor with MotherJones.com, the online sister publication of San Francisco-based Mother Jones magazine. Assigned, edited and wrote articles from daily briefs to in-depth features, produced special investigative projects, supervised four interns and wrote articles for print magazine. Headed team producing award-winning Web-based investigative project on the economic and social costs of prison expansion in all 50 states.

September 1998 - November 1999: Freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, specializing in criminal justice issues. In addition to some of the publications noted above, my work appeared in LA Weekly, Spin and other publications.

July 1997 - August 1998: Special Projects Writer with The Oakland Tribune, a Pulitzer Prize-winning California daily. Wrote in-depth news features on a wide range of topics, with emphasis on health, technology and criminal justice issues. My articles also appeared in the Tribune’s six sister newspapers.

September 1994 - July 1997: Senior Writer with The Jerusalem Report, Israel’s leading news magazine. Covered political, social and religious issues in New York City and nationwide, from the presidential elections to an exclusive interview with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

April 1993 - May 1994: Correspondent for Maclean’s, Canada’s national news magazine, covering the conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and other ex-Yugoslav republics. Co-authored reports on Bosnia and Croatia for Human Rights Watch.

April 1992 - April 1993: Staff Writer with The Prague Post weekly newspaper in the Czech Republic. Covered social and economic issues and eventual break-up of post-Communist Czechoslovakia.

February 1991 - April 1992: Associate Editor with Adbusters, a media analysis magazine based in Vancouver, Canada. Assigned, edited and wrote articles, from briefs to features.

March 1990 - January 1991: English Editor with Jerusalem Press Service, a news agency in Jerusalem, Israel. Wrote daily field reports from the West Bank and Gaza Strip for distribution to international media.

AWARDS AND HONORS
Individual:
National Mental Health Association Media Award winner
Investigative Reporters & Editors award finalist
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism/Online News Association award finalist
Missouri School of Journalism Lifestyle Journalism award finalist
John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism finalist
Los Angeles Press Club - Magazine Investigative Report award finalist (three times)
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for In-Depth News Story finalist
National Council on Crime and Delinquency Media Award winner (twice)
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Media Award winner
Casey Journalism Center (University of Maryland) Fellow
Knight Digital Media Center Fellow

Team Member:
National Magazine Award for General Excellence winner (twice)
Alternative Press Award winner (three times)
Project Censored award winner
Webby award finalist

EDUCATION
University of California, Berkeley: Bachelor of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Studies, completed 1989. Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude).
American University in Cairo, Egypt: Academic year abroad, 1986 -1987.

OTHER SKILLS
Conversational Spanish, French, and Arabic. Some Serbo-Croat.

Video editing with Final Cut Pro. Some HTML.

REFERENCES
Drex Heikes
Editor
LA Weekly
(former Editor in Chief of The Los Angeles Times Magazine)
Tel: 310-574-7100

Eric Bates
Executive Editor
Rolling Stone
Tel: 212/484-1675
Eric.bates@rollingstone.com

Clara Jeffery
Editor in Chief
Mother Jones
Tel: 415/665 6637
clara@motherjones.com