Austin Bennett Tice (born August 11, 1981) is an American

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

and a veteran U.S. Marine Corps officer who was kidnapped while reporting in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

on August 14, 2012.

Early life and education

Tice is from

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, the eldest of seven siblings. He is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

and grew up dreaming of becoming an international correspondent for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. At the age of 16, Tice attended the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

for one year, then transferred to and graduated from the

Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 2002. He completed two years of study at

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

before going to Syria as a freelance journalist during the summer break before his third and final year of law studies.

Career

Tice was previously a U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, serving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He left active duty as a Captain but remained in the Marine Corps Reserves. Tice's father said, "He was hearing reports from Syria saying this is happening and that is happening but it can't be confirmed because there really are no reporters on the ground. And he said, 'You know, this is a story that the world needs to know about.'" He was one of only a few foreign journalists to report from inside Syria during the intensification of the civil war. He entered the country in May 2012 and traveled through central Syria, filing battlefield dispatches before arriving in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

in late July 2012. Tice's reporting garnered his Twitter account 2,000 followers. He stopped tweeting after August 11, 2012. Tice was one of the first American correspondents to witness Syrian-rebel confrontations. His coverage was cited, along with efforts of additional reporters, as contributing to

McClatchy The McClatchy Company, commonly referred to as simply McClatchy, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law and based in Sacramento, California. It operates 29 daily newspapers in fourteen states and ...

winning a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the award ...

for war reporting for its coverage of Syria's civil war.

Abduction

Tice was working as a freelance journalist for McClatchy, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'',

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and other media when he was abducted from

Darayya Darayya ( ar, دَارَيَّا, Dārayyā) is a suburb of Damascus in Syria, the centre of Darayya lying south-west of the centre of Damascus. Administratively it belongs to Rif Dimashq. History and population Darayya is one of the oldest ...

. There was no immediate contact from Tice or his captors, but in September 2012 a 47-second video of Tice blindfolded and bound was released. In October 2012, a US spokesperson said it was believed, based on the limited information it had, that Tice was in the custody of the Syrian government. No government or group in Syria has said it is holding Tice. In February 2015,

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

(RSF) launched its pro bono #freeaustintice campaign. Since September 2012, RSF has been assisting and advising his family. His parents asked RSF to help them raise awareness about their son's situation. RSF partnered with the global advertising agency

J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merge ...

to prepare a public awareness campaign in order to do everything possible to bring Tice safely home. The campaign has since garnered over 17,000 signatories and a widespread blindfold pledge on social media. In April 2018, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

increased their reward for information regarding Tice's whereabouts to $1 million and two US officials said Tice is believed to have survived captivity. In August 2018, a

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

official said the US government still believes Tice is being held by the Syrian government or its allies. Concerning an August meeting between US and Syrian security officials in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, two senior US intelligence sources told

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

the "ongoing dialogue" with the Syrian government included the fate of Tice. In November 2018,

reported that Robert C. O'Brien, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, had called on

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

to "exert whatever influence they have in Syria" to secure Tice's release. The Syrian government said that it was unaware of Tice's whereabouts. In December 2018, Tice's parents announced during a press conference that they had received new information that indicated their son was still alive without elaborating further. Speaking to reporters from Beirut, Tice's parents said they believed that the best chance of Tice's release would come from direct talks between the US and Syrian governments. After Tice's disappearance was mentioned by WHCA president Steven Portnoy at the 2022

White House Correspondents Dinner The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor t ...

, President Joe Biden invited Tice's parents to the White House for a meeting. Following the 45 minute meeting, his parents said they are hopeful for his return. As part of a statement issued to mark the tenth anniversary of Tice's captivity, Biden noted that the US government knew "with certainty" that the journalist was being held by the Syrian government.

References

External links

The Family of Austin Tice site

Free Austin Tice
on ''

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

''
Austin Tice
on ''

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on ''

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

''
Free Austin Tice
on ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tice, Austin 1981 births 2010s missing person cases American people taken hostage Disappeared journalists Foreign hostages in Syria Georgetown University Law Center alumni Journalists from Houston Kidnapped American people Missing person cases in Syria Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni The Washington Post people United States Marine Corps officers War correspondents of the Syrian civil war

Early life and education

Career

Abduction

See also

References

Further reading

External links