Simon Denyer is a British journalist, author, and wildlife conservationist. He served as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for 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 ...

'' and for ''

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 ...

'', including in Beijing, New Delhi, Washington, Islamabad, Nairobi, New York and London.

Education

Denyer graduated from

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. ...

in 1983. He earned a

master of arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in economics from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in 1987.

Career

Denyer joined ''

'' as a journalist in London in 1992, later becoming bureau chief in Washington, New Delhi, Islamabad and Kabul; also serving as a correspondent in Nairobi, New York and London. He later joined the ''

'' as bureau chief in India, also serving as president of the

Foreign Correspondents' Club Foreign Correspondents' Club is a group of clubs for foreign correspondents and other journalists. Some clubs are members only, and some are open to the public. Cambodia The Foreign Correspondents' Club in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, is a ...

of South Asia (2011-2013), later transitioning to China's bureau chief (2013-2018), and finally to Japan and the Koreas (2018-2021). Denyer had initially planned a departure from the ''Washington Post'' in July 2021, but was requested to stay an additional 2 months to cover the Tokyo Olympics. Denyer joined

WildAid WildAid is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. WildAid focuses on reducing the demand for wildlife products. WildAid works with Asian and Western celebrities and business leaders to dissuade people fr ...

, an environmental organization, as its Africa programme manager in October 2021.

Criticism of Manmohan Singh

Denyer faced criticism in 2012 for his article "India's “silent” prime minister becomes a tragic figure", in which he criticized former Indian Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

. Singh’s media advisor,

Pankaj Pachauri Pankaj Pachauri ( hi, पंकज पचौरी, born 24 September 1963) is an Indian TV anchor and journalist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Gonews, India's first app based TV News channel. Pachauri was associated with NDTV for ...

, posted in the online comments section after the article was posted, claiming Denyer did not get in contact with the Prime Minister’s Office to get their side of the story. Denyer countered, saying he had requested an interview with the PM three times and wanted to meet senior PMO officials but his requests were ignored or declined. Two quotes from the article first appeared in a 2011 article published by the Indian magazine ''

The Caravan ''The Caravan'' is an Indian English-language, long-form narrative journalism magazine covering politics and culture. History In 1940, Vishwa Nath launched ''Caravan'' as the first magazine from the Delhi Press; it went on to establish its ...

''. The quotes appeared without citation on Denyer's article. Former media advisor

Sanjaya Baru Sanjaya Baru is a political commentator and policy analyst. He served as Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) until his resignation in April 2018. Prior to this, he was Director for Geo-Economic ...

and Tushar Poddar, an economist from

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

, distanced themselves from the attributed comments. Denyer admitted that his quotes came from ''The Caravan'' but claimed that he spoke to Baru, who gave him permission to use the quotes. The Washington Post printed a correction.

Felicia Sonmez lawsuit

In August 2021, an accusation of sexual harassment against Denyer was made public by ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' in its coverage of

Felicia Sonmez Felicia Sonmez is an American journalist. She began her career as a foreign correspondent in Beijing. In 2010, she joined ''The Washington Post'' as a political reporter. She is known for her social media activity, for which she was fired from th ...

's lawsuit against the Post. Sonmez accused the newspaper of managerial hypocrisy for having barred her from covering stories on sexual assault because she had come out as a sexual assault survivor, while allowing Denyer to continue coverage of such stories despite his past accusation. A female reporter accused Denyer of having once sent her an unsolicited photo of his underwear-covered crotch. ''The Washington'' ''Post'' opened an investigation on Denyer and ruled no professional wrongdoing on Denyer's part that warranted dismissal and instead issued him a warning. The lawsuit was dismissed with

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

in March 2022.

Bibliography

* ''Foreign Correspondent: Fifty Years of Reporting South Asia'' (2008) * ''Rogue Elephant: Harnessing the Power of India's Unruly Democracy'' (2014)

Awards

In 2016, Denyer won the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Award for best English spot news story. In 2017, Denyer,

Emily Rauhala Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...

and

Elizabeth Dwoskin Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

shared the

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

’s Bob Considine Award for best newspaper, news service or digital coverage of international affairs for a series called “Behind the Firewall”, detailing China’s system of censorship and digital surveillance. In 2019, Denyer shared a merit award with

Annie Gowen Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

and Jasu Hu in the multimedia category at the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards for an article titled “Too Many Men", an examination of the effects of the gender imbalance in China and India. Denyer was part of a Washington Post team who won the 2020

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear pr ...

for a series titled "2°C: Beyond The Limit".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denyer, Simon Living people English male journalists The Washington Post people Year of birth missing (living people)