John Martinkus is an Australian print and television journalist known for his reporting from conflict zones.
He began reporting from Indonesian-occupied
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
in 1995 and set up base there permanently in 1998. His reporting for
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
helped sway the international community to send in a
UN peacekeeping force in late 1999 after the Indonesian military reacted
violently to a
UN-held referendum in which 87% of East Timorese voted for Independence.
He reported extensively from
Papua and
Aceh in Indonesia, two provinces which have also had long-running wars for separation from Indonesia.
He also reported from Afghanistan and Iraq. In October 2004, he was kidnapped outside his hotel in Baghdad by Sunni Insurgents who released him 24 hours later after using the internet to verify his status as a journalist.
In 2011, Martinkus was commissioned to travel to Afghanistan as the Official Australian War Cinematographer for the
Australian War Memorial.
Martinkus lives in
Hobart, Tasmania
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
. He previously taught in the School of Journalism, Media and Communications at the
University of Tasmania
The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first prop ...
.
Bibliography
Books
*
[Subtitle on cover: Eyewitness account of East Timor's descent into hell, 1997-2000.]
*''Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence'' (Black Inc 2002)
*''Indonesia's Secret War in Aceh'' (Random House 2004)
*''Travels in American Iraq'' (Black Inc 2004)
*''Lost Copy: The Endless Wars: Iraq and Afghanistan'' (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2017)
*''The Road: Uprising in West Papua'' (Black Inc 2020)
Articles and other contributions
*
References
Living people
Australian television journalists
Quarterly Essay people
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{australia-journalist-stub