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Christopher J. Harper

Christopher J. Harper is a longtime journalist and educator who worked for the Associated Press, Newsweek, ABC News, 20/20, New York University, and Temple University.Born October 1, 1951, in Boise, Idaho, Harper graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism and English literature from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1973. He earned a master's degree in journalism in 1974 from Northwestern University.As a reporter for Newsweek, Harper was one of the few journalists who actually saw the more than 900 bodies in Jonestown, Guyana, in November 1978. His reporting was nominated for a National Magazine Award. As Beirut bureau chief for Newsweek in 1979-1980, Harper reported on the continuing Lebanese civil war and the Iran hostage crisis. He was expelled from Iraq in 1980 for his reporting about Saddam Hussein, whom Harper described as "The Butcher of Baghdad." As Cairo bureau chief for ABC News in 1981, Harper was expelled on September 11, 1981, for his reporting about President Anwar Sadat’s problems with Islamic fundamentalists. Sadat was killed three weeks after the expulsion by members of an Islamic group, which later became the basis for al-Qaeda.During his work as a correspondent and then bureau chief in Rome from 1981 to 1986, Harper reported on the 1981 plot to kill John Paul II'>Pope John Paul II, 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks that left 241 soldiers and Navy seaman dead, and the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 for which he and his team were nominated for five Emmy awards.Harper joined 20/20 in 1986 and worked there until 1995. He produced investigations about a variety of subjects, including airline safety and drug safety, which resulted in the indictment of top officials of one airline company and the banning of a top-selling drug in Europe. He left the news business to teach journalism at New York University in 1995 and later at Temple University, where he headed the award-winning Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab.Harper has edited and written seven books, including one of the first about the digital age and its influence on journalism. The 1998 book, And That’s the Way It Will Be, received acclaim from a variety of reviewers. His 2011 book, Flyover Country, documents the history of his high school graduation class of 1969 from Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.