James Brooke
James Bettner Brooke (born February 21, 1955 in New York City), an American journalist, is currently the Russia/former Soviet Union Bureau Chief for Voice of America, based in Moscow. For VOA, he writes Russia Watch, a weekly blog. Previously, he worked as Moscow Bureau Chief for Bloomberg. Before Bloomberg, he reported for 24 years for The New York Times, largely overseas.Among the posts Brooke has held at the Times: assistant to James Reston, Washington columnist, 1978–80 metropolitan reporter, 1984–86 bureau chief, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, December 1986-January 1989 bureau chief, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 1989-July 1995 Rocky Mountain bureau chief, Denver, Colorado, August 1995-1999 bureau chief, Canada, August 1999- 2001 East Asia correspondent (Japan, South Korea, North Korea) based in Tokyo, August 2001-June 2006Brooke graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Latin American Studies and was a stringer for United Press International as a student. In 1976, he spent a semester at Pontificia Universidade Catolica in Rio de Janeiro.After graduation, Brooke was a freelance reporter and part-time staffer at The Berkshire Eagle in Massachusetts from June 1977 to April 1978. Prior to joining the Times as a reporter in 1984, he was the South American correspondent for The Miami Herald.
