When Nicholas Kristof flew to Africa in the late 1990s to report on the erupting civil war in the Congo, he didn’t realize it would quickly turn into the “trip from hell.”

The trip consisted of a plane crash, followed by a weeklong chase through the jungles of Eastern Congo to evade a local warlord’s soldiers, then capped by contracting a lethal form of malaria.

But first-hand experiences such as these distinguish the international columnist from others in the field, said Steve Davis, chair of the newspaper and online journalism department at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

“He lives the stories that he writes, and you can tell that when he writes,” Davis said. “The writing has a different authority and credibility to it.”

Kristof, who has won two Pulitzer Prizes and has been nominated for four others since he started working for The New York Times in 1984, will deliver the commencement address for the Syracuse University graduation ceremony on Sunday in the Carrier Dome. Best known for writing about conditions in impoverished countries — including global health, human trafficking and the status of women — Kristof is widely regarded for his expansive influence within and beyond the field of journalism.

His interest in reporting has always been present, Kristof said in an interview, from working as an editor of an eighth-grade newspaper to contributing to The Harvard Crimson during his undergraduate education at Harvard University. While attending law school at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship, he wrote and sold articles to fund his independent — and cheap — travel plans.

Since this first foray into international reporting, Kristof has lived on four continents, reported on six and traveled to more than 150 countries, according to his biography on The New York Times’ website.

His coverage of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, merited his first Pulitzer Prize in international reporting in 1990. His second Pulitzer, this time in the commentary category in 2006, recognized his columns on the genocide in Darfur.

In 2001, Kristof switched from foreign correspondent to columnist. Although he long had an interest in writing a column, he said, Thomas Friedman served as the foreign affairs columnist.

“I didn’t quite see how I would become a columnist unless a meteorite came down and whacked Tom, and I didn’t want that to happen,” Kristof said.

But after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he said, the increased interest in international affairs made adding a second international columnist reasonable.

The transition was difficult at first. Kristof, who described himself as “not the naturally the most opinionated person in the room,” said he often revised his columns at the advice of his wife to take a stronger stance on the topic. But he said he loves writing for the op-ed page and the freedom it gives him to report on issues he cares about.

“I have this amazing spotlight and I can shine it on neglected issues in a way that will help project them onto the global agenda,” he said. “And once that happens, they’re more likely to get addressed.”

For example, the increased recognition of the challenges faced by women in developing countries can be attributed, in part, to Kristof’s work, said Catherine Bertini, former executive director of the World Food Programme and former United Nations under-secretary-general for management.

“I’ve seen more community reaction and support for women and girls in part because of the stories and the issues that they learned about from reading Kristof,” said Bertini, who is also a professor of practice in public administration and international affairs at SU.

Policy makers often quote Kristof when promoting programs that address the issues he highlights in his columns, she added.

Bertini also spoke on a panel with Kristof in New York City several years ago about world hunger, she said.

Kristof has done more to change the world for the better than any other journalist, said Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. Kristof received a Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism from the center in March, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the field.

“His column is one that is almost always rooted in trying to foment action on behalf of people who are in desperate need of it and takes on neglected causes,” Jones said.

Kristof is willing to put himself in risky situations and dangerous areas to cover these issues, he said.

“I think he is someone who really puts his money where his mouth is,” Jones said. “The work that journalists sometimes do from a distance, he does close up.”

Currently, Kristof is taking a break from his column to work on a book with his wife about how to make a difference in the world. He already has in mind a long list of places from which he’d like to report: Syria, Burma, China, Latin America.

And even Eastern Congo.

Published on May 9, 2013 at 12:01 am