David Leeson
Encyclopedia
David Leeson is a staff photographer for The Dallas Morning News
. He won the Pulitzer Prize
for Breaking News Photography
in 2004, together with Cheryl Diaz Meyer, for coverage of the Iraq War. He also received the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, the National Headliner Award, and a regional Emmy Award in 2004 for his work as executive producer and photographer for the WFAA-TV
documentary "War Stories."
Before his 2004 win, Leeson had been nominated for the Pulitzer three times — twice individually and once as member of a team — in feature photography (1986), explanatory journalism (1990, co-nominee), and spot news photography (1995; now called "breaking news").
, where he received a degree in journalism
and mass communication
. While still in college, he was on the staff of the Abilene Reporter-News
, where he began in 1977 and stayed until 1982. He left Abilene for New Orleans, Louisiana
, where he was on the staff of The Times-Picayune from 1982 to 1984.
Since joining the staff of The Dallas Morning News in 1984, Leeson has covered local and regional news and issues, such as homelessness
and natural disaster
s; national stories on death row
inmates across the United States; international conflicts in El Salvador
, Nicaragua
, Panama
, Peru
, Sudan
, Angola
, Kuwait
and Iraq
in the first and second Gulf wars
; earthquake
s in Turkey
; and apartheid in South Africa
. His 1985 series on homelessness earned him a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
, an honor he received again in 1994 for his coverage of the civil war
in Angola. The year 1985 also saw his first Pulitzer nomination, for coverage of apartheid in South Africa; he returned twice to that nation, the last time in 1994, when he recorded the historic event of South Africa's first non-racial presidential elections.
While photographing protesters during the buildup to the ousting of Manuel Noriega
in 1988, Leeson was wounded when a shotgun pellet entered his cheek, chipping his tooth and sending him to a Panama City emergency room.
Leeson was a finalist for the Pulitzer a second time, in 1994, for a photograph of a family fleeing flood
waters in southeast Texas, a picture that also won him a Texas Headliner Award.
In 2008, Leeson decided to accept a buy-out offer and leave The Dallas Morning News, as part of an A. H. Belo Corporation
cost-cutting measure involving buyouts of more than 400 journalists. He planned to continue in freelance photojournalism and documentary film work.
photos being given to others, following his loaning of a CD
of 200 full-resolution photos to the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division for one-time use in a yearbook for the soldiers. He has written about the incident in a public blog
, stating that although he included copyright symbol
s with each photo, placed a README
file on the CD explaining that the images were for one-time use, and explained to the public affairs officer
that the images should be guarded closely to prevent plagiarism, someone made several copies and distributed them. In many cases, the soldiers appear to have been unaware that Leeson never intended for copies to be made of the CD, as more than one has written to him asking for a replacement copy after losing their disc.
Subsequently, numerous incidents have occurred in which soldiers, photographers, or others have passed off Leeson's work as their own, either on photography sites, blogs, or print periodicals.
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
. He won the Pulitzer Prize
2004 Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes for 2004 were announced on April 5, 2004.The Los Angeles Times won five journalism awards, the most that the newspaper has ever won in a single year and second only to The New York Times in 2002 for the most won in a year by any paper.-Journalism awards:* Beat Reporting:**Daniel...
for Breaking News Photography
Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography
The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, has been awarded since 2000. Before 1968, there was only one photography category, the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, which was divided into the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography and feature categories...
in 2004, together with Cheryl Diaz Meyer, for coverage of the Iraq War. He also received the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, the National Headliner Award, and a regional Emmy Award in 2004 for his work as executive producer and photographer for the WFAA-TV
WFAA-TV
WFAA, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network...
documentary "War Stories."
Before his 2004 win, Leeson had been nominated for the Pulitzer three times — twice individually and once as member of a team — in feature photography (1986), explanatory journalism (1990, co-nominee), and spot news photography (1995; now called "breaking news").
Photojournalism career
Leeson is a 1978 graduate of Abilene Christian UniversityAbilene Christian University
Abilene Christian University is a private university located in Abilene, Texas, affiliated with Churches of Christ. ACU was founded in 1906, as Childers Classical Institute...
, where he received a degree in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and mass communication
Mass communication
Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time...
. While still in college, he was on the staff of the Abilene Reporter-News
Abilene Reporter-News
Abilene Reporter-News is a daily newspaper based in Abilene, Texas, USA. The newspaper started publishing three months after Abilene was founded by C.E. Gilbert, effective June 17, 1881. It is hence the oldest continuous business in the city....
, where he began in 1977 and stayed until 1982. He left Abilene for New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, where he was on the staff of The Times-Picayune from 1982 to 1984.
Since joining the staff of The Dallas Morning News in 1984, Leeson has covered local and regional news and issues, such as homelessness
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
and natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s; national stories on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
inmates across the United States; international conflicts in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in the first and second Gulf wars
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
; earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
; and apartheid in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. His 1985 series on homelessness earned him a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award
The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism is journalisms award named after Robert F. Kennedy and awarded by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. The annual awards are issued in several categories and were established in December 1968 by a group of reporters who...
, an honor he received again in 1994 for his coverage of the civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
in Angola. The year 1985 also saw his first Pulitzer nomination, for coverage of apartheid in South Africa; he returned twice to that nation, the last time in 1994, when he recorded the historic event of South Africa's first non-racial presidential elections.
While photographing protesters during the buildup to the ousting of Manuel Noriega
Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is a Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power; he was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on...
in 1988, Leeson was wounded when a shotgun pellet entered his cheek, chipping his tooth and sending him to a Panama City emergency room.
Leeson was a finalist for the Pulitzer a second time, in 1994, for a photograph of a family fleeing flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
waters in southeast Texas, a picture that also won him a Texas Headliner Award.
In 2008, Leeson decided to accept a buy-out offer and leave The Dallas Morning News, as part of an A. H. Belo Corporation
A. H. Belo
A. H. Belo Corporation is a Dallas-based media company that owns four daily newspapers and five smaller newspapers. The current corporation was formed when Belo Corporation separated its broadcasting and publishing operations into two corporations. A. H. Belo also owns a part interest in...
cost-cutting measure involving buyouts of more than 400 journalists. He planned to continue in freelance photojournalism and documentary film work.
Unattributed photos
While Leeson's work is well known within the journalism community, he has endured a number of cases of credit for his IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
photos being given to others, following his loaning of a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
of 200 full-resolution photos to the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division for one-time use in a yearbook for the soldiers. He has written about the incident in a public blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, stating that although he included copyright symbol
Copyright symbol
The copyright symbol, or copyright sign, designated by © , is the symbol used in copyright notices for works other than sound recordings . The use of the symbol is described in United States copyright law, and, internationally, by the Universal Copyright Convention...
s with each photo, placed a README
README
A readme file contains information about other files in a directory or archive and is commonly distributed with computer software. Such a file is usually a text file called README.TXT, README.1ST, READ.ME, or simply README, although some Microsoft Windows software may occasionally include a...
file on the CD explaining that the images were for one-time use, and explained to the public affairs officer
Public affairs (military)
Public Affairs is a term for the formal offices of the branches of the United States Department of Defense whose purpose is to deal with the media and community issues. The term is also used for numerous media relations offices that are created by the U.S. military for more specific limited purposes...
that the images should be guarded closely to prevent plagiarism, someone made several copies and distributed them. In many cases, the soldiers appear to have been unaware that Leeson never intended for copies to be made of the CD, as more than one has written to him asking for a replacement copy after losing their disc.
Subsequently, numerous incidents have occurred in which soldiers, photographers, or others have passed off Leeson's work as their own, either on photography sites, blogs, or print periodicals.
Personal data
Leeson has been married since April 17, 2000, to former Dallas Morning News photographer Kim Ritzenthaler, with whom he has two children. He also has three children from a previous marriage, which ended in 1998.External links
- David Leeson official site
- Leeson's and Diaz Meyer's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo series, at pulitzer.org
- "Focused on humanity," feature article by Jocelyn Green, CCCU AdvanceCouncil for Christian Colleges and UniversitiesThe Council for Christian Colleges and Universities is an organization designed to help primarily Protestant and evangelical Christian institutions of higher education cooperate and communicate with one another...
Spring 2005. - Sydney H. Schanberg. "Not a Pretty Picture: Looking this war in the face proves difficult when the press itself won't even put in an appearance," The Village Voice, May 17, 2005. (Article includes various Leeson photos and the photographer's thoughts about his work)
- http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/09/leeson.html NPPA article on Leeson's buyout