Matt Lee (journalist)

Matthew Lee (born September 9, 1965)[2] is an American journalist and diplomatic writer who has been working for the Associated Press since 2007. He previously wrote for Agence France-Presse from 1995 to 2007, as well as working for The Daily Progress and The Washington Post.

Matt Lee
Lee in 2023
Born (1965-09-09) September 9, 1965
EducationGeorgetown University (BSFS)
OccupationJournalist
EmployerAssociated Press
AwardsArthur Ross Media Award (2019)[1]
Lee with United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Albert del Rosario in 2014

Lee graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree in international relations in 1989.[3] After college, he started working at The Washington Post as a news aide, a job he said in a 2019 interview started his interest in journalism. He then proceeded to move to Charlottesville, Virginia to work for The Daily Progress as a local news reporter.[4] In 1994, Lee moved to Cambodia and worked as a freelance reporter for The Cambodia Daily and several international news outlets. In 1995, he joined Agence France-Presse and became their Phnom Penh bureau chief.[3] On June 17, 1997, while covering a firefight in Phnom Penh between gunmen aligned respectively to the two co-rulers of Cambodia, Lee was wounded by shrapnel.[5] From 1999 to 2005, Lee covered the United States Department of State for AFP, before becoming deputy bureau chief of Agence France-Presse's East Africa bureau in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2007, he moved back to Washington D.C. and started covering the United States State Department for the Associated Press.[4]

As the State Department reporter for the Associated Press, Lee has been noted on multiple occasions as unusually assertive in exchanges with State Department Spokespersons Victoria Nuland,[6] Jen Psaki,[7][8] Heather Nauert,[9] Ned Price,[10][11][12][13] and Matthew Miller.[14] In an article about the importance of an adversarial press, Nathan J. Robinson of Current Affairs described Lee's February 2022 exchange with Price as "a master class in how journalists should approach government claims".[15]

References
  1. "Matt Lee". American Academy of Diplomacy. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  2. "Daily Press Briefing - September 9, 2015". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  3. "Matthew Lee Biography". All American Speakers. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  4. "Birthday of the Day: Matt Lee, AP State Department reporter". Politico. September 9, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  5. "Co-rulers vie for power in shaky Cambodia". Sun Journal. AP. June 18, 1997. p. 5A. Retrieved January 4, 2023 – via Google News Archive.
  6. Gerstein, Josh (November 1, 2011). "AP journo tweaks State Department over stance on Palestinians". Politico. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  7. LoGiurato, Brett (September 5, 2013). "Reporter to State Department: Did Everyone At The White House Have A 'Spine-Removal Procedure' This Weekend?". Business Insider. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  8. Wemple, Erik (April 22, 2014). "AP reporter scorches State Department spokeswoman on Hillary Clinton initiative". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  9. Kugle, Andrew (September 18, 2018). "State Dept. Spox on ICC: U.S. Courts Best to Handle Cases for American Citizens, Military". The Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  10. "'Where do they go?': State Dept. spokesman cornered on US position toward Palestine". Arab News. March 5, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  11. Kornick, Lindsay (July 7, 2021). "AP reporter stuns Biden State Department spokesperson during press briefing". Fox News. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  12. Downey, Caroline (February 3, 2022). "Veteran Reporter Tears Into State Department Spox over Russian False-Flag Allegation: 'You Have No Evidence'". National Review. Retrieved August 23, 2022 – via Yahoo! News.
  13. Heated exchange between State Department official and veteran reporter. CNN. February 4, 2022 – via YouTube.
  14. "Matt Lee Slams State Department at Briefing for Double Standard on Israel". The Jewish Press. Jewish News Syndicate. May 23, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  15. Robinson, Nathan J. (February 4, 2022). "The Urgent Need for Adversarial Journalism". Current Affairs. ISSN 2471-2647. Retrieved September 6, 2022.


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