Michael Schmidt Email & Phone Number

Michael Schmidt is a media trainer, human rights rapporteur, investigative journalist, and best-selling author, with more than 35 years' experience across 49 countries and a reputation for producing unique and challenging copy, having worked on some of South Africa's leading print titles including The Mercury, Saturday Star, and Sunday Times. He was involved as a senior journalist with the start-ups of ThisDay, of what is now Independent on Saturday, and of the pan-African journal Ogojiii and today writes on African affairs for the likes of Financial Mail and Africa In Fact. He was group special investigative writer for Independent Newspapers' seven weekend titles before going into journalism training. He expanded his work across Africa, and into parts of Central and South America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Antipodes, and developed an intense interest in conflict reporting in transitional societies. Published in Germany in German (2008, 2013), Brazil in Portuguese (2009), Canada in French (2012), and the United States in English (2009, 2013), his latest major works are Drinking With Ghosts: the Aftermath of Apartheid's Dirty War (BestRed, SA, 2014), A Taste of Bitter Almonds: Perdition and Promise in South Africa (BestRed, SA, 2015), African Anarchist Movements (Academia.edu, USA, 2018), Southern Citadel: A Case Study of Mass-line Anarchism After the Spanish Revolution (Academia.edu, USA, 2020), and Death Flight: Apartheid's Secret Doctrine of Disappearance (Tafelberg, SA, 2020). His magnum opus, a work of global history researched in 15 languages over 20 years, is now being prepared for publication. He was a 2009 Academic Leader at Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), a 2011 Clive Menell Media Fellow at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy at Duke University (USA), and a 2017 Fellow of the Arts Rights Justice Academy (ARJA) at Universität Hildeshiem (Germany). He is the founder of the Professional Journalists' Association of South Africa (ProJourn), and of The Ulu Club for Southern African Conflict Journalists. He is a member of PEN South Africa, of the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors' Association of South Africa (ANFASA), of the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Southern Africa (FCA), and of the Professional Society of Drone Journalists (PSDJ).Specialties: conflict journalism, field reporting, investigative journalism, extra-parliamentary political reporting, historical and contemporary research, journalism training, project management, media development consultancy, human & artistic rights rapporteur work.

Listed skills include Journalism, Investigative Reporting, Project Management, Field Work, and 29 others.