James Brooke

Who is James Brooke?

James Bettner Brooke, 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 based in Tokyo, August 2001-June 2006

Brooke 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.