Voting Station

Dith Pran

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Photographer

The Resume

    (September 27, 1942-March 30, 2008)
    Born in Siem Reap, Cambodia
    Interpreter for New York Times reporters covering the war in Cambodia
    Survived four years in a Khmer Rouge forced labor camp (1975-79)
    Escaped to Thailand (1979)
    Became a photojournalist for the New York Times
    Became a US citizen (1986)
    Subject of 'The Death and Life of Dith Pran' by Sidney Schanberg (1980)
    Portrayed by Haing S. Ngor in 'The Killing Fields' (1984)
    Wrote 'Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields' (1997)
    Founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project

Why he might be annoying:

    Although he sent his wife and children out of the country just before Phnom Penh fell, he stayed behind, thinking the situation would calm down after the Communist takeover.
    He was divorced twice.
    He named his sons Titony, Titonath and Titonel.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He kept Schanberg and other American reporters from being executed by convincing Khmer Rouge soldiers that they were French.
    He survived years of beatings, backbreaking labor and rations of a tablespoon of rice a day.
    His three brothers and a sister were murdered by the Khmer Rouge, his father starved to death and his mother eventually died from the effects of malnutrition.
    After Pol Pot died unpunished, he observed, 'The Jewish people's search for justice did not end with the death of Hitler and the Cambodian people's search for justice doesn't end with Pol Pot.'
    New York Times executive editor Bill Keller called him 'a journalist and a hero,' adding, 'That last word is not one I use lightly.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 11.11% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 22 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 54 Votes: 38.89% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 142 Votes: 35.92% Annoying