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Where we are now - On Jan. 25, 2002, two days after my friend and Wall Street Journal colleague Danny Pearl left my home in Karachi, Pakistan, for an interview from which he didn't return, I stood in front of a dining room wall I'd covered in blank paper, a thick black Sharpie pen in my hand. I wrote one name in the middle, "DANNY," and drew a box around it.

What are people saying?

"The Pearl Project honors the truth through patient, meticulous, and accurate reporting."

Robert J. Ross
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation

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Pearl News Current Coverage


Pearl News Coverage, 2011

Awards

  • The co-directors received the Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Service Award.
  • The co-directors received the national Society of Professional Journalists Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award.
  • The project was among the finalists for the Eppy Awards.

News Articles

  • The Pearl Project: Searching for Daniel Pearl's Killer
    The Montana Journalism Review by Colette Maddock, 2011 Issue
    Daniel Pearl, a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and murdered in Pakistan in 2002. His death did not go unnoticed by millions of people across the world and inspired a class at Georgetown University to investigate and report on the truth behind his murder.
  • The Pearl Project: Bringing colleges into the investigative ecosystem
    Neiman Journalism Lab by Eric Athas, April 26, 2011
    Does a piece of the future of in-depth reporting include a pack of students, a couple of veteran journalists-turned-academics and some college credit? At Georgetown University, Barbara Feinman Todd and Asra Q. Nomani believe they have created an investigative journalism model that will bolster the type of intensive long-form reporting that’s fading from many newsrooms. [...]
  • Student, Faculty add evidence to Daniel Pearl murder case
    The Hoya by Katherine Braun, January 25, 2011
    A special report compiled by Georgetown faculty, graduate and undergraduate students released last week provided never-before-seen evidence about the murder of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan in 2002 - including confirmation of the identity of his killer.[...]
  • The Women who Chase Terrorists
    The Huffington Post by Abigail Pesta, January 24, 2011
    The Pearl Project began as a journalism course three years ago at Georgetown University. This class had no ordinary syllabus. Its goal: nothing less than to expose the hidden details and motivations behind the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. [...]
  • New investigation into the murder of Daniel Pearl released
    The Long War Journal by Thomas Jocelyn, January 21, 2011
    On Thursday, The Center for Public Integrity released a new report detailing the circumstances of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and murder. The report confirms that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) was the terrorist who ultimately killed Pearl. [...]
  • The trust that once flowed between journalists and locals has gone sour
    The Independent by Bina Shah, January 21, 2011
    In Mohsin Hamid's short story "A Beheading," published in Granta Pakistan last autumn, an unnamed man is dragged from his bed in the middle of the night and kidnapped. The man knows he's as good as dead when he is taken in the trunk of his assailants' 1981 Toyota Corolla. Within four paragraphs, the man is bound and gagged, on his knees in front of a video camera, remembering a goat that was sacrificed for Eid. Within six, he's begging them: "Tell me what to write. I'll never write again." And by the seventh paragraph, he has been beheaded. [...]
  • Report says Militants in Pearl Killing Still at Large
    New York Times by Jane Perlez, January 21, 2011
    Nine years after the American reporter Daniel Pearl was captured and killed by operatives of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, more than a dozen of the militants involved in his murder remain at large, a testament to the lack of will by Pakistani authorities to prosecute the cases, according to a report released Thursday.[...]
  • Study Tracks Pearl Murder Probe
    Wall Street Journal by Matthew Rosenberg, January 20, 2011
    A new report on the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl reveals that U.S. officials used a forensic technique called vein analysis to corroborate the confession of the self-professed killer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who also is suspected of planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S.[...]
  • Report: Top al-Qaeda figure killed Pearl
    Washington Post by Peter Finn, January 20, 2011
    A recently completed investigation of the killing of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan nine years ago makes public new evidence that a senior al-Qaeda operative executed the Wall Street Journal reporter.[...]
  • Al-Qaeda saw 'opportunity' in killing journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan
    Bloomberg by Flavia Krause-Jackson and Tony Capaccio, January 20, 2011
    Al-Qaeda took over the kidnapping of journalist Daniel Pearl on orders of one of Osama bin Laden’s closest lieutenants, who is still free and reportedly leading anti-U.S. militants on the Afghanistan Pakistan border, according to a study.[...]
  • Report Faults Daniel Pearl Murder Investigation
    New York Times by Ashraf Khan and Nahal Toosi, January 20, 2011
    KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — The four men imprisoned for killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl were not present during his beheading but were convicted of murder because Pakistani authorities knowingly relied on perjured testimony and ignored other leads, says a report released Thursday.[...]
  • Report: Forensic evidence ties 9/11 plotter to Pearl's killing
    USA Today by Doug Stanglin, January 20, 2011
    A 31,000-word inquiry into the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl says U.S. investigators used "vein matching" from an al-Qaeda video to conclude that Pearl was killed by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.[...]
  • Must Read: The Truth Left Behind
    The Council on Foreign Relations, January 20, 2011
    The Council on Foreign Relations says The Truth Left Behind is a must read.

Radio

Television and Video


ABC News Videos | ABC Entertainment News
Pearl Project Co-Director Asra Nomani and Georgetown students on ABC World News Tonight, January 20, 2011


Press Club Rewind, "Asra Q. Nomani on the Pearl Project Findings," January 24, 2011.
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Pearl Project News Coverage, 2007-2010

Awards

  • 2008: The co-directors received first place in the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication's Best Practices in Teaching of Information Gathering Competition for their teaching methodology developed for the Pearl Project.

News Articles

Television and Video