Michael Weisskopf (born 1946) is a Polk Award-winning journalist, currently working as a senior correspondent for Time magazine. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1996 for the accounts he and David Maraniss gave of the activities in 1995 following the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994, Weisskopf specialized in national and international news during 20 years at The Washington Post. Michael Weisskopf - biography, plus book reviews & excerpts from bookbrowse.com
While embedded with a U.S. Army unit in Iraq on December 10, 2003, his right hand was blown off as he tried to throw an enemy grenade back out of the Humvee in which he was riding. CORRECTION: Mr. Weisskopf "thought that the grenade was a flat rock", and it exploded under his hand as he was reaching for it. Had he actually been able to pick it up, casualties to the personnel in the back of the Humvee would likely have been much worse due to the grenade detonating closer to chest/head level. This account is supported by Mr. Weisskopf's own words on the day after the incident, as well as the eyewitness accounts from the personnel present, to include the author of this correction. Lives may very well have saved as a result of Mr. Weisskopf's failure to reach the grenade prior to its detonation, however, that cannot be verified. Army honors Time Magazine reporter from the U.S. Army website Author's eyewitness account, direct statement from Michael Weisskopf
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Weisskopf covered China for the Post from 1980 to 1985.
He has written three books: Blood Brothers, about amputated American Iraq War veterans; Truth at Any Cost, co-written with investigative journalist Susan Schmidt about the Kenneth Starr investigation of the Lewinsky scandal; and Tell Newt to Shut Up, about the 1994 Republican takeover.
Weisskopf has received the George Polk Award, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Press Club of Atlantic City's National Headliners Award, the Los Angeles Press Club's Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism, the U.S. Army's Fourth Estate Award and the Urbino Press Award 2007 (Italy).