Uli Schmetzer began his journalistic career in 1960 at
the Sun-Pictorial in Melbourne . In 1963 he joined the
Sydney Sun where he wrote, between 1965-66, a daily
column called Uli Schmetzer on the Fringe. In 1966
Schmetzer went to Mexico where he joined Reuters as a
local hire covering Mexico and Central Latin America.
He was sent by Reuters to Havana. In 1970 he became a
Reuters staff correspondent. He was bureau chief in
Venezuela and later in Rio de Janeiro covering South
America. In 1977 he resigned from Reuters and worked
as freelancer based in Rome for U.S., South African,
British and Australian newspapers. In 1986 the Chicago
Tribune offered him the staff job as Rome bureau chief
covering also the Arab world and periodically Israel.
In 1988 he was assigned to be Asia Correspondent based
in Beijing with a second office in Manila, covering
South East Asia and the Pacific until 1996. That year
he became South East Asia Correspondent based in
Manila (1996-98). He was appointed New Delhi bureau
chief (1998-2000) responsible for the Indian
subcontinent. In 2000 he was appointed as Bureau Chief
in Tokyo. Though based in various capitals Schmetzer
was constantly on the road as a ‘fireman’ or
‘parachute’ journalist flying into trouble spots
across the world
Schmetzer has won three in-house rewards for foreign
reporting and an Alternative Pulitzer for his report on
the CIA trying in vain to buy back at twice the
original price from Afghan warlords the Stinger
missiles given to them gratis during the Afghan war
against Soviet occupation.
Schmetzer retired in 2002 but was kept on staff as a
Special Correspondent on a year by year contract
basis. He resigned from the Chicago Tribune in 2004.
He now lives part of the year in Italy, Australia and
the Philippines.
