| Christo Buschek | |
| Birth Place: | Graz, Austria |
| Nationality: | Austrian |
| Occupation: | Software developer, investigative journalist |
| Employer: | BuzzFeed |
| Notable Works: | Investigation on Uyghur camps in China |
| Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (2021) |
Christo Buschek (born 1980 in Graz) is an Austrian information technologist, investigative journalist, BuzzFeed employee, and recipient of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in the category of International Reporting.[1] [2]
Christo Buschek attended the Academic Gymnasium Graz starting in 1990, where he graduated with his Matura in 1998.[3]
He has worked in the IT sector for nearly 20 years as a software developer, programmer, and expert in information security.[4] His specialty is working on data-driven investigations for human rights organizations and investigative journalists.[5]
Starting in 2018, he collaborated with Megha Rajagopalan and Alison Killing on a project investigating the largely untraceable Uyghur internment camps operated by the Chinese authorities.[6] [7] Buschek's programming tools enabled the collection and processing of data for the investigation.[2]
Combining satellite imagery with interviews with former detainees, the team identified around 260 camp locations and re-education camps in Xinjiang in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, many more than officially known. These locations were categorized into three groups: those with high certainty, those believed to be camps but not proven, and those with a certain probability. The data was verifiable in all cases. The research results were published on August 27, 2020, on BuzzFeed News.[8]
In collaboration with Hadi Al Khatib and Giovanni Civardi, Buschek is also involved in a project to securely make data on human rights violations accessible.[9] He is a member of the team at Paper trail media, an investigative journalism firm founded in 2022 by Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer,[10] which collaborates closely with Der Spiegel, ZDF, Der Standard, and the Tamedia Group.[11] He is also a Knowing Machines Fellow at the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy at the New York University School of Law.[12]
Christo Buschek was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting on June 11, 2021, along with Megha Rajagopalan and Alison Killing, for their four-part investigative report Built to Last on BuzzFeed News, which uncovered the previously unknown Uyghur camps in China.[13] [14] He is the first Austrian to receive the Pulitzer Prize, which has been awarded since 1917 and the first Pulitzer Prize won by a BuzzFeed News team.[4]