 During his work as a correspondent and then bureau chief in Rome from 1981 to 1986, Harper reported on the 1981 plot to kill Pope John Paul II, 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks that left 241 soldiers and Navy seaman dead, and the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 for which he and his team were nominated for five Emmy awards.Harper joined "20/20" in 1986 and worked there until 1995.He left the news business to teach journalism at New York University in 1995 and later at Temple University, where he headed the Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab.