From the Frontline: December 2008 Archives
How many countries can you name?
In seasonal quiz news for foreign correspondents... How many countries can you name? I had three attempts, the best result I managed was my first attempt - a pretty pathetic 74 out of a possible 195. Happy new year one and all. If you're finding the time limit's a...more
The life of a journalist is quite lonely
Marcus Bleasdale, photojournalist, Frontline Club member and regular on this blog, talks in the Daily Telegraph about how he got into photojournalism in his late twenties after a successful career in banking. Fascinating to hear more about his path into photography and how working the war zone beat has...more
Press Freedom report 2008
Reporters sans frontières release the 2008 Press Freedom report today. While the figures are depressing they are better than 2007,"The figures may be lower than last year's but this should not mask the fact that intimidation and censorship have become more widespread, including in the west, and the most authoritarian...more
Major TV channels pulling out of Iraq
The United States three mainstream broadcast networks, namely ABC, CBS and NBC, have stopped sending full time correspondents to Iraq. At the same time the channels are trying to bolster their numbers in Afghanistan and Pakistan."Americans like their wars movie length and with a happy ending," [said Mike Boettcher,...more
Anthony Loyd heads to forgotten wars
Looks like Anthony Loyd is in for a busy eighteen months. The Times war correspondent and Frontline Club regular, will be on assignment for the coming year and a half covering forgotten war zones,What of the rest of the world's conflicts?What of the thousands killed in Mexico's drug cartel...more
On the road with Robert Adams
Robert Adams, one of the original Frontline TV cameramen and a founder member of the Frontline Club, is on the road. For six months Rob, his family and some friends will be on the road in Africa. From their home in Harare they'll head to Cairo, Cape Town and back...more
Hamza Shahin killed in Gaza
Hamza Shahin, a photographer with the Shihab Media Agency in the Gaza Strip, has died of injuries he suffered some two weeks ago when Israeli tanks attacked in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the killing, "Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza...more
Peter ter Velde talks to the Taliban
Dutch journalist Peter ter Velde talked to Taliban fighters in the northern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan where "several hundred" Dutch soldiers are based,Peter ter Velde, a reporter of NOS public television, met the fighters close to Camp Holland, NATO's main military base in Uruzgan. He spoke to the six...more
The future of news
This could make a good Christmas read. The Media Re:Public report on the future of media in the digital age is published just in time for the holidays and it's free to download. As Ethan says,My friend Persephone Miel came to the Berkman Center more than a year ago...more
Tim Page sells snaps in Saigon
Tim Page, the photographer most famous for his Vietnam War coverage, is selling prints during an exhibition at the Cepage restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City this week. Page says a recent illness and money troubles have led him to the sale so that he can make enough cash...more
Iraq still the deadliest place to work
That's the conclusion of the Committee to Protect Journalists. For the sixth straight year, Iraq has recorded the highest number of deaths among journalists and media workers of anywhere in the world,The 11 deaths recorded in Iraq in 2008, while a sharp drop from prior years, remained among the...more
Talking cobblers
Rival cobblers are claiming they sold Iraqi TV journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi the shoes he hurled at President Bush last weekend,Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported Turkish businessman Ramazan Baydan had made the shoes and carried a front page picture of the design, alongside the headline"Made in Turkey." Baydan said he had...more
Ebenezer Viwami under arrest in Ivory Coast
Ebenezer Viwami, editor in chief of Alerte Info, was picked up outside a prison in Abidjan, Ivory Coast at the weekend. The Ivorian Internal Affairs and Justice Ministries, said Viwami falsified the reporting of a prison riot stating that three prisoners were shot dead when the official report said...more
Hero or villain?
The Iraqi TV journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, better known these days as the shoe thrower of Baghdad, continues to make the headlines today. It appears he's quite the hero in much of the Middle East especially with his family,"I swear to Allah, he is a hero," said his sister, who goes...more
Live event: Mumbai - India's 9/11
Tonight we discuss the recent attacks in Mumbai at the Frontline Club - Tue, 26 Dec at 7pm UK time. We'll be broadcasting the event on the Frontline Club live channel which you can see above,What will these attacks mean for the ongoing "war on terror" and will India...more
Michael Ware addicted to the story
Michael Ware, a reporter with CNN, talks to Greg Veis in Men's Journal about the difficulties of reporting from Iraq, getting addicted to the story and life on the road. He wonders if he'll ever be able to quit the war habit. It's not a pretty picture,"I'm a war dog,"...more
The burqa theory of reporting Afghanistan
Soraya Sarhadd Nelson, a reporter with NPR, found out the only way to get to a story about the judiciary in Afghanistan was to don a burqa and head into Kunar province. Even then, things didn't go smoothly,"Put on your burqa and don't speak English. They can't know you are...more
Bush takes a size 10
U.S. President George Bush had a close encounter with the footwear of an Iraqi journalist this past weekend. Bush was at a press conference during one of his surprise visits to the Iraqi capital when Muntadar al-Zeidi, a reporter with Al-Baghdadiya TV channel, hurled his size 10's at the...more
"Berkeley grandma sues over canceled embed"
Nothing much to add to the self explanatory headline, but that has to be the best headline of the last week or so... All the way from San Francisco,Berkeley blogger Jane Stillwater is suing the federal government for the cost of an airplane ticket to Kuwait and the cost of...more
Newspapers in dire straits
The ever erudite Jon Stewart sums up what has been one of the worst weeks for newspapers ever. The sad thing is, the worst is yet to come. 2009 looks grim, grim, grim. Video link via Sambrook .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;}The Daily Show With Jon StewartM...more
Live from Kandahar
Frontline blogger Alex Strick van Linschoten will be experimenting with some live video broadcasts using Kyte.tv from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Although as Alex says in an email, they've sped up the GPRS data connection ($20/month for unlimited data!) in Kandahar...so i can now stream live shows (sort of...more
Pulitzer Prize to recognise online only outlets
The Pulitzer Prizes are set to recognise online only publications. The 2009 awards are in April and will take into account "text-based newspapers and news organizations that publish only on the Internet." "We continue to keep an eye on the changing media scene and try to make appropriate adjustments as...more
U.S. refuse to release Reuters photographer
The U.S. military in Baghdad have refused to comply with an Iraqi Central Criminal Court ruling to free Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, a Reuters freelance photographer. Mohammed has been held by U.S. forces since early September, 2008. On November 30, the Iraqi court said there was no evidence against him, "Though...more
Micahel J. Kavanagh and Taylor Krauss reporting from Congo
Michael J. Kavanagh, from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, reports from a refugee camp in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with footage from cameraman Taylor Krauss. Earlier today we blogged how the two got caught up with the secret police in the DRC. You can read the full...more
Somali journalist injured in Mogadishu
Rasmi Mohamud Mohamed, a journalist with Somaliweyn local radio, was injured in an exchange of gunfire at a checkpoint in the Somali capital Mogadishu yesterday. According to a report by Abdi Guled at Mareeg the bullets struck Rasmi's left shoulder, Speaking to Mareeg online Rasmi has told that she was...more
Detained by Congo secret police
Cameraman Taylor Krauss was held by secret police in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week. He talks about the experience on the World Focus site, I knew a padded handshake could solve things in a country where [former president] Mobutu used to tell his citizens to “fend for...more
Dawa Khan Meenapal talks of Taliban kidnap ordeal
Dawa Khan Meenapal, RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent, talks to the radio station about his recent kidnap ordeal at the hands of the Taliban in Zabul Province on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. During his captivity he says he was treated fairly and that his captors were listeners (and...more
Max Stahl documenting East Timor
British journalist and filmaker Max Stahl has been documenting the history of East Timor since the 1991 massacre at Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery. He calls it is "his life's mission" to give the fledgling country an audio visual record of its recent history. To that end he has set...more
Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso wins Reporters Without Borders award
Ricardo Gonzalez Alfonso has won Reporters Without Borders Journalist of the Year award for "helping an independent press to survive in Cuba", After daring to challenge to the state’s monopoly of news and information, González was arrested on 18 March 2003 along with 26 other dissident journalists during the...more
A foreigner in my own land
Sean Langan writes in the Guardian about his life reporting foreign conflicts beginning in 1998 before his kidnap in Afghanistan earlier in 2008. He talks about that feeling - reverse culture shock - common to anyone who has lived and worked abroad for any length of time, Over the...more
Jestina Mukoko abducted in Zimababwe
Jestina Mukoko, a prominent journalist and executive director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted from her home in Norton about 40km from the captial Harare by "15 men in plain clothes" yesterday, according to the African Press Organization, “Everything must be done to secure the swift release of...more
Peter Lloyd's job held on ice
ABC report that jailed foreign correspondent Peter Lloyd could end up keeping his job after he completes his ten month Singapore prison sentence for drugs possesion, The director of news and current affairs, John Cameron, said Lloyd was one of the best journalists to have worked at the ABC. "His...more
Foreign Office elbow World Service to drop pirate report
A BBC World Service report by Mary Harper has been pulled after a request by the Foreign Office last Sunday. In the report Harper talked to Somali pirates holding the Sirius Star and its captain. The Guardian reports the FCO asked the service to pull the slot as "it claimed...more
Mexico media campaign targets violence against journalists
Frontline blogger Deborah Bonello writes about a media campaign in Mexico aimed at raising public awareness about violence against journalists. Mexico is one of the most dangerous places to work as a journalist, Since 2000, 28 journalists have been killed in Mexico and eight have disappeared, according to Article 19,...more
Thinking of going to Somalia?
Well if you are, Rob has some sage advice... and be sure to read the comments. Frontline bloggers David and Alex both blogged from Somalia earlier this year. I hope they don't go back for a while. Not sure my nerves could take it....more
Politkovskaya suspect offered to surrender
Rustam Makhmudov, the main suspect in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya outside her Moscow apartment building in 2006, offered to turn himself in six months ago according to a lawyer for the suspect's brother, Six months ago, Makhmudov passed a message through his relatives from an undisclosed location that he...more
Fixers are vital
Marcel Berlins, former lawyer now journalist and columnist, attended screening of The Fixer at the Frontline Club recently and writes about the importance of their "unsung" role in foreign news reporting. You only have to look at the fate of the fixers in Somalia working with Amanda Lindhout and Nigel...more
Ibrahim Essa wins 2008 Gebran Tueni Award
Ibrahim Essa, editor of Al Dustour, has won the 2008 Gebran Tueni Award. The annual award honours Gebran Tueni, the Lebanese publisher who was killed in a Beirut car bomb in 2005 and is presented by the World Association of Newspapers and aims to recognise an editor or publisher in...more
From the Frontline to Fish n Chips
[video:youtube:sUhSBTCuGCk] I blame this post on Frontline blogger Rob Crilly. The Nairobi-based, Africa-wandering, freelance hack has taken it upon himself to sample the African take on Fish n Chips wherever he finds it on the continent. Whether it be good, bad, indifferent or possibly dangerous, Rob has kinda foolishly given...more
Update on the Amanda Lindhout kidnap in Somalia
Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan are safe and still being held in Somalia according to Reporters Without Borders. The two journalists were kidnapped in August along with their Somali fixers. A ransom deadline, for an alleged $2.5 million, passed a month ago. "What we can confirm is they are fine,...more
50% of UK media jobs to go by 2013
[video:youtube:vpAdAG8ktAk] Robert Andrews has a thoroughly depressing (but realistic?) post up on the excellent media watch blog PaidContent about the number of job lay offs forecast for the UK media industry in the near future. “We calculated the total jobs in the media in the UK at about 400,000 ......more
Norman Macswan dies age 91
Norman Macswan, who worked as a war correspondent, foreign correspondent and was the associate editor of the Australian Associated Press (AAP) has died aged 91. After covering the Korean War in the early 1950s he worked in London, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and New York before returning to Australia as...more
Ivan Watson discusses life In Baghdad
NPR reporter Ivan Watson, who narrowly escaped a car bomb yesterday, will be discussing life in Baghdad live on the NPR site today at 12PM EST or 5pm UK time. Watson reported the attack in audio, text and video on NPR Baghdad Reporter, Suddenly, Iraqi soldiers ran up screaming...more
Testing times for Croatian journalists
[video:youtube:7f6AyehCFJQ] Amnesty International call upon the Croatian authorities to address the threats to journalists. In October Ivo Pukanić, the editor of the Nacional Magazine, and a colleague were both killed in a car bomb explosion in central Zagreb. The assassination shocked the nation, yet the situation has not improved. Well-known...more
Amira Hass held for entering Gaza
Amira Hass, a reporter with Haaretz, was detained by the Sderot police last night for allegedly entering the Gaza Strip without a permit. She was stopped while returning from Gaza heading back to Israel, Chief Superintendent Shimon Nahmani, commander of the Sderot police station, said Hass had entered Gaza...more
Peter Lloyd sentenced to ten months
Peter Lloyd, the foreign correspondent arrested in Singapore in July on drugs charges, has been sentenced to ten months in Prison. The New Delhi-based correspondent received eight months in prison for possession and consumption of methamphetamine and an additional two months for "possessing drug paraphernalia stained with ketamine", Lloyd's...more
LIVE event: World AIDS Day - Have we seen the worst?
[video:bliptv:1536730] We are marking World AIDS Day at the Frontline Club tonight with a discussion that asks the question: Have we seen the worst? Taking part will be Professor Robin Shattock, from St. George's, Michael Bartos of UNAIDS, Thandi Haruperi who works with RestorEgo/EATG and Anton Kerr from the International...more
The creeping casualisation of war reporting
The NUJ's Jeremy Dear called for an end to the "casualisation of war reporting" in light of the Kate Peyton case. Kate, a BBC producer, was killed in Mogadishu in 2005. The inquest into her death concluded in Ipswich Crown Court last week. The coroner, Dr Peter Dean called on...more
I wish I had a gun and not a camera
Sebastian D’Souza, picture editor at The Mumbai Mirror talks to The Independent about how he first heard the shooting and ran out of his office, opposite Chhatrapati Shivaji train station, to photograph the suspected terrorists during the attacks in Mumbai last week, "I ran into the first carriage of...more
Journalists narrowly avoid Baghdad car bomb
NPR reporter Ivan Watson and three Iraqi colleagues are just about the luckiest journalists in Iraq today. A bomb attached to their vehicle exploded on a Baghdad street on Sunday - without them in it. Watson, and his producer and translator Ali Hamdani, were interviewing people at a roadside kebab...more
Aziz Popal tells his kidnap story
Aziz Popal, a Kandahar-based reporter with Hewad TV in Afghanistan, was kidnapped by the Taliban last week and released three days later. He talked with Graeme Smith from The Globe & Mail about the ordeal, "I'm shaking as I'm telling you the story," Mr. Popal said by telephone last night....more
Nothing comes close to Bosnia
Christiane Amanpour talks to The Guardian about her upcoming TV show, The Amanpour Hour, in the United States. The Guardian describes the CNN foreign correspondent through American eyes, For many Americans, Amanpour's arrival at a story wearing her take on the 1970s foreign correspondent safari suit - a boxy...more
Clifford Derrick reporting Kenyan election violence
Video journalist Clifford Derrick talks to The Mail & Guardian about how he reported the election violence in Kenya that began on December 27, 2007, He decided to set up base in the slums to record the story. It was a distinctly dangerous choice. "On three occasions cops threatened...more
Court order to free Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed
Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, a freelance photographer who works for Reuters and Iraqi media outlets, has been held by US Army in Iraq since early September. An Iraqi court ruled on Sunday that there is no evidence against Mohammed and he must be released, "I'm pleased to learn that a court...more
Gregory Warner talks chicken
Gregory Warner headed to the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan to work on a story about smuggling. He hooks up with his Afghan fixer, the oddly named JD, and the smuggling story soon becomes a story about a chicken and an amulet. Head over to This American Life and listen...more
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