Is it over for Frontline Reporting? — NEW YORK – FULLY BOOKED

The role of the frontline journalist is under scrutiny as never before. Reporters are regularly being singled out and killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere.In other countries – Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan, for example – intolerant regimes have simply banned the foreign media in a bid to keep the bad news from getting out.

What should the role of the frontline journalist be?  Is the best way to tell these stories going undercover, or training local journalists?

We ask whether there is still a role for frontline reporting; or has the job simply become too dangerous?

The Frontline Club’s second New York event is run jointly with the VII Photo Agency. Before the discussion we will pay tribute to Alexandra Boulat (VII) who died in Paris on October 5th. An open reception will follow.

Moderator
John Owen, Executive Producer of NewsXchange, Chairman of The Frontline Club and Professor at City University.

Speakers
Robert Fisk – Middle East correspondent for the Independent. His books include Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War and The Great War for Civilisation – The Conquest of the Middle East.

Fran Unsworth -Head of Newsgathering at the BBC, the world’s largest broadcast newsgathering operation with 41 international bureau.

Chuck Lustig -Director of Foreign News at ABC news. ABC News has just announced the opening of a number of overseas mini-bureaus.

Ron Haviv -Co-founder of VII, his work is published by Fortune, The NY Times Magazine, Time, Vanity Fair, Paris Match and Stern. He has published two collections of photographs – Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal and Afghanistan: On the Road to Kabul.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad -a writer/ photographer for The Guardian he is also a contributing photographer for Getty Images. Abdul-Ahad co-authored the book Unembedded.