Iraq
Iraq on the Brink
By Elliott Goat “This started before Maliki and will go on long after Maliki.” – Hayder al-Khoei
Iraq on the Brink
With a panel of experts we will take a view of events on the ground and the measures being taken by Iraq, its neighbours and the international community. Asking how ISIS has been able advance so quickly and what can be done to prevent further escalation of sectarian polarisation. We will also be looking at the new alliances that might be formed in this new front on the fight against extremism.
Return to Homs and the journey of two friends from pacifist protestors to rebel insurgents
By Sally Ashley-Cound Return to Homs follows two close friends and young revolutionaries as their beloved city is taken over by the army. Basset is a local football star, the goalkeeper for the Syrian national team who also became an iconic singer in the revolution, and Ossama is a media activist and pacifist. The intimate portrait shows how […]
On the frontline of defending women’s rights: A conversation with Human Rights Watch
By Anna Reitman The Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch joined The Guardian’s Liz Ford on Tuesday 13 May to discuss the highs and lows of the challenges faced in improving the lives of women and girls around the world. The event took place as the world’s attention focuses on Nigeria’s kidnapped schoolgirls and subsequent failure to […]
Intervening in Syria: Not Another Iraq or Afghanistan
By Jim Treadway “It’s a town hall style meeting – we quickly come to you,” BBC 4‘s Paddy O’Connell told a sold-out First Wednesday audience at the Frontline Club yesterday evening. The topic was intervention in Syria, and with four experts by his side, O’Connell led a lively back-and-forth with the night’s attendees. “Here we […]
The unreported price of war
By Natricia Duncan The occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst soldiers is being downplayed, claims author and former Territorial Army soldier Jake Wood. “When I got back from Afghan we had this briefing and it said that 99.9 per cent of soldiers will not suffer from PTSD. Clearly that’s bollocks” he said in a […]
The lessons learned from Iraq and living in a more sceptical age
by Sally Ashley-Cound The question of what has actually been learned from the Iraq war ten years on was put to a panel chaired by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow at the Frontline Club on 20 March 2013.
Soldiers’ Traumas – From World War Two to Afghanistan
Connecting the lives of soldiers in the Second World War and today in Afghanistan, veteran journalist and writer, Charles Glass and former soldier Jake Wood will be joining us to talk about their respective works, Deserter and Among You. Chaired by Frontline Club founder, Vaughan Smith.
The future of British military engagement with the media
In light of more than ten years of conflict overseas, we examine the nature of the engagement between the British military and the media. As we see changes in the British military, the media, and the nature of conflict zones, how will this relationship develop?
#FCBBCA Israel and Iran: Countdown to war? – The report
By Jim Treadway Will 2013 see an escalation in tensions between Israel and Iran? The Frontline Club in association with BBC Arabic brought together an expert panel to decipher the drumbeat of war and predict what 2013 may hold. Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow began by telling an audience at LSE’s Sheikh Zayed Theatre on 12 December, that the […]
Fixers: Explaining countries, cultures and revolutions
By Merryn Johnson Last night’s talk looked at the future of fixers in foreign reporting and at the relationships that develop when the ‘mad circus of the international press’ arrives to cover a news story, desperately needing to hide their ignorance of the country, culture and language. The discussion was chaired by Charles Glass, broadcaster, […]
Iraq Today: “A Sort of Grisly Stability” – Part 1
By Jim Treadway CBS News’ Elizabeth Palmer led an expert discussion at the Frontline Club on 11 September regarding the latest crush of violence in Iraq. The panel painted a portrait of a country desperately in need of peace, independence, rule of law, reconciliation with its traumatic past, and unity amidst hardening divisions along ethnic, class, […]
Iraq: Escalating violence and sectarian division – Part 2
By Lizzie Kendal In the past few months a fresh wave of violence has swept through Iraq. The 23 July saw the worst of these attacks when a string of coordinated bombings and shootings in 15 cities across the country left over 100 people dead and many more injured. But do these recent events really […]
Iraq: Escalating violence and sectarian division
What do the recent deadly attacks in Iraq tell us about the country today? It has been nearly ten years since the US-led invasion and nearly a year since the last foreign troops withdrew. But is there anything about the state of the country they left behind that can begin to explain this recent wave […]
FULLY BOOKED Stumbling Over Truth: The inside story of the sexed-up dossier, Hutton and the BBC
It has been ten years since the publication of the “September Dossier”, part of an ongoing investigation by the government into weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The following year, on 29 May, the then BBC defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan reported on Radio 4’s Today programme that he had been told by an unnamed source […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 23 – 29 July
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 23 to Sunday, 29 July from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt Following the horrific shooting at the Dark Knight Premiere in Aurora, Colorado on Friday that killed at least 12 people and injured 58, suspect James Holmes appears in court on Monday morning. Police spent much […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 7 – 13 May
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 7 to Sunday, 13 May from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt Given the ongoing violence and international concern over Syria, it’s hard to believe (‘ridiculous’, even) that parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on Monday, but President Bashar al Assad has insisted they will go […]
Are cheap, local hires saving or ruining foreign reporting?
By Helena Williams Foreign reporting is changing. With news outlets’ budgets tightening, and competition, pressure and risks on the rise, foreign journalists working in conflict countries are abandoning traditional methods of reporting in favour of using cheap, local hires to get the story: “It used to be that you were a local journalist, and treated […]
THIRD PARTY EVENT: Are cheap, local hires saving or ruining foreign reporting?
How are the rules of reporting being rewritten by risk? What innovative methods are journalists using to report from some of the world’s most dangerous places?
Journalists working in areas of conflict reveal how they get information when traditional techniques are insufficient. The discussion will focus on the interaction between local hires and foreign journalists.
Frei at The Frontline Club
By Alan Selby A packed house at The Frontline Club heard Matt Frei regale them with tales from his long and illustrious career. The former BBC Washington correspondent, recently poached by Channel 4 News, was on fine form as he spoke to former BBC executive Vin Ray about more than 20 years with the BBC: […]
Social media from the front line
Major Paul Smyth is one of the people responsible for changing the Ministry of Defence’s approach to social media particularly in the context of front line operations. I’ve spoken to him previously for the Frontline Club about his Frontline bloggers project. In this interview with David Bailey, Maj. Smyth talks in some detail about how […]
Screening: The Somnambulists
A film that includes 15 testimonies from British servicemen and women involved in the Iraq conflict that challenges public apathy towards war.
American Muslim: Freedom, Faith and Fear
By Alan Selby A lot has changed in the years since 9/11. The date itself has become emblematic of a change in attitudes towards Islam, perhaps most notably in the country which bore witness to the infamous attacks that day. Popular opinion has shifted, and the land of the free has become an increasingly […]
‘Shooting vs. Shooting’ screening comes under fire
By Helena Williams A documentary on journalist casualties during the Iraq war came under fire last night as members of the audience questioned the director’s stance on the US military. Greek journalist Nikos Megrelis’ 2011 film, ‘Shooting vs. Shooting’, centres around the killing of Western journalists by American soldiers in Iraq and suggests that […]
Screening: Shooting vs. Shooting
Award winning journalist, Nikos Megrelis spent three years researching the deaths of journalists and media professionals who died doing their jobs during the Iraq War of 2003 that was one of the bloodiest in history.
Wadah Khanfar: ‘No one will be spared by the Arab Spring’
The Arab Spring “is not going to spare anyone” not even Saudi Arabia, warned the former head of the Al Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar, last night. “We are going to see people resisting change but it will be a major mistake that will cause a lot of problems if countries see the Arab Spring as a conspiracy,” […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 12- 18 December
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 12 December to Sunday, 18 December from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt US President Barack Obama hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki for talks in Washington on Monday, with discussions focusing on strengthening the ‘strategic partnership’ between the two countries. The summit comes ahead of a […]
In the Picture – Kate Brooks: A decade on the front line
A youthful Kate Brooks moved to Pakistan after September 11th 2001 to document the conflicts that flared in the region and make a name for herself as a photojournalist. Her new book, In the Light of Darkness, records the major conflicts in the Arab world in the past decade, from the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan, to this year’s Arab Spring. The event will be moderated by freelance journalist Ramita Navai.
Shedding light in darkness: Kate Brooks and capturing the Middle East
Last night’s Frontline Club event – In the Picture: Kate Brooks: A decade on the front line – shed some light on the motives behind Brooks’ incredible life: beautiful photography, capturing every shade of human emotion, from hope and happiness, to despair, and everything in between.
A decade of wrong decisions and damaging policies
Watch the event here. By Sara Elizabeth Williams The West’s reaction to 9/11 was excessive and misguided, wrongly influenced by hubris, hysteria and ignorance. Ten years on, we are still mired in a mess largely of our own making. Last night’s First Wednesday Special: Changing world – conflict, culture and terrorism in the 21st century, which […]