From the Frontline: February 2009 Archives
Broke without fixers
Jonathan Miller writes about the "secret weapon" of television news on the Channel 4 World News blog. He's talking about the fixers he's worked with in the DRC, Zimbabwe, Gaza, Pakistan, Serbia and Sudan. "When fixers deliver," Miller says, "We make good telly," Fixers are all-too-often the unsung heros...more
Tamil editor abducted in Sri Lanka
Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, a senior Sri Lankan newspaper editor, was abducted by armed men in police uniform this morning, according to the Tamil Eelam News Services. The editor of both the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna and the Colombo based Sudar Oli was attending the funeral of a friend on the Galle...more
Working as a journalist in Iraq
The excellent Alive in Baghdad talks to Hassan Fadhel Allah al-Hussaini, the editor of the Rayat al-Arab newspaper, at his office in Baghdad. He talks about his newspaper, the assasination of former colleague Saad Mehdi Shalash, press freedom and the "miracle" of working life in Baghdad. Click the video...more
The Kenji Nagai Award
The Kenji Nagai Award for Journalism was announced at the Burma Media Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand this week. The Burma Media Association created the award to honour the Japanese video journalist who was killed on the streets of Rangoon by a Burmese soldier during the saffron revolution of September,...more
Live tonight - Sri Lanka discussion
We'll be discussing the future for Sri Lanka at the club tonight, 24 February at 7 pm GMT/11 am PST. As usual, if you can't make it to the club in person, we'll be broadcasting the event live on the Frontline Club live channel or you can watch it...more
Kidnapped journalist on video
A videotape of Beverly Giesbrecht, a freelance journalist who was kidnapped almost three months ago in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region, surfaced on Monday according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The reporter, who also goes by the name of Khadija Abdul Qahaar and publishes Jihad Unspun, was kidnapped in November, 2008...more
Six months and counting
Six months ago today the first reports came in of the kidnap of Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout, freelance photographer Nigel Brennan and their fixers and driver. The team were reportedly abducted just outside Mogadishu. The fixer and driver were subsequently released, but Lindhout and Brennan remain hostage. A...more
Not down, not out, not yet
What with reports of newspapers being in survival mode, websites like Paper Cuts twisting the blade, Twitter channels like The Media is Dying dancing on the grave and research that reads like an obituary, any sane journalist must be thinking of shutting up shop, going home and seriously mulling their...more
Frontline under fire
The Frontline Club has been coming in for a fair bit of criticism for its decision to "uninvite" two members of the upcoming Sri Lanka discussion at the club on February 24. These complaints have been received from both sides of the debate online and in private emails. The discussion...more
Shoe thrower goes on trial
Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who famously threw his size 10's at outgoing U.S. President George Bush and called him a "dog", goes on trial today. Zaidi has been held in prison for over two months and could face up to 15 years behind bars,Zaidi was handcuffed and surrounded by...more
Mosa Khankhel killed in Swat valley
Mosa Khankhel, a journalist with GEO TV in Pakistan, was shot and killed by attackers in the Taliban controlled area of Swat valley, 100 miles northwest of Islamabad today. The attackers subsequently tried to behead him. Reporters without borders express outrage at the killing,“We want to express our full solidarity...more
Kidnapped in Somalia
CNN International talk to Colin Freeman and José Cendón about their kidnap ordeal in Somalia. The duo were kidnapped on November 26, 2008 and held for some six weeks. The pair don't appear to have feared for their lives and seem remarkedly relaxed about their experience, although it seems...more
George Polk Awards announced
The 60th George Polk Awards were announced yesterday. The awards remember George Polk, the CBS reporter who killed covering the civil war in Greece in 1949. The foreign correspondent awards are as as follows,Two New York Times correspondents will share the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting. Husband-and-wife team Barry...more
John D. McHugh - Combat Outpost
John D. McHugh drops us a line to tell us that his latest report from Afghanistan for The Guardian is up on the site. John has been filing multimedia reports from the frontline in Helmand over the past year. As he says in his email,This is without doubt the...more
Saudi journalist on Saudi terror list
The latest addition to a list of terrorist suspects published by the Saudi Interior Ministry, includes a surprising addition according to the English language Arabic daily, Asharq Al-Awsat. Obaida Abdul-Rahman Al Otaibi, a journalist with a degree in journalism from the Imam Mohamed Bin Saud University, is the 50th name...more
Attacks on the Press
The Committee to protect journalists launched Attacks on the Press 2008 today. The CPJ will be holding a press conference at the United Nations later to publicize the report. You can watch the livestream on the UN website at 9.30am EST Tuesday 10 February. Taking part will be, Joel Simon,...more
No Colombian journalists killed in 2008
According to the Foundation for Liberty and Freedom of the Press (FLIP), no Colombian journalists were killed in 2008 for the first time in 23 years,A total of 130 journalists were killed in Colombia in the past 30 years. The organisation notes that Colombian journalists are still regularly threatened by...more
Death in Madagscar
The Committee to protect journalists (CPJ) requests a probe into the death of Ando Ratovonirina in Madagascar last week. The 26 year old reporter and cameraman was killed while working for Radio Télévision Analamanga at an antigovernment demonstration in the capital, Antananarivo,"We are shocked by the killing of Ando Ratovonirina...more
Somalia kidnap row
Daud Abdi Daud, the General Secretary of the Somali Journalists Rights Agency (SOJRA), defends the report earlier this week of a possible escape attempt by kidnap victims Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan. The report was quickly dismissed by the Paris-based Reporters without borders,"I think [Reporters without borders] mean somebody in...more
Somalia kidnap victims tried to escape
There's an unconfirmed report circulating that kidnapped journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan tried to escape their Somali captors late last month. The allegation comes from a "prominent Somali contact for western journalists"Daud Abdi Daud, Executive Director of Somali Journalists Rights Agency says the pair, in his words, "came close...more
Salam al-Dosaki shot dead in Mosul
Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the al-Hadba newspaper in Mosul, Iraq, was shot dead by a policeman on Thursday afternoon, 5 February according to Reuters, Mohammed Yunis Mohammed, a Mosul policeman, had been drinking when he approached the home of neighbour Salam al-Dosaki, a journalist with the local al-Hadba newspaper,...more
LIVE: Gaza - missiles and messages
Click To Play The media's role - or lack of - in the recent Gaza conflict is up for debate at the Club tonight. We start at 7pm GMT / 11am PST Thurs 5 Feb. If you can't make it to the club in person, do please tune in...more
Unemployed in Tehran
Issa Saharkhiz talks about the difficulties of working as a journalist in Tehran to NPR. Or in his case, of not working. Saharkhiz tells NPR that every paper he's ever worked on has been closed. Most recently, the Iranian authorities closed two popular publications he ran; the Daily Economic News...more
Said Tahlil Ahmed shot dead in Somalia
Said Tahlil Ahmed, the director of HornAfrik Radio, was shot dead this afternoon by three gunmen near Bakara market in Mogadishu according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. "This is a outrageous and appalling assassination" said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. "Said Tahlil Ahmed was assassinated because of...more
IFJ report on media staff killed in 2008
The International Federation of Journalists released its annual report today on the number of media workers killed during 2008. While the numbers fell in 2008, there has been a spate of killings since the beginning of 2009, "The welcome relief brought about by the decline in the killings of journalists...more
LIVE - Peak Oil
Click To Play Peak Oil is under discussion at the Frontline Club in London tonight. With oil prices more volatile than ever, will the oil crisis soon surpass the financial crisis as the world's most pressing concern? We'll be debating the issues with a panel of experts Tues 3...more
14 journalists killed in January
The Press Emblem Campaign called for protection of journalists around the world on Monday. The Geneva based watchdog highlighted recent harassment and assassinations in Sri Lanka and the lack of media access to the Gaza Strip, Four journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip, along with two in Russia and...more
From the Frontline:
Graham Holliday is the Digital media editor at the Frontline Club. He writes about the club, the world of foreign...