News
EconoZimdiary
The Economist has a man – or is it a woman? who knows in bylineless world – in Zimbabwe and they’re writing a diary, at least this week they are, The contact is late, he does not pick up his phone, and night has fallen. I feel increasingly uncomfortable. Something is wrong. After a while, […]
What’s in your bag?
Road reporter Naka Nathaniel has the weight of a New York Times satellite telephone budget behind him when he’s on the road producing features like the film above with Nicolas Kristof. But, blasting through recent history it seems what goes in his rucksack hasn’t changed *too* much since 2004, June 2004 “My kit isn’t all […]
Owning up to war
Since leaving them 20 years ago I have always wanted to film my old army regiment, the Grenadier Guards, on operations and I have just returned from staying with them in Helmand, in southern Afghanistan, where they have been involved in intense fighting. It was not my first attempt at filming the Grenadiers in action. […]
Inside Out – October 07
There’s something startling about passing by the most hallowed Serbian monument in Kosovo en route to a bold new journalism school in Kosovo. There you are driving by Kosovo Polje when you come across the monument commemorating the 1389 Ottoman Turk defeat of Serbia. On this spot a young Communist leader named Slobodan Milosevic inflamed […]
A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja
After Saddam Hussein’s warplanes dropped poison gas on the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja in March, 1988 a cameraman found among the dead the bodies of a mother and her small son, “her arm outstretched as if to beg for help.” He had “a strong desire to lie down next to her and not get […]
Legacy of Ashes: The History of CIA
The only CIA man I’ve ever had dealings with, knowingly at least, was a nerdish fellow with thick glasses who used to hang around the bar of the Camino Real hotel, eavesdropping on the foreign journalists covering the 1980s civil war in El Salvador. Forbidden by the US Embassy to travel into areas controlled by […]
Burma mapping the protests
Rather annoyingly my ISP appears to have blocked this protest map of Burma via fifty viss, but I understand it is really, very good. With news like what I’ve just pasted here below just in, the map editors will be busy today, Military officials in Burma have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of monks […]
War book frenzy
The Press Gazette alerts us to a rabid battle being played out at the war end of the Amazon book charts, It’s hack vs. hack in the book charts at the moment, with a battalion of war reporters piling out new books on Iraq and Afghanistan. Veteran war correspondent Patrick Bishop has written 3 Para, […]
Mexico is ‘out of control’
This story appeared in Press Gazette: 17 September 2007 By Deborah Bonello Unlike Iraq, there is no war in Mexico. At least officially. Despite that, the country is one of the most dangerous to work in as a journalist in the world, second only to Iraq. A recent report by Reporters Without Borders showed that […]
Mexico’s Independence Day celebrations pass peacefully
Mexico celebrated the anniversary of its independence this weekend. It was the first time that Felipe Calderon, the country’s current president, oversaw the celebrations since he took office in December last year following controversial elections. Observers said that the military presence surrounding the annual event was much higher than past years, and the volume of […]
Back in Britain with a Bag of Video Tapes
Sadly my time is up with the British Army in Afghanistan. There are lots of journalists who want the space and I will have to wait my turn to come back. I tried to get back to Kabul in time for my scheduled flight to London’s Heathrow, but this wasn’t possible so I ended up […]
Surge splurge
Heading to Baghdad soon? Bin your Lonely Planet and head over to the New York Times. From Kadhimiya to Saydia, the Times has the surge covered. The state of life and death in the Iraqi capital is mapped out in pictures, text and video, To study the ground-level effects of the American troop buildup, reporters […]
Mexico City’s military and police are out in force in preparation for this weekend’s Independence Celebrations
Stalls and celebrations in Mexico City’s Zocalo. The country is preparing to celebrate its Independence Day. This will be the first Independence Day to be presided over by the country’s current president Felipe Calderon, who took office in December last year following controversial elections. Metal barriers and fences sprung up in the Zocalo almost overnight, […]
A Note from Baghdad
It’s three o’clock in the morning and the sound of mortarsand Katyusha rockets are my soundtrack. Gunfire is intermittent. Some is very close and some is far away. It does not matter anyway. I locked my building’s gate with an American-made lock and a large, stifling chain of steel. It cost me more money than […]
Crystal morning
A few days late on this, linkage from Blogs of war. Emergency services radio and phone calls were taken from publicly released tapes originally recorded on 11 September 2001. The “Melissa” speaking on the phone with an unidentified 911 operator was Melissa C. Doi. The recording of her phone call was originally released during the […]
Cambodian house moves
Following on from the Magnum love of yesterday, Magnum’s Cambodia-based John Vink writes an oddly third person blog – hey, maybe he doesn’t write it all. It’s misleading or just plain odd, but… the content should be worth a butcher’s. Magnum are calling it the Khmer Chronicles, Except for a few rare occasions over the […]
30 years of photojournalism in Mexico City
September is the month of photography here in Mexico City, and a number of photographic exhibitions are running. One of the most striking to foreign eyes is that of Proceso, a political magazine based here in Mexico that has been running for the last 30 years. Lining the outside fence of the majestic Bosque de […]
Axe at war
While googling around for a half decent link for David Axe in the last post, I came across this comic strip, one of 19 based on ‘the Axe’ experience of war reporting. Axe blogs at the honestly titled War is boring.
Vaughan talks…
…from Afghanistan, in between mortars, machine gun fire and RPGs on BBC Radio 5’s non too shoddy Pods and Blogs show. Well worth a listen. There is plenty of discussion on how people report from Afghanistan and Iraq with war reporter David Axe. Get yourself a cuppa tea and listen in here.
Lucha Libre Fighter Fuerza Guerrera Won’t Show His Face Without A Mask
Fuerza Guerrera is a famous Mexican Lucha Libre fighter who we met in the Latino American Gymnasio, Mexico City. He refused to be interviewed with his face showing – many fighters will only be seen in public wearing their masks. So we interviewed him from behind. Forgive my poor Spanish. [video:bliptv:422133]
Lucha Libre highlights from Arena Coliseo
First it was Leono (the Lion), Metalico and Tigre Blanco (the White Tiger) up against Loco Max (Crazy Max), ArkAngel and Doctor X. Then Blue Panther, Heavy Metal and El Sagrado (the Scared) had it out with Hijo de Lizmark (son of Lizmark), Averno and Mephisto. All insults form the crowd involved a combination of […]
Desert Caterpillars
[video:youtube:dEnPKWSBYqk] I returned from Gereshk in a convoy of “Vikingsâ€. The Royal Marines left behind these strange looking vehicles when they were here last winter. Each vehicle has two pods and wide tracks. They are highly manoeuvrable and as useful in the desert as the arctic. I am told that they can also swim. Nobody […]
Keenian fallout
Rather predictably, various shards of shrapnel find themselves embedded within around the blogosphere after Andrew Keen’s lessons in Web 2.0 whackonomics last night. First up, Lloyd davies is shedding a few tears, Andrew is a man who clearly gets something out of being (metaphorically) beaten up by one half of the audience while the other […]
Liveblog: Andrew Keen vs. The Internets
The room is full(ish). Andrew Keen and Richard Sambrook are seated on the regulation frontline brown leather chairs, glasses of white wine are filled and we’re off with a discussion about how the internet is, or is not, killing ‘our’ culture. Sambrook is setting the scene, there’ll be plenty of time for questions. I’ll keep […]
Is there a troll in Paddington?
The controversial trollesque figure of Andrew Keen descends upon the Frontline Club tonight. He’s best known for his book the Cult of the Amateur. The Guardian’s Emily Bell gave him a good rogering on Comment is free last month. Dave Weinberger, the inventor of RSS, isn’t too enamoured with Keen’s ideas and Tom Coates is […]
Dessert warfare
Vaughan’s chocolate bar chronicles spill over onto the Observer Food Monthly blog, The bigger question is, which minion in which ministry dreamt up this disaster in desert dining? Where’s your all-weather food; your dried fruit, dried meat, nuts, oatcakes and wotnot? The Ministry of Defence website tells us: “Thankfully the selection of dishes on the […]
Vaughan does Auntie
Vaughan gets picked up by the BBC’s excellent Pods & Blogs show. Producer Chris Vallance spoke to Vaughan today and we hope to hear his master’s dulcit tones on the show next week, I’ve just spoken with Vaughan about the embed and his decision to blog, vlog and twitter. His YouTube videos highlight the intensity […]
Vaughan in the field
Vaughan’s still in Helmand and a new post is coming within minutes… Here’s a photo of the man himself enjoying the company of a large cuddly toy, a helmet and a wall. There are more Frontline Club photos, including more from Vaughan in Afghanistan, in the Frontline Club Flickr pool – which is free to […]
They are not Tanks
[video:youtube:HEDRM6l0SKs] I was in Gereshk to witness the first deployment in Southern Afghanistan of what the military would call “proper armourâ€. A company of Scots Guards, called the Right Flank, arrived in a large sand-cloud with more than 20 “Warrior†armoured fighting vehicles. Soldiers frown and straighten their collars when you call them tanks because […]
The Military Press Officer
Lieutenant Commander Mike Parr of the Royal Navy has been with me wherever I go in Helmand. I would not have been allowed to come here without a “minderâ€. Mike’s main job is to make sure that I don’t compromise operational security. To check that I don’t put the soldiers lives at risk by what […]
