The Frontline Club

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Jineth Bedoya Lima knows this only too well. In May 2000 she was kidnapped, tortured and raped by the AUC, a right-wing paramilitary group. She was kidnapped for a second time in August 2003 by left-wing FARC guerrillas.Despite the constant threat, she continues to work tirelessly to investigate armed conflict, drug trafficking, organised crime and issues around women and violence. Currently working for the national newspaper El Tiempo, in 2012 she was one of 10 women awarded the International Women of Courage Award and in October this year she was named as one of the 100 most influential journalists covering armed violence and conflict around the world, by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).We are honoured to welcome Jineth Bedoya Lima to the Frontline Club, she will be talking to Ed Vulliamy, a writer for The Guardian and Observer, about her prolific career as a journalist in Colombia, the work she does on conflict-related sexual violence and the ongoing peace process.

Colombia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Jineth Bedoya Lima knows this only too well. In May 2000 she was kidnapped, tortured and raped by the AUC, a right-wing paramilitary group. She was kidnapped for a second time in August 2003 by left-wing FARC guerrillas.Despite the constant threat, she continues to work tirelessly to investigate armed conflict, drug trafficking, organised crime and issues around women and violence. Currently working for the national newspaper El Tiempo, in 2012 she was one of 10 women awarded the International Women of Courage Award and in October this year she was named as one of the 100 most influential journalists covering armed violence and conflict around the world, by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).We are honoured to welcome Jineth Bedoya Lima to the Frontline Club, she will be talking to Ed Vulliamy, a writer for The Guardian and Observer, about her prolific career as a journalist in Colombia, the work she does on conflict-related sexual violence and the ongoing peace process.

This year the Frontline Club is ten and to mark the occasion we will be joined by a panel of journalists to look back on ten years on the front line.From Iraq to Afghanistan, Libya to Syria, our panel of journalists will be reflecting on the front lines they have reported from and discussing how they have marked the past decade. They will be sharing the stories they covered and the ones that remained unreported.Chaired by Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow.The panel:Shoaib Sharifi, is an Afghan journalist who has worked with national and international media outlets in Afghanistan for more than ten years. He was editor of the state-run daily The Kabul Times, producer and presenter for Radio Television Afghanistan RTA, bureau chief of the UN news agency (IRIN News) and freelance producer and director of many documentaries for the BBC, Channel Four, PBS America and ABC Australia.Lyse Doucet is a BBC presenter and chief international correspondent. She has been reporting for the BBC for nearly 30 years, with posts in Abidjan, Kabul, Islamabad, Tehran, Amman and Jerusalem.Anthony Loyd is an award-winning correspondent and writer. He is currently roving foreign correspondent for The Times and author of My War Gone By I Miss It So.Bill Neely, is international editor at ITV News. He has covered conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pakistan floods, the earthquake in Haiti and the Arab uprisings in Libya, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.

This year the Frontline Club is ten and to mark the occasion we will be joined by a panel of journalists to look back on ten years on the front line.From Iraq to Afghanistan, Libya to Syria, our panel of journalists will be reflecting on the front lines they have reported from and discussing how they have marked the past decade. They will be sharing the stories they covered and the ones that remained unreported.Chaired by Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow.The panel:Shoaib Sharifi, is an Afghan journalist who has worked with national and international media outlets in Afghanistan for more than ten years. He was editor of the state-run daily The Kabul Times, producer and presenter for Radio Television Afghanistan RTA, bureau chief of the UN news agency (IRIN News) and freelance producer and director of many documentaries for the BBC, Channel Four, PBS America and ABC Australia.Lyse Doucet is a BBC presenter and chief international correspondent. She has been reporting for the BBC for nearly 30 years, with posts in Abidjan, Kabul, Islamabad, Tehran, Amman and Jerusalem.Anthony Loyd is an award-winning correspondent and writer. He is currently roving foreign correspondent for The Times and author of My War Gone By I Miss It So.Bill Neely, is international editor at ITV News. He has covered conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pakistan floods, the earthquake in Haiti and the Arab uprisings in Libya, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.

Interest in the potential for using drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), for journalism is growing. As the technology becomes cheaper and easier to use, journalist are experimenting with using drones for news gathering.They offer the opportunity to document scenes that cannot be captured on the ground and to be used in circumstances when it would be too dangerous to send in a journalist. But what might this mean for privacy, ethics and safety in our skies?With these opportunities come many questions and challenges. We will be bringing together a panel of experts to explore the potential for the use of drones in journalism and to discuss the challenges this new technology presents.Chaired by Richard Sambrook, professor of journalism and director at the Centre for Journalism, Cardiff University. He is a former director of Global News at the BBC where he worked as a journalist for 30 years as a producer, editor and manager.The panel:David Goldberg is legal and regulatory specialist for Unmanned Experts and is co-author of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Journalists published by the Reuters Institute, Oxford University. He directs deeJgee Research/Consultancy and is a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Computer and Communications Law in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London.Professor Robert Picard is the director of research at Reuters Institute, University of Oxford. He is a world-leading specialist on media economics and government media policies. He was formerly based in the Media Management and Transformation Centre at Jönköping International Business School in Sweden where he was director and Hamrin Professor of Media Economics.Tom Hannen is a Senior Innovations Producer in the BBC’s Global Video Unit. Working with a small team, he is currently learning how to build, fly and film with small unmanned multi-rotor helicopters.Gerry Corbett joined the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) Safety and Airspace Regulation Group in June 2012, his focus is all matters associated with the operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in UK airspace. He is also the sponsor for Civil Aviation Publication 722, the primary guidance document for Unmanned Aircraft System Operations in UK Airspace.

The conflict in Syria has taken the lives of many journalists and many more have been kidnapped and remain missing. The level of risk for journalists in the country is extremely high and yet the imperative to cover what is happening there is equally so.In partnership with the Overseas Press Club we will be bringing together a panel of journalists and editors to talk about the challenges to journalism that have arisen from the high risk of covering the conflict in Syria and the work that needs to be done to better ensure the safety of journalists working there.The level of risk has left many editors reluctant to send in staff journalists resulting in them relying more and more on freelancers. We will be asking if the conflict in Syria is becoming unreportable and if this is the case then how do we tell the story of what is happening there?Chaired by Stuart Hughes, a senior world affairs producer with BBC News.The panel:Sean Ryan is the associate editor of The Sunday Times, he formerly served as foreign editor.Emma Beals is a freelance journalist and a member of the founding committee of Frontline Freelance Register (FFR).Fabio Bucciarelli is a documentary photographer focusing on conflicts and the humanitarian consequences of war. Recently he has covered events in Africa and the Middle East, including the ongoing conflict in Syria.Mani is a freelance filmmaker and photojournalist. He has worked in South Asia and the Middle East and since 2011 he focused on documenting the conflict in Syria mainly for Channel 4 News.

The conflict in Syria has taken the lives of many journalists and many more have been kidnapped and remain missing. The level of risk for journalists in the country is extremely high and yet the imperative to cover what is happening there is equally so.In partnership with the Overseas Press Club we will be bringing together a panel of journalists and editors to talk about the challenges to journalism that have arisen from the high risk of covering the conflict in Syria and the work that needs to be done to better ensure the safety of journalists working there.The level of risk has left many editors reluctant to send in staff journalists resulting in them relying more and more on freelancers. We will be asking if the conflict in Syria is becoming unreportable and if this is the case then how do we tell the story of what is happening there?Chaired by Stuart Hughes, a senior world affairs producer with BBC News.The panel:Sean Ryan is the associate editor of The Sunday Times, he formerly served as foreign editor.Emma Beals is a freelance journalist and a member of the founding committee of Frontline Freelance Register (FFR).Fabio Bucciarelli is a documentary photographer focusing on conflicts and the humanitarian consequences of war. Recently he has covered events in Africa and the Middle East, including the ongoing conflict in Syria.Mani is a freelance filmmaker and photojournalist. He has worked in South Asia and the Middle East and since 2011 he focused on documenting the conflict in Syria mainly for Channel 4 News.

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen will also be leading a day-long workshop on independent documentary journalism and self publishing at the Frontline Club on Saturday 2 November. For more information click here.Photographer Rob Hornstra and writer/filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen have been working together since 2009 to tell the story of Sochi, Russia, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Together their images and text reveals a telling portrait of this complex region.In a talk chaired by BBC Radio Current Affairs presenter Lucy Ash, Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen will present images from The Sochi Project and speak about the wider Caucasus region and its contrast with the glamour of the Olympic Games. They will also be discussing their approach to self-publishing.Both based in the Netherlands, they have returned repeatedly to this region as committed practitioners of “slow journalism”. Over four years, they have established a solid foundation of research on, and engagement with, this small yet incredibly complicated corner of the world, documenting changes as it finds itself in the glare of international media.The Sochi Project is a dynamic mix of documentary photography, film and reportage about a world in flux; a world full of different realities within a small but extraordinary geographic area.2014WinterOlympicGamesArnoldvanBruggeninthepicturephotographyRobHornstraRussiaSochiTheProject

October will mark the tenth year that Mikhail Khodorkovsky has spent behind bars. Once Russia’s richest and most successful businessman, he was arrested and imprisoned a decade ago, on charges that many regard as politically motivated. Since then he has faced new charges extending his sentence and although he is due for release in August 2014, doubts remain about whether this will take place.We will be examining the Khodorkovsky case and, following the charges against Alexei Navalny, we will be looking at the wider issue of imprisonment of opposition figures in Russia. Will the ramping up of protests and support for Alexei Navalny force a change in the conduct of Russian politics?A selection of Khodorkovsky’s writing will be adapted for an exclusive performance on the night, directed by Noah Birksted-Breen, the artistic director of the Sputnik Theatre Company. Birksted-Breen has previously directed a production of Elena Gremina’s play One Hour and Eighteen Minutes, dealing with the death of renowned Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky. More information on Birksted-Breen and the Sputnik Theatre Company can be found here: sputniktheatre.co.uk. It will be performed by Jonathan McGuinness, who is currently appearing in The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas at the Royal Court Theatre.Chaired by Edward Lucas, the international editor of The Economist and author of Deception: Spies, Lies and how Russia Dupes the West. He has covered Russia and Central and Eastern Europe for more than 20 years.The panel:Sir Tony Brenton is a former British Diplomat, he served as Ambassador to Russia from 2004-2008. In 2009 He became a Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge and is currently writing a book on Russian history.Ben Judah reported for Reuters in Moscow before joining the European Council on Foreign Relations in London as a Russia analyst. He is currently a visiting fellow at the European Stability Initiative and is author of Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell in and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin.Tonia Samsonova is a foreign correspondent working for Russian radio station Echo Moskvy, she is also a host on TVRain, an independent online TV channel. In 2013 she moved to London to investigate Russian corruption.

October will mark the tenth year that Mikhail Khodorkovsky has spent behind bars. Once Russia’s richest and most successful businessman, he was arrested and imprisoned a decade ago, on charges that many regard as politically motivated. Since then he has faced new charges extending his sentence and although he is due for release in August 2014, doubts remain about whether this will take place.We will be examining the Khodorkovsky case and, following the charges against Alexei Navalny, we will be looking at the wider issue of imprisonment of opposition figures in Russia. Will the ramping up of protests and support for Alexei Navalny force a change in the conduct of Russian politics?A selection of Khodorkovsky’s writing will be adapted for an exclusive performance on the night, directed by Noah Birksted-Breen, the artistic director of the Sputnik Theatre Company. Birksted-Breen has previously directed a production of Elena Gremina’s play One Hour and Eighteen Minutes, dealing with the death of renowned Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky. More information on Birksted-Breen and the Sputnik Theatre Company can be found here: sputniktheatre.co.uk. It will be performed by Jonathan McGuinness, who is currently appearing in The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas at the Royal Court Theatre.Chaired by Edward Lucas, the international editor of The Economist and author of Deception: Spies, Lies and how Russia Dupes the West. He has covered Russia and Central and Eastern Europe for more than 20 years.The panel:Sir Tony Brenton is a former British Diplomat, he served as Ambassador to Russia from 2004-2008. In 2009 He became a Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge and is currently writing a book on Russian history.Ben Judah reported for Reuters in Moscow before joining the European Council on Foreign Relations in London as a Russia analyst. He is currently a visiting fellow at the European Stability Initiative and is author of Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell in and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin.Tonia Samsonova is a foreign correspondent working for Russian radio station Echo Moskvy, she is also a host on TVRain, an independent online TV channel. In 2013 she moved to London to investigate Russian corruption.

How long is the shadow of a battle, an explosion, a revolution? What stories arise in the wake of devastation? The latest issue of Granta magazine explores the aftermath and legacy of conflict in fiction, poetry, reportage and memoir. To mark the publication of Granta 125: After the War, two of Britain’s foremost journalists and foreign correspondents discuss the craft, conditions and issues surrounding writing about post-conflict situations.Chaired by Roma Tearne, a Sri Lankan born artist, film maker and novelist. She trained at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art and has published five novels. Her latest novel, The Road To Urbino, was long-listed for the Asian Man Booker prize.Lindsey Hilsum is an internationally respected and admired communicator from the world’s most dangerous flashpoints. She is International Editor for Channel 4 News and has covered the major conflicts and international events of the past two decades. She spent most of 2011 reporting on the Arab Spring, primarily in Libya but also in Egypt and Bahrain, and is the author of Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution. In ‘The Rainy Season’, published in Granta’s After the War issue, she returns to Rwanda twenty years after witnessing the beginning of genocide.Frances Harrison worked for many years as a foreign correspondent for the BBC posted in South Asia, South East Asia and Iran. From 2000-2004 she was the resident BBC Correspondent in Sri Lanka. She has worked at Amnesty International as Head of News and is the author of Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War.

How long is the shadow of a battle, an explosion, a revolution? What stories arise in the wake of devastation? The latest issue of Granta magazine explores the aftermath and legacy of conflict in fiction, poetry, reportage and memoir. To mark the publication of Granta 125: After the War, two of Britain’s foremost journalists and foreign correspondents discuss the craft, conditions and issues surrounding writing about post-conflict situations.Chaired by Roma Tearne, a Sri Lankan born artist, film maker and novelist. She trained at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art and has published five novels. Her latest novel, The Road To Urbino, was long-listed for the Asian Man Booker prize.Lindsey Hilsum is an internationally respected and admired communicator from the world’s most dangerous flashpoints. She is International Editor for Channel 4 News and has covered the major conflicts and international events of the past two decades. She spent most of 2011 reporting on the Arab Spring, primarily in Libya but also in Egypt and Bahrain, and is the author of Sandstorm: Libya in the Time of Revolution. In ‘The Rainy Season’, published in Granta’s After the War issue, she returns to Rwanda twenty years after witnessing the beginning of genocide.Frances Harrison worked for many years as a foreign correspondent for the BBC posted in South Asia, South East Asia and Iran. From 2000-2004 she was the resident BBC Correspondent in Sri Lanka. She has worked at Amnesty International as Head of News and is the author of Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War.

A talented and courageous writer, and one of the most influential radical journalists of his generation, Alexander Cockburn was most at home in the political and cultural battlegrounds of the US. In a career that spanned 40 years he wrote for an array of publications, co-edited CounterPunch and was the author of a number of titles, including Corruptions of Empire, The Golden Age Is in Us, Imperial Crusades and co-author with Susanna Hecht of The Fate of the Forest.ColossalWreck_smallHe began his career in journalism writing for the student newspaper Cherwell at the University of Oxford. After a few years freelancing for the New Left Review, the New Statesman and others he crossed the pond in 1972. From 1973 he was a writer with the Village Voice, originating its Press Clips column. He went on to write for The Nation and a selection of other titles in the US and the UK.Join us to look back on Alexander Cockburn’s extraordinary career, exploring his view of America and his style of radical journalism. We will also hear readings from his final work, A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, and American Culture, finished shortly before his death in July 2012.Chaired by Charles Glass, a broadcaster, journalist and writer, who began his journalistic career in 1973 at the ABC News Beirut bureau and was chief Middle East correspondent from 1983 to 1993. Since then, he has been a freelance writer, regularly covering the Middle East, the Balkans, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean region.With:Journalist and brother of Alexander Cockburn, Patrick Cockburn. He has been a Middle East correspondent since 1979, first for the Financial Times, then for The Independent. He is author of several books including The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq and Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Battle for the Future of Iraq.Ellin Stein is a journalist and author, her book That’s Not Funny That’s Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream was published in June. She has written for publications including The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The New York Times, Variety and the Village Voice. She currently teaches in the department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College.Joe Paff studied politics and philosophy at Berkeley from 1957-66. Over the next decade he taught at Berkeley, Toronto and Stanford. In 1975 he moved to Petrolia, California where he created the first high school in the area and now roasts Goldrush Coffee. He is the president of CounterPunch.Robin Blackburn teaches at the University of Essex and at the New School in New York. He is a former editor of the New Left Review and is the author of many books, including The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, Age Shock, Banking on Death, and The American Crucible.

A talented and courageous writer, and one of the most influential radical journalists of his generation, Alexander Cockburn was most at home in the political and cultural battlegrounds of the US. In a career that spanned 40 years he wrote for an array of publications, co-edited CounterPunch and was the author of a number of titles, including Corruptions of Empire, The Golden Age Is in Us, Imperial Crusades and co-author with Susanna Hecht of The Fate of the Forest.ColossalWreck_smallHe began his career in journalism writing for the student newspaper Cherwell at the University of Oxford. After a few years freelancing for the New Left Review, the New Statesman and others he crossed the pond in 1972. From 1973 he was a writer with the Village Voice, originating its Press Clips column. He went on to write for The Nation and a selection of other titles in the US and the UK.Join us to look back on Alexander Cockburn’s extraordinary career, exploring his view of America and his style of radical journalism. We will also hear readings from his final work, A Colossal Wreck: A Road Trip Through Political Scandal, Corruption, and American Culture, finished shortly before his death in July 2012.Chaired by Charles Glass, a broadcaster, journalist and writer, who began his journalistic career in 1973 at the ABC News Beirut bureau and was chief Middle East correspondent from 1983 to 1993. Since then, he has been a freelance writer, regularly covering the Middle East, the Balkans, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean region.With:Journalist and brother of Alexander Cockburn, Patrick Cockburn. He has been a Middle East correspondent since 1979, first for the Financial Times, then for The Independent. He is author of several books including The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq and Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Battle for the Future of Iraq.Ellin Stein is a journalist and author, her book That’s Not Funny That’s Sick: The National Lampoon and the Comedy Insurgents Who Captured the Mainstream was published in June. She has written for publications including The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The New York Times, Variety and the Village Voice. She currently teaches in the department of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College.Joe Paff studied politics and philosophy at Berkeley from 1957-66. Over the next decade he taught at Berkeley, Toronto and Stanford. In 1975 he moved to Petrolia, California where he created the first high school in the area and now roasts Goldrush Coffee. He is the president of CounterPunch.Robin Blackburn teaches at the University of Essex and at the New School in New York. He is a former editor of the New Left Review and is the author of many books, including The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, Age Shock, Banking on Death, and The American Crucible.

Nearly three years after the start of the revolution in Tunisia, which was followed by uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, many are beginning to examine what has changed in the region. Fighting still rages in Syria’s bloody civl war, Egypt has seen it’s democratically elected president removed by the military and sectarian divisions are rife.One of those that has had a front row seat of this recent history is the BBC’s Middle East Bureau Chief,Paul Danahar. With a combination of access to the key players and extensive coverage on the ground his new book The New Middle East: The World After the Arab Spring, offers a fascinating and illuminating analysis of the new order. He will be joining us in conversation with BBC Arabic’s Samir Farah, to share his insight and analysis of events and what he feels the future holds for the region and its relationship with the West.Paul Danahar was the BBC’s Middle East Bureau Chief from 2010–13, running the organisation’s news coverage of the Arab Spring. He was awarded an MBE in 2003 for his work as the Baghdad Bureau Chief during the American-led invasion. Prior to his present posting he was the BBC’s East Asia Bureau Chief for three years, and previous to that he was the BBC’s South Asia Bureau Chief. In 2013 he was appointed the BBC’s North America Bureau Chief, based in Washington.