Conflict
Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence in Conflict
On 10 June, world leaders and NGOs will gather in London for a global summit with the aim to create “irreversible momentum against sexual violence in conflict and practical action that impacts those on the ground”. Ahead of the summit, we will be joined by a panel of speakers who have been working towards this aim for many years. They will be discussing what needs to be done to make it a reality.
Preview Screening: Aleppo. Notes from the Dark + Q&A
In the summer of 2013, Michal Przedlacki and Wojciech Szumowski spent 44 days in Aleppo, documenting the lives of ordinary citizens in extraordinary circumstances. Aleppo. Notes From the Dark offers a unique and poignant account of life in Aleppo from the perspective of seven of its residents. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with co-directors Michal Przedlacki and Wojciech Szumowski.
The Fog of Peace
In war there is rarely a single action or answer that will bring peace. As we are seeing with the conflict in Syria, the process of negotiation and resolution is incredibly complex. We will be joined by the authors of a new book, The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution, to offer an insight into psychological theories, geopolitical realities and first-hand peace-making experience.
Syria: Changing Media Coverage?
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.
War Correspondents on the Road at the Century Club
This event is organised by FFR (Frontline Freelance Register) and RISC (Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues), all ticket money will go towards their work supporting freelance journalists. It will take place at the Century Club.
Granta 125: After the War – with Lindsey Hilsum and Frances Harrison
How long is the shadow of a battle, an explosion, a revolution? What stories arise in the wake of devastation? 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.
Peace Talks: War and Peace in Journalism – Does the Devil Have the Best Stories?
This event is organised by International Alert, in partnership with Sussex University’s School of Global Studies.
In the media, lead coverage is often given to stories and images from the front lines. As the old newsroom saying goes: “If it bleeds, it leads”. But what happens when a conflict fades from the headlines and the long path to peace begins? Can the power of the media be harnessed to highlight positive stories of peacebuilding, reconciliation and change? Join us to explore how the media depicts the stories of both conflict and peace.
Preview Screening: Pretty Village + debate
Pretty Village tells the harrowing story of the 1992 Kevljani massacre and its continuing effect on the lives of survivors. Using home movies and personal testimonies of the villagers, director David Evans visits a pre-war world where Serbs, Croats and Musilms lived in a complex web of mutual support systems and shared values.
This screening will be followed by a debate with director David Evans, protagonist and producer Kemal Pervanic and journalist at ITV News Penny Marshall. Moderated by Ed Vulliamy, writer for The Guardian and The Observer.
Syria Conflict: Developments on the ground and on the international stage
As fierce fighting continues in Syria, the death toll according to the United Nations has now reached at least 93,000 and the number of refugees fleeing the country has exceeded 1.5 million. We will be joined by five journalists who have covered the situation in Syria extensively since the uprising began in early 2011. They will be discussing recent developments, on the ground and on the international stage, and asking what changes we could see in coming months.
Reflections with Alex Thomson
By Caroline Schmitt ‘Reflections’ at the Frontline Club brings well known journalists to the stage to look back on their careers. Incorporating video clips, still images and articles selected by them, the host Vin Ray describes it as “a cross between Desert Island Discs and This is your Life”. It is held in association with the BBC […]
In conversation with Paul Conroy – Under the Wire: Marie Colvin’s Final Assignment
Paul Conroy will be joining us in conversation with international editor at Channel 4 News, Lindsey Hilsum, to talk about Under The Wire. Offering a testimony of war reportage, and a personal account of the final assignment he embarked on with Marie Colvin, one of the foremost journalists of our generation.
When reporting from Haiti, Mali or Syria, are our cameras turned off too quickly?
By Caroline Schmitt What is the relationship between the extent of a disaster, its media coverage and the resulting help from charities and the public? A panel of Sky News and BBC journalists, DFID and experts with a background in humanitarian aid analysed these dependencies at a ShelterBox event hosted by the Frontline Club on March 5 […]
Calls to support fledgling freelancers as more flock to war zones
By Helena Williams Calls to support the next generation of independent journalists working in conflict zones were made just days after French freelance photographer Olivier Voisin was killed by shrapnel in Syria.
Down the Rabbit Hole
This event is organised by Granta and features award-winning author and journalist, Janine di Giovanni and ex-BBC Correspondent, ex-Amnesty International, journalist and author Frances Harrison.
With readings and conversation focused on the Syrian and Sri Lankan conflicts moderated by Granta deputy editor Ellah Allfrey, this event explores the ethics of venturing into war zones, the line between truth and fiction and how to tell the stories of war.
From Cast Lead to Pillar of Defense: How the IDF has learnt to communicate war in Gaza online
In 2009, I wrote a blog post arguing that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had “fallen off the social media bandwagon”. Their digital media campaign in support of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza was hastily conceived, unimaginative and anti-‘social’. New tools were used to disseminate traditional military messages with little regard for a new online […]
Whoever said that journalism should be safe?
By Merryn Johnson Last night’s talk was a whistle stop tour through the history of the Frontline News Television agency, with its two surviving founding members, Vaughan Smith and Peter Jouvenal, in conversation with long-time cohort, BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson. From FNTV’s origins over a Christmas dinner amid the chaos of the Romanian revolution […]
Photo Week 2012 – Voices of the South Atlantic with Adriana Groisman
By Rosie Scammell
An intimate evening unfolded at the Frontline Club last night, as Argentine photojournalist Adriana Groisman talked through her photography commemorating the Falklands/Malvinas War.
The Tenth Parallel: Africa’s fault line between Christianity and Islam
Download this episode View in iTunes By Nicky Armstrong Solomon Mugera, the BBC’s Africa editor began by describing the balance where Islam and Christianity collide as ‘a delicate pendulum’. For the past seven years award-winning journalist and poet Eliza Griswold has travelled 9,000 miles along this line of collision known as the Tenth Parallel, meeting […]
The Tenth Parallel: Africa’s fault line between Christianity and Islam
From Senegal in the West to Somalia in the East runs a fault line, ‘the knife edge where Islam and Christianity meet’. This area of land separates the continent’s 400 million Muslims from its 500 million Christians.
Join us to discuss Africa’s fault line with New York Times bestseller
Sneak Preview Screening: The Price of Kings – Yasser Arafat
Mixing a rich collection of archive footage with the candid and poignant memories of his family, friends, colleagues, and peers, Richard Symons creates an insightful, intimate, and well documented account of the life and controversies of Yasser Arafat.
Kashmir: South Asia’s Palestine?
The former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, is seen by many as South Asia’s Palestinian counterpart. Bordered by Pakistan, India, China and Afghanistan, each country has laid claim to the territory that lies in the foothills of the Himalayas. It has been caught between continuous contestation of borders and autonomy since the partition of British India.
Join us at the Frontline Club with an expert panel to discuss where Kashmir stands in its fight for freedom and the options that lay before it.
Reporting conflict: competition, pressure and risks
View in iTunes Watch the event here. By Helena Williams In a year where 100 journalists have been killed so far while trying to tell the story, and as the media’s coverage of events rocking the Middle East have been brought into sharp relief, it seems high time to examine the delicate relationship between ensuring the […]
First Wednesday: Where has war left the people of Afghanistan?
How do the Afghan people view the last ten years since the US-led invasion and how have their lives have been changed?
Is it just another chapter in nearly half a century of conflict and instability? Is civil war avoidable? Is there any hope for the future and what might that future look like?
Another opportunity to join in a lively public meeting, hosted by Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, bringing together experts and commentators and mixing their views with contributions from our audience.
Famine and Conflict in Somalia: What can bring relief?
Caught between political instability, conflict and violence, whilst famine and drought destroy the people and the land, there is seemingly little that can be done to bring relief to this failed state. Aid agencies are being criticised for not acting sooner and making provisions for prevention, as the famine and drought in the Horn of Africa were deemed “predictable.” Does the international system need to step up their efforts and produce a coordinated response? And what lessons can we learn for the future about prevention rather than cure?
Join us at the Frontline club with an expert panel to discuss the role of the international system, and what more can be done to bring relief to this war torn famine stricken country.
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 […]
FIRST WEDNESDAY SPECIAL: Changing world – conflict, culture and terrorism in the 21st century
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EXTERNAL EVENT HELD AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
To mark ten years since the terrorists attacks on the United States, the Frontline Club is holding a special event to look at the extent to which 9/11 has defined our world today and will continue to shape our future.
Have our leaders learned nothing from the war in Afghanistan?
Conversation among decision makers who gather in London’s private dining rooms has turned from Afghanistan to Libya. Over rare beef and fine wine, they voice concern that Western governments have again embarked on a rushed military adventure, in a far away place, on a vague premise, with no clearly defined goal, and no apparent […]
Somalis, Saracens and their Secret Donor
What do six Russians, two South Africans, the Ugandan President’s brother, a private security firm, a former CIA officer, and a senior ex-US diplomat all have in common? Somalia and its semi-autonomous regions of course! The British registered private security firm Saracen International is currently training over 1000 militia men in Somalia’s Puntland region as […]
Book Review: Little Bunch of Madmen – Elements of Global Reporting
I got a copy of Little Bunch of Madmen to review for the Frontline Club amongst others on the 1st of October but have since found myself reading, and unable to put it down. It is quite compelling and ever so useful. It has since accompanied me everywhere and has become an indispensable part of […]
Vietnam: A turning point for reporting war
A special event about reporting from Vietnam with some of the giants of war reporting including Jon Swain, Michael Nicholson and Patrick Chauvel.