The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

On Tuesday 1st November, in an event organised in partnership with the London Press Club and Index on Censorship, six journalists met at the Frontline Club to redefine Foreign Correspondence.

“Where once we were seen as neutral observers, now we are targets” said Caroline Lees, author of Index’s recent article ‘Under The Wires’. Backed up by a deterioration in journalistic safety and evidence supplied by Assad defectors, it is clear that journalists are now firmly in the military’s crosshairs.

Freelance photojournalist Paul Conroy attributed this to the rise of the use of truth “as a weapon of war”. Kim Sengupta, Defence Correspondent at The Independent noted that the use of kidnapping and public beheading by rebel groups has led to “a huge tranche of Northern Syria not being covered”.

However, this tactic of limiting press freedom through violence is not limited to terrorist organisations.

Conroy is in a court case against the Assad regime after documents smuggled out of Syria proved that he and his colleague Marie Colvin were a victim of an assassination operation. These documents state that “international journalists were to be treated the same as combatants”.

The rise of untrained freelance journalists in the field worsens the problem. Freelancer Samira Shackle mentioned that she had come across numerous “horror stories” of young journalists arriving in hostile zones without even basic precautions. She cited the dangers of young reporters travelling without insurance or basic cyber security.

The problem is exacerbated by the increased role of ‘fixers’. As local employees who offer on the ground support to the international press, these freelancers run many of the same risks as Western journalists but with little of the support. They also must cope with increased hostilities and accusations of being a spy or traitor.

They are also often left out in the cold when it comes to kidnap or imprisonment.

Caroline Lees mentioned the case of Jovo Martinović, the Montenegrin investigative journalist arrested whilst researching a gun running story. Despite the dubious charges, the French station he was working for has done little to help him.

Dr Haider Al Safi formerly of The Independent, said that in many cases, these employees were being exploited: “They are overworked, not getting paid well and also not introduced to their rights”.

There was consensus on how the journalistic world could respond. This included major organisations taking more care in training all it’s employees. Some attempts have been made towards this end.

However, Lees mentioned sources from news organisations who said they didn’t support fixers because it was “too complicated, too expensive and they don’t want to accept liability”. With statements like this it is clear a sea change across journalism is a long way off.

In the past twenty years budget cuts across the foreign news industry have seen the near-demise of Western foreign correspondents posted abroad. In their place, local-national stringers have become increasingly important providers of foreign news stories. While the nature of conflicts changes and reporting from high-risk zones becomes more dangerous, the traditional model of the foreign correspondent has shifted. The majority of foreign news is no longer gathered by traditional foreign correspondents posted abroad, but by local nationals who were born and raised in the country they report on.

Is the foreign correspondent an endangered species in the news industry? What new models of foreign reporting are emerging alongside new information-gathering technologies? We will be joined by an expert panel to discuss trends in the industry and the future role of the foreign correspondent.

This is a free ticketed event – attendees must book via the link on this page.

Chair:

Rachael Jolley is the editor of Index on Censorship magazine.

Speakers (full panel announced soon):

Kim Sengupta is Defence Correspondent at The Independent.

Dr Haider Al Safi is a London-based Iraqi journalist and media consultant covering middle eastern politics. He started working as a journalist in 2003 during the American invasion of Iraq and ran the office for The Independent newspaper in Baghdad. Together with his colleagues he covered stories from all over Iraq exposing him to the dangers of war – he was caught in cross-fire, kidnapped and witnessed suicide attacks. He is Executive Producer of Hard-Talk Arabic.

Caroline Lees is a former news and foreign correspondent who has worked as South Asia correspondent for the Sunday Times, covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kashmir and other areas. She has also covered many parts of Africa, including Eritrea for the Economist, the fall of Mobutu in the then Zaire and refugee camps in Goma. She has been an assistant foreign editor at the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, foreign editor at the Sunday Express and Scotland on Sunday. She is now a researcher at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, and is editor of a Europe-wide network of journalism research platforms, the European Journalism Observatory.

Samira Shackle is a London-based freelance journalist who has reported extensively on Pakistan over the last five years, for publications including the Guardian, Times, Independent, and New Statesman. She has also reported from India, Bangladesh and Kenya for a range of British and international outlets. In 2015 she was shortlisted in the foreign correspondent category in the Words By Woman awards and the New Voices category of the One World Media awards. She was the 2015 recipient of the Times’ Richard Beeston fellowship for foreign reporting.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

The Panama Papers might be stirring trouble for world leaders, but revelations of illicit international money flows come as little surprise to Gavin Serkin. His book Frontier, acclaimed as a “must read” by the Financial Times, chronicles corruption and violence stretching from Africa to Asia and Latin America. This “gripping, powerful tale of the future flow of wealth,” as South Africa’s Business Day wrote in its review, is the topic for a high-flame grilling of the author by David Selves. Serkin recounts his police detention in one of the three most dangerous countries for journalists, and witnessing a beheading – while taking inspiration from breakthroughs that will make some of these places among the most important economies of tomorrow.

Gavin Serkin is a writer and journalist who previously headed Bloomberg’s Emerging Markets international desk. This year he created a news service dedicated to balancing prejudice from the financial industry against the developing world, along with a new radio show and hub to deliver powerful research to the international media. Serkin is the recipient of the Society of American Business Editors & Writers’ Best in Business Award and the Society of Professional Journalists’ Deadline Club Award.

David Selves is deputy chairman of the London Press Club and an accomplished after-dinner speaker, charity auctioneer and thriller writer. He instigated the London Press Club’s Quarterly Grill, where he grills high profile guests with questions submitted to him by the audience

This event is the latest in a series of debates, talks and Q&As from the London Press Club, with previous speakers including William Dalrymple, Alan Rusbridger, Sarah Sands and India Knight. For more information visit londonpressclub.co.uk.

London Press Club members can reserve a free space by emailing info@londonpressclub.co.uk and can buy any additional tickets here.

All attendees are welcome to join the London Press Club for drinks in the clubroom before and after the talk, with first drinks (from 6.30pm) courtesy of Gorkana. The evenings are an opportunity for young and old, experienced and students, from all aspects of media to mingle with each other – and those from the world of PR and business.

A monthly social evening for journalists and others in the London media world. The London Press Club, which has been bringing the industry together since 1882, has resurrected the tradition of regular drinks, on the back of popular demand.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

A monthly social evening for journalists and others in the London media world. The London Press Club, which has been bringing the industry together since 1882, has resurrected the tradition of regular drinks, on the back of popular demand.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.