You may have noticed that Populism is getting quite… popular. In the last 20 years, populist parties in Europe have tripled their votes. By 2018, they were in government in 11 countries. Populist leaders now govern countries with a combined population of over 2 billion people. How did we get here? Where are we going? What’s at stake?

There are, of course, no simple answers. Populism evades the traditional tropes of how politics plays out in democracies. Across the world, populist challengers are concocting complex hybrids of left-wing economics with exclusionary social protections to capitalise on mistrust of ruling elites – and a fear of mass migration. We’re joined by award winning author and journalists, Ece Temelkuran and Patrick Cockburn, to try and understand why, how: and why now.

In her new book, How To Lose a Country, Ece is proposing alternative, global answers to the pressing, and too often paralysing, political questions of our time. Temelkuran explores the insidious idea of “real people”, the infantilisation of language and debate, the way laughter can prove a false friend, and the dangers of underestimating one’s opponent. She weaves memoir, history and argument into an urgent and eloquent defence of democracy, fierce debate and dissent.

Speakers:

Ece Temelkuran is an award-winning Turkish novelist and political commentator whose journalism has appeared in the Guardian, New York Times, New Statesman, Frankfurter Allgemeine and Der Spiegel. She is also a frequent commentator on BBC and Channel 4. She won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award for her novel Women Who Blow on Knots and the Ambassador of New Europe Award for Turkey: The Insane and the Melancholy. She has been twice recognised as Turkey’s most-read political columnist, and twice rated as one of the ten most influential people in social media. 

Patrick Cockburn is an Irish journalist who has been Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times since 1979 and, from 1990, The Independent. He has also worked as a correspondent in Moscow and Washington and is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books. He has received the Martha Gellhorn prize for war reporting, the James Cameron Award, and the Orwell Prize for Journalism. He is the author of Muqtada, about war and rebellion in Iraq; The Occupation (shortlisted for a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2007); The Broken Boy, a memoir; and with Andrew Cockburn, Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein.

  Watch the video stream of How to Lose a Country

In the six short years since Marie Colvin’s death in Homs, Syria, on February 12, 2012, she has been remembered in many ways. As a member of the Frontline Club, those eulogies of Marie have often taken place here. Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, City of Ghosts) chose to make her life, death and dedication to journalism the subject of his feature debut.

“For me, A Private War is a love letter to journalism and an homage to Marie, who risked her life time and time again fighting to tell hard truths. It was deeply important for me to try and also capture Marie’s personal struggle and to examine the demons that plagued her mind. I didn’t want to approach the film as a biopic, but instead, an exploration of the paradoxical swirl of addictions that made Marie brilliant, but also increasingly tortured. She often struggled with the very thing that drove her – Will the world care when her words finally reach them?” – Mathew Heineman

Join us for an exclusive pre-screening of ‘A Private War’ on Tuesday February 5th, 10 days before the film’s UK release. We’re partnering with Women in Journalism for a Q&A afterwards with Matthew Heinemann and Paul Conroy, chaired by Editorial Director of the Sunday Times Eleanor Mills.

Run time: 110 minutes

Watch the trailer here

Eleanor Mills is Editorial Director of The Sunday Times and Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine which was named Supplement of the Year at the prestigious 2018 British Press Awards. A passionate advocate of equality and keen feminist, Eleanor is Chair of Women in Journalism, the UK’s premier network for female journalists across print, radio, TV and online, Her publications include: Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs: 100 Years of the Best Journalism by Women, which is on the A level syllabus. She is on the board of the New York based Centre for Talent Innovation think tank and is a trustee of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund  (JDRF). She appears regularly on TV and radio and lives in London with her husband and two daughters.

Paul Conroy is a former soldier who spent seven years with the Royal Artillery. He developed a passion for photography and first became involved in journalism on a mission to the Balkans. He has since worked extensively as a photojournalist and filmmaker in combat zones around the world, producing footage in the Balkans, Iraq, Democratic Republic Congo, Rwanda and most notably Libya and Syria. Paul first met Marie in March 2003 in Syria. A firm friendship was forged over their many shared interests: sailing, whiskey, and their extraordinary dedication to covering the atrocities of war. Having worked together in Libya in 2011, they were determined to cover the Syrian regime’s brutal crackdown and the devastating impact this was having on civilians.

Matthew Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who has twice won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Award from the Directors Guild of America, one of only three directors to win the prestigious honour twice. Heineman recently directed and executive produced ‘The Trade’, a five-part docu-series that premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The critically acclaimed series chronicles the opioid crisis through the eyes of those most affected-growers, cartel members, users and law enforcement. His last film ‘City of Ghosts’ that follows a group of citizen-journalists exposing the horrors of ISIS premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

  Watch the video stream of ‘A Private War’ Exclusive Q&A

Story-Based Inquiry (SBI) is practiced around the world. It has been hailed for its robustness and simplicity. If you are unsure of how to undertake long-form projects, or feel the need to make your work more efficient and powerful, this seminar with the creators of Story-Based Inquiry will help you.

Story-Based Inquiry is a method for researching and writing long form journalism as a single integrated process. It begins with a hypothesis, a provisional story that defines and guides our project. A timeline and source map pinpoint what we are looking for and where to find it. A master file keeps the research together, serves as the backbone for the finished narrative, and provides a database for future projects.

Part 1: The basis. Hypothesis your story
Investigation has a dirty name with editors, who think it’s about slowly rummaging through piles of garbage until you find (or don’t find) a jewel. Too often, they’re right. This session will show you how to choose a subject and define your investigation as a story from the start, using hypotheses. The method helps you figure out what to look for, how to look for it and how to sell it to your boss and the public.

Part 2: Creative Techniques. Timeline and Scenario
In this session we map the plot of a story – a sequence of events that must have occurred, which we can subsequently verify and enrich. Simultaneously, we create scenes, with characters whose actions and conflicts define the content and meaning of the story. These events lead to the sources you need.

Part 3: Build assets for the story and beyond. Source Mapping and MasterFile
Now that we’ve shown you where to acquire information assets, we’ll show you how to optimise them! We’ll create a simple but effective database in which you collect the results of your investigation. This “Masterfile” makes it easier to structure your story – the hardest part of composition. It’s a way to write while you research, instead of first researching and then writing. It’s also a way to build resources for a long, successful career.

Part 4: Craft the Story. Narrative effects and quality control
This session shows you how to compose a story that hits hard and fast, and builds to a powerful conclusion. The core of this method is continuous composition and referencing – an approach that saves both time and anguish, for you and your colleagues. We turn the Masterfile into a narrative structure based on a chronology or a sequence of themes and characters. We apply techniques for controlling rhythm, the element that keeps your audience watching. We finish with quality control – reducing the risk of mistakes that can cause damage to others and your own reputation.

As an addition to the day-long workshop the tutors offer the possibility to book individual coaching sessions the next day – to find out more about these sessions and to book a place click here.

Suggested advance reading:

Free: Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists (UNESCO 2009).

Download: www.storybasedinquiry.com

About the trainers:

Mark Lee Hunter is the principal author of “Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists” (UNESCO 2009), the most widely-distributed reference work in the history of the profession. He and Luuk Sengers are the founding members of Story-Based Inquiry Associates. At INSEAD, a global business school where he is an adjunct professor, he co-founded The Stakeholder Media Project, which investigates the emergence of new forms of watchdog media. He is the author of over 100 investigative reports and nine books, including (with Luuk Sengers) The Hidden Scenario and The Story Tells the Facts. His scholarly research on media development is published in leading academic journals.

Hunter has won awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. for both his investigative reports and his research on journalism. He has also won the H.L. Mencken, Clarion, National Headliners, Society of Professional Journalists and EFMD awards for features and research. He earned his doctorate in Sciences de l’information from the Université de Paris II-Panthéon-Assas.

Luuk Sengers is an investigative journalist, researcher and educator. Together with Mark Lee Hunter he developed the internationally acclaimed Story-Based Inquiry method, a systematic and efficient way of doing investigations. He is also a world-class data journalism instructor. He is a visiting lecturer at several J-schools and universities. Previously, he worked sixteen years as an economy reporter at major Dutch newspapers and magazines, like NRC Handelsblad, Quote and Intermediair. He is a former board member of the association of investigative journalists in The Netherlands and Belgium, the VVOJ.

Images: via Story-based Inquiry Associates

This discussion will ask: what ethical concerns arise when documenting the experiences of survivors of sexual violence, and how can journalists best help bring perpetrators to justice? Should journalists covering the issues of sexual violence and sex trafficking complete specified training?

With a focus on Syria our panel will be mapping out what is being done to help individuals and communities affected by sexual violence, and discuss ethical practices for journalists reporting on the topic and engaging with survivors.

Chaired by Liz Ford , deputy editor of the Guardian’s Global development website. Liz leads on women’s rights and gender equality issues. She was previously editor of the Guardian’s Katine website, and before that worked on the Guardian’s education desk.

Speakers (Full panel announced soon):

Lauren Wolfe is an award-winning journalist who has written for publications from The Atlantic to The New York Times. She is also a columnist at Foreign Policy magazine and on the advisory committee of the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict. Previously, she was the senior editor of the Committee to Protect Journalists, where she broke ground on the issue of journalists and sexualised violence. She studied at Wesleyan University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and is the recipient of the 2012 Frank Ochberg Award for Media and Trauma Study and four Society of Professional Journalists awards. Action on Armed Violence listed her as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Journalists Covering Armed Violence.”

Marie Forestier is an independent journalist and researcher. She is currently a visiting fellow at LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, researching sexual violence against Syrian women committed by pro-regime forces. Marie has been a correspondent in Istanbul, Turkey, covering Turkey, the Syrian crisis, Iraq and Iran for various television and radio stations, such as ARTE, RTS, France 2. In 2015, Marie directed a documentary about sexual crimes committed in Timbuktu, Mali in 2012-2013 and the victims’ quest for justice. Front 2009 to 2011, Marie was a correspondent in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Belinda Goldsmith is an award-winning journalist who has reported and led news teams from more than 20 countries on political, financial and general news. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the world’s leading provider of news and information. In this role, she runs a global team of nearly 30 journalists and a large network of stringers covering the world’s under reported stories, focusing on humanitarian issues, women’s rights, climate change, corruption and good governance. She also plays a key role in the editorial content for the annual Trust Women Conference, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global event dedicated to putting the rule of law behind women’s rights through concrete action.

Hillary Margolis is a researcher in the Women’s Rights Divisions at Human Rights Watch. Her work focuses on violence against women and girls, including sexual violence in conflict, interpersonal and domestic violence, and protection risks for female migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. Most recently, she has conducted research on migrants and refugees arriving in Italy via Libya, and on sexual violence by armed groups in the Central African Republic conflict. Her previous work at Human Rights Watch includes documentation of the impact of the Syrian conflict on women and girls, including exploitation and harassment in refugee settings, abuse of women in detention, and risks facing female activists and household heads.

This event will feature screenings of Zaina‘s short films from the series Syria’s Rebellious Women, as well as a Q&A with Zaina who is in London as one of the finalists in the Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2016.

Living and working in Aleppo, Syria, Erhaim directed the film series Syria’s Rebellious Women over a period of 18 months to offer a rare insight into the challenges facing women living and working in rebel-held parts of Syria.

Revealing a side of Syria that is often absent from the news, the films tell the individual stories of a diverse group of strong, resilient women. As well as facing the constant threat of bombing, the women must battle the conservative traditions of a male-dominated society and tackle restrictions on their movements, dress and behaviour. Despite disapproval from their families, the women continue undeterred along the paths they have chosen – documenting war, delivering supplies to civilians, and providing medical services.

Zaina Erhaim currently lives and works in Aleppo, Syria. Over the last two years, she has trained over 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately a third of them women, in print and TV journalism. Erhaim is also the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an international organisation that support journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis, or transition. Many of Erhaim’s students, from all walks of life, have been published in major international news outlets. ​

The Siege of Sarajevo, lasting from 1992 to 1996, was the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. After Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence from Yugoslavia, the Bosnian Serbs — whose goal was to create a new Bosnian Serb state that would include parts of Bosnian territory – encircled Sarajevo with a force of 13,000.

In this award-winning new documentary acclaimed journalists Remy Ourdan and Patrick Chauvel masterfully capture the experiences of the city’s residents who experienced the siege firsthand. As these men and women recall memories of everyday life under the blockade, history interweaves with personal testimony to create a humanising portrait of battle and resistance.

Sarajevo was a multi-ethnic crossroads between East and West. When the fighting began, Sarajevo was the unarmed capital of a state without an army. For Sarajevans, the war came as a surprise, and the city remained besieged for almost four years. Utilising rarely seen archive footage, poignant interviews and astounding photography, The Seige presents a multi-layered and personal account of a vertiginous descent into war.

A siege is a unique phenomenon in a war: the entire city becomes the frontline, where fighters and civilians struggle and live together. For Sarajevans, their resistance was as much political, intellectual and artistic as it was military. With sensitivity for their subjects, Remy Ourdan and Patrick Chauvel present an entirely new image of the Siege of Sarajevo in which survivors tell their own stories.

The Siege was awarded the Gold FIPA 2016 for best documentary.

In coproduction with ARTE, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, Pro Ba (Bosnia)
Directed by: Remy Ourdan and Patrick Chauvel
Produced by: Blanche Guichou / AGAT Films & Cie
Country: France
Year: 2016
Runtime: 90′

“We all work in closing spaces around the world where journalism is becoming more and more difficult.”

The challenges of reporting on places and conflicts forgotten by the mainstream media were laid bare on Tuesday 19 January, as the Frontline Club hosted an in-depth discussion on the professionalisation of citizen journalism.

Trevor Snapp, director of programs at Nuba Reports, chaired a discussion that ranged from the increasingly savvy media strategies employed by governments, to the dangers faced by emboldened eyewitnesses looking for a big payout.

‘eyewitness media could be used not just for news, but as evidence in court’ -great event last night @frontlineclub pic.twitter.com/i1jCfjLIrs

— eyeWitness project (@eyewitnessorg) January 20, 2016

Snapp explained that the need for such a panel came about “because of the reality that the world is increasingly difficult to do journalism in” – and pointed to countries such as “Yemen, Libya, many parts of China, many parts of India, many parts of Pakistan and many parts of Iran” as examples of this.

Jacqueline Geis, chief operating officer of Videre est Credere, found one solution to the challenges faced by citizen journalists who are working to document governmental abuses.

“Governments are becoming increasingly creative in their targeting of civil society, by including new codicils and amendments into press laws (…) People that are committing these crimes and atrocities are getting smart to when Western media shows up and when they don’t show up.”

Geis continued: “You see this a lot in election cycles: that people that want to manipulate election cycles are not doing it three months before the election, they’re doing it two years before that election happens (…) So having the continuous presence on the ground makes a valuable difference in telling the complete side of the story.”

John D McHugh, award-winning photojournalist, filmmaker and co-founder of Verifeye Media, agreed on the importance of eyewitness accounts. He likewise shared in Geis‘ optimism for the potential benefits of citizen journalism, as opposed to more traditional forms of journalism: “The closed space, the budgets, the restrictions and the authorities that close these spaces can be opened up in other ways.”

Chavala Madlena, a freelance journalist and producer, agreed that more traditional practices of journalism could be restrictive. While trying to tell “a nuanced story, like children growing up in drone-affected areas in Yemen and what that does to them long term,” she was certain that there “must be a better way (…) than just sending in a crew and doing interviews.”

Madlena‘s solution was to give cameras to Yemenis to document their experiences. Not only did this prove cost-effective, but it also brought back very different results to what a crew of video journalists could have achieved. She said the experience has “reshaped my thinking about making documentaries going forward.”

Thant Sin, a regular contributor to the citizen media website Global Voices, spoke of the “dark side of this new citizen media: there’s a lot of rumours and misinformation spreading around the net. People start believing whatever they see on the internet.”

Snapp commented that this need for authenticity and verification is one reason that citizen journalists should not be seen as an alternative to professional journalists. “The job of a professional journalist is still very much there (…) It’s about working together now and not seeing each other as threats.”

“There are things that algorithms can’t do, and that’s build relationships and trust with people” – @chavalamadlena #frontlineclub

— Alastair Reid (@ajreid) January 19, 2016

In a fitting conclusion, McHugh captured the energy of the discussion: “Eyewitness journalism is not the future of journalism – it’s the now.”

With shrinking editorial budgets, greater risks and lack of access it is becoming increasingly difficult for established media outlets to offer a full picture of events. Can citizen journalists fill the void?

A few organisations are working to address this reality: Nuba Reports mentors and trains filmmakers in Sudan’s conflict zones. Organisations such as Syria Deeply and Tehran Bureau aggregate and report from hard-to-access areas using a dedicated network on the ground. The human rights organisation Videre trains oppressed communities to document abuses and violations on camera.

Everyday there are even more places and stories that foreign correspondents cannot access. While the outside perspective they bring is critical, local insights are equally valuable. This discussion will bring together a few key players working on new models of foreign reporting to address the issues of verification and bias, and of which technology is working and which isn’t. They will discuss the challenges faced and delve into what the future of this new reporting holds.

Chaired by Trevor Snapp, the director of programs at Nuba Reports, a media startup in Sudan pioneering ways to tell stories of life amidst war. Over the last decade he has covered stories around the world, producing documentaries for Al Jazeera and VICE, and reporting for NPR and Newsweek. His photographs have been featured in The New York Times and The Guardian amongst others.

The panel:

John D McHugh is the co-founder of Verifeye Media, a technology driven visual news agency that represents freelance journalists and accidental eyewitnesses, delivering verified eyewitness media from the centre of a story to newsrooms, in real-time. McHugh is an award winning photojournalist and filmmaker with extensive knowledge of foreign reporting, especially from conflict zones.

Basia Cummings is a commissioning editor on the Guardian’s world networks, focused on in-depth coverage of under-reported regions, including Africa, North Korea and the post-Soviet states

Jacqueline Geis is the chief operating officer of Videre est Credere, an organisation that equips activists in hard-to-access areas with the cameras, technology, and support to visually document human rights violations safely and effectively.

Thant Sin is currently studying for a master’s degree in Media in Development at the School of Oriental Studies in London. He is a regular contributor to the citizen media website, Global Voices, and covers the latest events in Myanmar. Before beginning his studies in London, Sin worked in the development sector in Myanmar – travelling the country to work with displaced peoples.

Photo: Nuba Reports. Videojournalist Ahmad Khatir interviews an elderly farmer about an injury she sustained during a government bombing attack in the Nuba mountains of Sudan.

Every year, women journalists are killed, assaulted, threatened and defamed – all in pursuit of the truth. Many of these journalists face not only the implicit dangers of hostile environments, but cultural and social prejudices that would keep them silent.

Now more than ever, female journalists are responsible for covering the world’s most challenging hostile environments yet remain under represented in the global news media at large; identifying the types of threats women journalists face and how to address those threats is key to greater gender equality in the global news media.

News Reporting and Navigating Risk will be a moderated discussion with accomplished journalists who have reported from hostile environments around the world about their experiences with a focus on best practices for security, emotional self care, and access to medical, mental health, and emergency resources.

Chaired by Elisa Lees Munoz, the executive director of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF).

The panel:

Alison Baskerville is an FFR board member and a documentary photographer.

Nadine Marroushi has worked for 8 years as a journalist writing about the Middle East and Africa.

Richard Spencer is the Middle East editor for The Telegraph.

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT WILL BE FILMED AND STREAMED LIVE ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

On 23 October 1984, the BBC aired a landmark report on the famine in Ethiopia. Describing the crisis as a ‘biblical famine’, the report galvanised the public, spurred the UK government into action and prompted the creation of the infamous Live Aid concert.

Now 30 years on, is media reporting of today’s conflicts and disasters having the same effect on the public and has the nature of conflict and disaster reporting changed? How are journalists adapting to these changes?

How are humanitarian organisations working with media outlets to help generate interest and understanding of the crises affecting millions of civilians around the world?

Join the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as they examine the current state of conflict and disaster reporting and how humanitarian agencies can work with the media to raise awareness and much-needed funds.

Chaired by Ben Parker who has worked in media and humanitarian response for over 20 years. He co-founded the IRIN humanitarian news service in 1995. As well as a reporter and editor, he has been an aid worker, most recently as head of UN’s humanitarian office in Syria in 2012, and as UN director of communications in Somalia.

The panel:

Juliana Ruhfus, senior reporter for the People and Power programme on Al Jazeera English, specialising in investigative work. Her journalistic work with Channel 4, BBC and now Al Jazeera has taken her to over 30 countries, including Somalia, Yemen, Haiti, Libya and Sri Lanka after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Marc DuBois was the head of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) UK from 2008–14. He has worked in the front lines of humanitarian crises for MSF in countries including Sudan and Angola.

Jon Snow, Channel 4 News anchor since 1989. During his career he has covered conflicts in countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Angola as well as the Haiti earthquake and the recent crisis in Gaza.

Eva Svoboda, research fellow in the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute. She has worked for various NGOs and the ICRC in emergencies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

If you are unable to attend you can watch the event live, to receive a reminder register here.

Photograph: isafmedia