Information AboutRobert Fisk |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ROBERT FISK | |
| 1946 births | |
| british journalists | |
| living people | |
| people from maidstone | |
| political pundits | |
| alumni of lancaster university | |
| the times people | |
| war correspondents | |
|
, Canada , 2004]] Robert Fisk (born 1946 , Maidstone , Kent ) is a British Journalist , currently Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper '' The Independent ''. Described by the '' New York Times '' as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain", he has over thirty years of experience in international reporting, dating from 1970s Belfast and Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution , the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War , and encompassing the 1979 Iranian Revolution , the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War , 1991 Persian Gulf War , and 2003 Invasion Of Iraq . He is the world's most-decorated foreign correspondent, having received numerous awards including the British Press Awards ' International Journalist Of The Year award seven times. Fisk speaks good vernacular Arabic , and is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama Bin Laden (three times between 1994 and 1997). Fisk's reporting - and his bestselling books, based on his field notes and recordings - combine straight factual reporting with analysis and often strong criticism of Middle Eastern governments as well as what he perceives as and criticism from the Right , the latter in particular for an alleged anti-American and anti-Israeli bias in his emphasis on reporting the alleged ills done to the Middle East by the West from the Great War onwards. CAREER Fisk gained a BA in English and Classics at Lancaster University and a PhD in Political Science , awarded by Trinity College, Dublin in 1985. From 1972-1975 Fisk served as Belfast correspondent for '' The Times '', before becoming its correspondent in Portugal covering the aftermath of the 1974 Revolution . He then was appointed Middle East correspondent (1976-1988). He later moved to ''The Independent'', with his first report published there on 28 April 1989. As Middle East correspondent Fisk covered the . Assaulted in Pakistan After the U.S. launched its Attack On Afghanistan shortly after the September 11, 2001 Attacks , Fisk was for a time transferred to Pakistan to provide coverage of that conflict. While reporting from there, he was attacked and bloodied by a group of Afghan refugees, and for a moment became part of the news he was reporting. In his graphic account of his own beating, published in ''The Independent'' of 10 December 2001 Fisk considered his attackers blameless ("I couldn't blame them for what they were doing,") and excused the attackers of responsibility, as in his view their "brutality was entirely the product of others, of us – of we who had armed their struggle against the Russians and ignored their pain and laughed at their civil war and then armed and paid them again for the "War for Civilisation" just a few miles away and then bombed their homes and ripped up their families and called them "collateral damage." (''op.cit.''). Pundit of an internet Neologism , "'' Fisking ''," to describe Sullivan's method. A Wall Street Journal editorial by Mark Steyn regarding the incident was subtitled "A Self-Loathing Multiculturalist Gets His Due." [http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001602 2003 Iraq War During the 2003 Iraq War , Fisk was stationed in Baghdad and filed many eyewitness reports. He has criticized other journalists based in Iraq for their "hotel journalism", arguing that they were out of touch with the events and atmosphere of the Baghdad streets {Link without Title} . Praise and Awards Fisk received Amnesty International UK Press Awards in 1998 for his reports from Algeria and again in 2000 for his articles on NATO Air Campaign Against Yugoslavia In 1999 . He received the British Press Awards ' International Journalist Of The Year seven times, and twice won its "Reporter of the Year" award (''The Times'', December 15 1987, "Times reporter wins award"). In his video message prior to the 2004 Presidential Election in the US, Osama Bin Laden praised Fisk's reporting, adding that he considered Fisk to be "objective". He was made an honary Doctor Of Laws by St Andrews University on June 24 2004. The Political and Social Sciences department of Ghent University ( Belgium ) awarded Fisk an Honorary Doctorate on March 24 2006. FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY In the British journalistic tradition of the foreign correspondent, Fisk has developed a historical analysis of the foreign affairs that he covers and presents them in that light, often with trenchant criticism of the British government and its allies. In against the Iraqis who wanted real liberation — not by us from the Ottomans , but by them from us — and I think that's what's going to happen with the Americans in Iraq. I think a war of liberation will begin quite soon, which of course will be first referred to as a war by terrorists, by Al-Qa'ida , by remnants of Saddam's regime. Remnants: remember that word. But it will be waged particularly by Shiite Muslims against the Americans and the British to get us out of Iraq — and that will happen. And our dreams that we can liberate these people will not be fulfilled in this scenario." Fisk is a critic of what he perceives as was...is — I'm sure he's still alive — a most revolting man. He did use Gas against the Iranians and against the Kurds . And I also have to say that when he used it against the Iranians — and I wrote about it in my own newspaper at the time, '' The Times '' — the British Foreign Office told my editor the story was not helpful because, at that stage of course, Saddam Hussein was our friend — we were supporting him. The hypocrisy of war stinks almost as much as the civilian casualties." Fisk was asked by Amy Goodman in a Democracy Now interview what gives him hope, he responded: "Nothing. I’m sorry. Nothing. I’m sorry. Nothing at the moment. Ordinary people, I guess. Ordinary people who speak out. People in the Arab world as well. But in terms of governments, nothing much. I may be wrong. I may be too much of a pessimist because I've seen too much {Link without Title} . CRITICISM AND OPPOSITION Fisk's reporting and commentary style has made him the subject of much criticism, to the extent that certain bloggers coined the Blogosphere term '' Fisking '' ("a point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or a news story"). Fisk has written about being the target of Hate Mail and Death Threat s from Americans as a result of his critical reporting of US and Israeli policy in the Middle-East . Actor John Malkovich stated in May 2002 at the Cambridge Union Society that he would like to shoot Fisk along with the British MP George Galloway . {Link without Title} . In particular Fisk's reporting of his 2001 encounter with Afghan refugees has encouraged commentators "to lump Fisk with Chomsky, Pilger, Naomi Klein in the category of anti-American loonies." Guardian columnist Simon Hoggart (also a former Northern Ireland reporter), has criticised Fisk's "pessimistic" predictions, while acknowledging "his brilliant and vivid reporting". According to Hoggart, Fisk is "that most valuable resource, a journalist whose judgments are not just mistaken, but reliably mistaken. If ever Fisk predicts that the Americans will walk it, that will be the time to put on the tin hat {Link without Title} ." A ''New York Times'' review of Fisk's book, ''The Great War for Civilisation'' stated that Fisk is "least informed about Israel," pursues his agenda "nearly to the exclusion of the pursuit of straight journalism" and allows his points to be "warped by his perspective." It is no wonder, the reviewer added, that Osama bin Laden recommended Fisk's reporting as "neutral." Fisk has also been criticized for asserting that journalistic neutrality is "no longer relevant" to the Middle East and that instead journalists are "morally bound ... to show eloquent compassion to the victims." {Link without Title} NOTES
WORKS
EXTERNAL LINKS
Robert Fisk's non-use of the Internet In a talk he gave in Manchester on 2006-01-23 , Robert Fisk explained why he does not use the Internet for any of his journalistic research. He considers that the reliability and accuracy of much information posted on the World Wide Web is highly questionable. This also explains why there is no official Robert Fisk web-site. Related Video
|
|
|