The Frontline Club

October 24, 2011 7:30 PM

This Autumn Unreported World’s intrepid reporters welcome a formidable new colleague, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the Channel 4 News presenter, as they investigate stories from some of the most difficult and hidden parts of the world.

In this series they reveal official corruption in South Africa’s townships, capture the astonishing lifestyle of Nigeria’s ‘millionaire pastors’, follow Paralympians in Gaza hoping to get to London 2012 and in Uganda they profile a hospital offering pioneering surgery, saving babies from a deadly brain condition. This latest run of Unreported World will continue to deliver compelling investigate reports that reveal remarkable characters living extreme lives.

To mark the launch of the series, Channel 4 invite you to join Siobhan Sinnerton, Commissioning Editor for News & Current Affairs for an exclusive talk. With reporters Evan Williams, Seyi Rhodes, Jenny Kleeman, Oliver Steeds, Peter Oborne and Ramita Navai as they reveal the highlights, challenges and dangers of their extraordinary jobs.

17/02/12

On 25 February, ENO stages the London premiere of The Death of Klinghoffer by John Adams. A powerful and arresting opera from one of the world's greatest living composers, directed by Warhorse's Tom Morris. Based on the hijacking of the cruise liner Achille Lauro, and resulting in the death of Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish-American passenger, The Death of Klinghoffer is a theatrical presentation of an event that dominated the world's headlines and became a defining moment in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The opera is a captivating response to the 1985 hijack, it even-handedly explores religious tolerance, displacement and exile. It does this through poignant lyrical choruses interspersed with dramatically etched moments of fear and fury as the hijack reaches an increasingly violent and tragic conclusion.

This debate explores the complex role of the arts in illuminating contemporary events touching on the relevance of opera today and ENO's role in bringing fresh, modern work to the London stage and extending the boundaries of theatre.

Chaired by Christopher Cook, a broadcaster and journalist. His work can be found in places such as the Guardian and the New Statesman, as well as on BBC radio. His current academic work includes positions at Syracuse University, London Centre and American University (London Programme).

With:

Will Self, commentator and author. His many books include The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Grey Area, Cock & Bull, My Idea of Fun, Junk Mail, The Sweet Smell of Psychosis, Great Apes, Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys, Dorian, How the Dead Live, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year 2002, The Book of Dave, Psychogeography, Psycho Too, and The Butt.

Dimi Reider, an Israeli journalist and blogger. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Haaretz, and the Jerusalem Post. He's also contributing editor and co-founder at +972 Magazine, a publication by prominent Israeli and Palestinian bloggers.

Ghada Karmi, a leading British-Palestinian academic and writer. Currently she is co-director of the European Centre of Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. She is a frequent media commentator on Middle Eastern issues. She is the author of a memoir, In Search of Fatima; a Palestinian story. Her most recent book is Married to another man: Israel's dilemma in Palestine.

Baldur Brönnimann, regularly conducts the major orchestras and new music ensembles around the world and is now increasingly sought after in the opera house. Renowned for his mastery of complex contemporary scores, he is held in the highest regard by many of today's foremost composers. In 2008 he was appointed Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, and in 2011 he was announced as the new Artistic Director of Norway's BIT20 Ensemble. In December 2010 he caught the headlines across the world when he travelled to the Middle East to conduct the newly-formed Palestine National Orchestra in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Haifa. Brönnimann is conducting the London premiere of John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer at English National Opera, directed by Tom Morris.

March 19, 2012

How are the rules of reporting being rewritten by risk? What innovative methods are journalists using to report from some of the world’s most dangerous places?

Journalists working in areas of conflict reveal how they get information when traditional techniques are insufficient. The discussion will focus on the interaction between local hires and foreign journalists.

Local journalists are typically less conspicuous and more mobile than their foreign counterparts. They perform a vital service – bringing information from areas that are off-limits to the foreign press. Perhaps most critically for a cash-starved news industry, they are also cheaper to use than Western news gatherers.

But are they cutting corners and breaching ethics? How are the rules of reporting being rewritten by risk?

The event will be led by Richard Pendry of the University of Kent’s Centre for Journalism. While at Frontline News Television, he worked in Chechnya and across the former Soviet Union as well as Afghanistan and the Congo. He will show his film “A Strange Animal”, which focuses on the risks and rewards of adapting traditional models of news gathering. It follows local reporters in Falluja and Baghdad and looks at the phenomenon of “sub-contracting” news gathering, where local reporters pass on stories one to another when conditions are dangerous.

With:

Aamer Ahmed Khan, head of the BBC Urdu Service, has been in journalism for 25 years. He worked for the English daily newspaper The Nation in Lahore, joined the launch team of Pakistan’s first English language weekly The Friday Times as its News Editor and was special correspondent for Pakistan’s premier political magazine The Herald. He has worked with local people in Pakistan’s Tribal areas to identify the victims of US drone strikes.

Amie Ferris-Rotman, a Reuters correspondent in Kabul. She was previously a reporter in Moscow, working across the former Soviet Union covering pipeline politics, foreign policy and running stringers reporting on the Islamist insurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus.

Callum Macrae, the producer/director behind Channel 4′s multi-award winning “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”. Using mobile phone footage and other video footage from non-professional sources the film revealed the shocking truth behind the final operation against Tamil Tigers and the civilians trapped with them. The film led David Cameron to call on the UN to investigate the war crimes apparently revealed in the film. He has made films for the BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera and PBS and has reported and directed from around the world including Iraq, Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.

Neil Arun, international editor who has produced a range of investigative stories during his time in Iraq, working with a bureau of local journalists. His own reporting from the country has been published by Vanity Fair and the Financial Times Weekend magazine. He also spent five years with the BBC, and has reported from the Balkans, Caucasus and Pakistan.

September 21, 2011

Murdoch on his knees, MP’s Expenses, Wikileaks, Phone Hacking and Tomlinson; Investigative journalism seems to be going through a purple patch. Is it really alive or is this a false dawn?

Join us to debate and launch the book Investigative Journalism: Dead or Alive? Edited by John Mair and Richard Keeble published by Abramis on September 20th. Author priced copies will be available on the night.

Chaired by Kevin Marsh, Former Editor BBC Radio Four’s the Today programme;

With:

John Ware, BBC Panorama;

Donal MacIntyre, investigative journalist;

Paul Lewis, special projects editor at the Guardian.

October 2, 2012

Organised by the Greenpeace Energydesk

With the UK’s Energy bill on the verge of coming before parliament and world leaders preparing for the latest climate summit, this time in Doha; some are worrying about the ability of a struggling media to play an effective role in the debate on energy and the climate.

As the press struggles to recover from a collapse in advertising during the recession and the damage done by the phone hacking scandal and subsequent inquiry the discussion will examine the challenges facing journalists reporting on an area of great scientific and economic complexity. The event will ask what impact those challenges have on the wider policy debate over energy and climate change and what – if anything – should be done to improve the discussion on this crucial area.

Chaired by editor of the Guardian, Alan Rusbridger, an expert panel will be exploring whether our journalism is up to the debate over energy and climate change.

With:

Angus McCrone, chief editor of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. He works closely with BNEF’s 120-strong team of analysts and researchers covering sectors such as wind, solar, biofuels, carbon and energy-smart technologies, also writes and presents on a wide range of topics including overall clean energy investment, project finance, public markets and policy-making.

Ben Webster, media editor of The Times since July 2011. He joined The Times in 1998, working on the newsdesk from 1998-2000 as night news editor and then assistant news editor. He was Transport Correspondent from 2000 to 2009 and Environment Editor from 2009 to 2011.

David Kennedy, the chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change. Previously he worked on energy strategy at the World Bank, and design of infrastructure investment projects at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.

Dr Alice Bell, senior teaching fellow at Imperial College London and writer interested in science in society. She has taught science communication at Imperial College London and UCL and is currently based at the former, running a course on energy and climate change.

Tom Burke CBE, environmental campaigner and founder of E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism). He is environmental policy adviser to Rio Tinto and visiting professor at Imperial College London and University Colleges, London. He is a Senior Business Advisor to the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change. He has recently been appointed to the External Review Committee of Shell. He is formerly the executive director of Friends of the Earth and an advisor to three Secretaries of State for the Environment.

Photography Networking Party by Frontline Club Charitable Trust

25th May, 2012

Nearly eight years in the making, Voices of the South Atlantic is a major exhibition by Argentinian photographer Adriana Groisman, which marks the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas War.

Join us at the Frontline Club where Groisman will be speaking about her motivations for the project and her experiences whilst making the work.

Brief but bloody, the Falklands/Malvinas War remains a defining moment in the Falkland’s history as well as Britain’s and Argentina’s. To this day, sovereignty of the islands remains a contentious issue and tensions are mounting over the hunt for oil and gas in the Falkland’s waters.

An experienced photographer, Groisman‘s work has appeared in major publications around the globe, including The Smithsonian Magazine, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Aperture, Sette-Corriere della Sera in Italy and French GEO, and has been displayed at numerous galleries and festivals.

Moderated by Director of Autograph ABP Mark Sealy.

May 21, 2012 7:00 PM

Since its formation in 2001, VII Photo has represented some of the leading photojournalists of the 21st century. As a collectively owned agency, it has grown from seven to 23 members, diversifying from conflict photography to all branches of photojournalism.

VII’s new book, Questions Without Answers, tackles issues that have shaped the world in our lifetime.

A powerful visual history of the world from the end of the Cold War to the present day, the book features a startlingly wide variety of work; from coverage of the war in Iraq and the events of 9/11 to an exploration of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, from portraits of our most significant cultural figures to dispatches from the current economic crisis.

VII photographers Lynsey Addario, Gary Knight, Christopher Morris and John Stanmeyer will be at the Frontline Club to discuss the key themes in the book and their individual experiences of covering history in the making. The event will be moderated by Alexia Singh, Editor-in-Charge, Wider Image Desk at Thompson Reuters.

Lynsey Addario began photographing professionally in 1996 for The Buenos Aires Herald in Argentina, with no professional training. Since 2001, Addario has freelanced for the daily New York Times, National Geographic, and TIME while living in Mexico, Iraq, Turkey, and India, covering feature stories worldwide, in addition to conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, Lebanon, and Congo. Addario has won many awards and was part of the NYT team to win the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, for her Talibanistan photographs.

Gary Knight made his name covering the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and conflicts arond the world. His work has been widely published by magazines all over the world, exhibited globally, is in the collections of several museums and private collectors and has been the recipient of numerous high-profile awards. Knight lectures on photography an journalism at Tufts University in Boston.

Christopher Morris is also a founding member of VII. He spent the first twenty years of his career covering conflict and a further eight years as the White House photographer for Time Magazine. He has won numerous awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal award, the Visa d’Or award and numerous World Press Photo Awards.

John Stanmeyer another founding member of VII, has witnessed nearly every major historical event in Asia in the past 12 years, photographing the rapid changes taking place throughout the entire region. Working regularly for National Geographic Magazine and Time Magazine, Stanmeyer has been awarded the Robert Capa and numerous World Press Photo awards. In 2008 he received the National Magazine Award for this in-depth essay on the global Malaria epidemic.

23rd May 2012

Reportage by Getty Images covers a huge diversity of topics in the news: from famine and conflict to documenting the quirkier side of life. Two Getty photographers Peter Dench and Tom Stoddart will be in conversation with Getty’s Vice President of Assignment Aidan Sullivan about their distinctive projects and their experience of photographing diverse subjects.

Peter Dench joined Reportage by Getty Images this year and is about to publish his first book, England Uncensored which was crowd funded through Emphas.is . His work takes a humorous look at the state of the nation. Dench has won a World Press Photo Award in the People in the News category and an exhibition of England Uncensored was displayed at Visa pour l’Image in 2011.

Seasoned photojournalist Tom Stoddart has covered the fall of the Berlin wall, the wars in Lebanon, Bosnia and Iraq as well as famine in Sudan. He works closely with Getty Images to produce photo-essays on significant world events. Stoddart has recently returned from Southern Sudan and will be showing work from this trip and other work he has produced in conjunction with the ICRC campaign, Healthcare in Danger.

25th May, 2012

On 20 April, 2011 photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were tragically killed while covering the civil war in Libya.

In the aftermath of this tragedy, Benjamin J. Spatz and the American literary magazine Alaska Quarterly Review brought together 68 of the world’s leading photographers to proactively honor Tim and Chris. The result, Liberty and Justice (for All): A Global Photo Mosaic, is an exploration of the many facets of liberty and justice through images and personal narrative.

Join Spatz and Giles Duley in the final event in Photo Week 2012 for a presentation of the proactive tribute and to discuss the challenges to interpret and depict these universal themes in a dangerous and changing world.

Chaired by filmmaker and journalist James Brabazon.

Giles Duley worked for 10 years as a fashion and music photographer before becoming accomplished humanitarian photographer. His work has been exhibited and published worldwide in many respected publications including Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone, The Sunday Times and The Observer. In February 2011 Duley was severely injured while working in Afghanistan.

Benjamin J. Spatz is Guest Editor of the Alaska Quarterly Review and is a Truman National Security Fellow. He recently served as Special Advisor to the Government of Liberia and has worked with a relief and development NGO in Darfur, the global political risk advisory firm Eurasia Group, and the United Nations Mission in Liberia. Saptz‘s photography has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International and the National Press Photographers Association.