Bringing it all back home (Emmy Award) (May 6, 2018)

Reporters At War is a three-part series that takes a long hard look at one of the most dramatic and dangerous careers of modern times, that of the war correspondent.

More than 300 journalists have been killed in battle zones in the last dozen years, some 200 of these having been deliberately targeted by their killers.

The War in Iraq’s rate of attrition is the highest ever. Though 63 died in the Vietnam between 1963-1975, it’s been estimated that at the above rate around 4,500 journalists would die if the Iraq conflict lasted as long as the Vietnam War. Then there’s the psychological trauma of witnessing the brutality of war close-up, constantly, day in, day out, over long agonising periods of time. No wonder nervous breakdowns, marital break-ups, alcoholism, etc affect war correspondents to a degree unexperienced by most ordinary folk.

Reporters At War also examines the ever-changing circumstances that the war correspondent must file their stories under and the evolving technology that is supposed to make their job easier…that, at least, is the theory. It also looks at some early examples of how technology aided and abetted the faking of war newsreel footage, the impact that television may have had on the outcome of war and the pressure that reporters now find themselves under in the satellite-driven, 24-hour rolling-news era that they now unwittingly find themselves starring in.

Dying To Tell A Story (EMMY AWARD) April 9, 2018

Reporters At War is a three-part series that takes a long hard look at one of the most dramatic and dangerous careers of modern times, that of the war correspondent.

More than 300 journalists have been killed in battle zones in the last dozen years, some 200 of these having been deliberately targeted by their killers….. (see the text above)

War, Lies & Videotape (EMMY AWARD)

War coverage becomes difficult when journalists become targets for the enemy and the military controls access to the stories.

FRANCE 24 English

FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 http://f24.my/YTliveEN

Journalists embedded with the Iraqi army on the frontline battling the Islamic State group risk their lives every day to report on this must-crucial of wars.

FRANCE 24’s team on the ground took a step back to look at these «information warriors». In Iraq, the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group is not just being fought on the ground; it is also an information war. While terrorists flood social networks with propaganda videos and photos, around 1,500 Iraqi war correspondents are currently covering the progress of the regular army and militias fighting their way to the terrorist group’s stronghold of Mosul.

These «information warriors» are side-by-side with the soldiers. The Iraqi journalists show incredible courage by filming the fighting up close and risking their own lives. Not all of them survive to file their reports for the next news bulletin. Proud of their country, they play an important role in the battle against the IS group and often appeal to God to win the «holy war against evil». Dominique Hennequin and Thierry Simonet report on the daily lives of these extraordinary war journalists.

«La Guerra se siente asi» (Guerra de Iraq) Oct 7, 2016

«Este podría ser el primer documental que muestre la realidad de la guerra moderna sin tomar lados» – The Guardian. En 2003, yo era joven, ingenuo y estaba un poco perdido. No pensé dos veces, así que volé a la guerra de Irak.

Quería observar a los periodistas que llevarian las noticias a todos nosotros. Las circunstancias me llevaron al otro lado de la frontera ilegal y muy peligroso durante la guerra de Irak. El resultado es este premiado documental. «La Guerra se siente asi» no es una historia política, sino un que toca lo humano. No es una película sobre la guerra de Irak, sino sobre la guerra. No se trata sólo de los periodistas, sino de seres humanos. Y de como tu te sentirias en una guerra.

On The Front Line: Fighting The The Taliban (Modern Warfare Documentary)

Sean Langan witnesses the bloody battle to retake the strategically critical town of Garmser in Helmand province. Overstretched and outnumbered, are the British troops fighting an unwinnable war in Afghanistan? (Nov 8, 2017)

REPORTERS: Colombia: Caught in the Crossfire

 

Cartel Country

ABC News In-depth

 

Tens of thousands are missing, many more murdered. So why are Mexico’s violent drug cartels operating with impunity? We go inside the most powerful cartel to meet the footsoldiers. Corruption, they say, goes right to the top. Produced in collaboration with Ben Zand and Vice TV. In Mexico’s Sinaloa state, violence has become a way of life.

 

Home to the country’s most powerful drug syndicate, the Sinaloa cartel, murders and disappearances are rife. The police, meant to protect the population, are often the targets of violence. Over 500 officers were killed in Mexico last year. They’re also often complicit, with corruption in the police force and government a major problem.In this shocking portrait of a country caught in the grip of organised crime, reporter Ben Zand takes us where few have gone – inside the Sinaloa cartel in the Sierra Madre mountains where he witnesses the group’s operations up close.

 

At their hidden base, the group grows poppies and marijuana for export, fends off outsiders with guns and bribes visiting police and security officers with money and women. “The government is the one in charge” say the local leader. “The cartel is only as big as the government wants us to be.” Commentator and writer Ioan Grillo believes that the police and military used to have the upper hand with the cartels but says that’s now changed. “Some of the cartels have become much more powerful,” says Grillo. “[now] the cartel is actually bullying and controlling elements of the security forces.” It’s the community who’s paying the price for corruption and impunity. Mirna Quiñones’ son disappeared suddenly 7 years ago.

 

When police refused to help her, she set out to find him herself. She went on to set up the Trackers of El Fuerte group which helps parents looking for their children. In the last seven years of searching, they’ve uncovered over two hundred bodies. “There is no justice. We all know that. I have been threatened by the municipal police here. The government and crime are united.” Interior Minister, Olga Sánchez Cordero, concedes there is corruption. “The trials, and the investigations, are deficient”, she says. “Lawyers are threatened. Judges are threatened. That is just the reality.” But she maintains the government is doing its best to investigate the cartels and to undermine their support base.

 

Investigative journalist Anabel Hernández disagrees, saying she has little faith the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, elected two and half years ago, will tackle the problem. “He promised to do something different but….it’s just the same. Nothing changed. In some parts it’s worse.»

About Foreign Correspondent: Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC’s television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval – through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.