Robert Fisk

Infobox journalist
name = Robert Fisk


caption = Robert Fisk at a book festival in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2008.
birthname =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1946|07|12|df=y
birth_place = Maidstone, Kent, England
death_date =
death_place =
education = Lancaster University (B.A., 1983)
Trinity College, Dublin (Ph.D., 1985)
occupation = Middle East correspondent for "The Independent"
title =
family =
spouse =
children =
relatives =
ethnic = British
religion =
credits = Jacob's Award, Amnesty International UK Press Awards, British Press Awards, International Journalist of the Year, "Reporter of the Year", David Watt prize, Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize
agent =
URL = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/

Robert Fisk (born July 12 1946 in Maidstone, Kent) is a British journalist and is Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper "The Independent". [cite web
url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk
title=Robert Fisk
publisher=The Independent
accessdate=2006-07-19] He has spent around 30 years living and reporting in the Middle East.

Career

Described by the "New York Times" as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain",cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/books/review/19bron.html?ei=5070&en=55044ab9f817eb99&ex=1153454400&pagewanted=print
title=A Foreign Correspondent Who Does More Than Report|date=2005-11-19
accessdate=2006-07-19|publisher=The New York Times
author=Bronner, Ethan] 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 1980-88 Iran–Iraq War, 1991 Persian Gulf War, and 2003 Invasion of Iraq. He is the world's most-decorated foreign correspondent, [cite news
title=Honoured War Reporter Sides With Victims of Conflict|date=2005-11-04
accessdate=2006-07-19
publisher=New Zealand Press Association] 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). [Robert Fisk: "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East"pp.1-39 ISBN 184115007X]

In the British journalistic tradition of the foreign correspondent, Fisk has developed a personal analysis of the foreign affairs that he covers and presents them in that light, often with trenchant criticism of the US and British governments and their Middle East allies. His view of journalism is that it must "challenge authority — all authority — especially so when governments and politicians take us to war", and he quotes with approval the Israeli journalist Amira Hass: "There is a misconception that journalists can be objective ... What journalism is really about is to monitor power and the centres of power." [cite web
url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,6121,1645908,00.html
title=The big picture
author=Miles, Oliver|date=2005-11-19
accessdate=2006-07-19
publisher=Guardian Unlimited] Speaking of the historical basis for the conflicts he has covered Fisk said, "After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career — in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad — watching the people within those borders burn."

Fisk's personal and passionate style has attracted equally passionate criticism from those who disagree with his views. Supporters of Israel, in particular, accuse Fisk of anti-Israeli bias and sloppy reporting: Israeli historian Efraim Karsh, in a review of "The Great War for Civilisation" in "Commentary Magazine", accused Fisk of "carelessness" with facts ("It is difficult to turn a page... without encountering some basic error"), and Ethan Bronner, Deputy Foreign Editor of the "New York Times", called Fisk "most passionate and least informed about Israel," accusing him of pursuing an agenda "nearly to the exclusion of the pursuit of straight journalism". [Bronner, Ethan. [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/24/features/bookfri.php The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East] , "The New York Times" (reprinted in "The International Herald Tribune"), November 25, 2005.]

Early career

Fisk received a BA in Latin and Linguistics at Lancaster University and a PhD in Political Science, from Trinity College, Dublin in 1983.cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/postgraduate/phdstudentspre1995.php|title=Former postgraduate students|publisher=Trinity College, Dublin|accessdate=2008-07-26] The title of his doctoral thesis was "A condition of limited warfare: Eire’s neutrality and the relationship between Dublin, Belfast and London, 1939–1945" . He first worked on the Sunday Express diary column before a disagreement with the editor, John Junor, prompted a move to The Times. [cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-my-days-in-fleet-streets-lubyanka-877812.html|title=My days in Fleet Street's Lubyanka|author=Robert Fisk|date=26 July 2008|publisher=The Independent|accessdate=2008-07-26] From 1972-75 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 1979 Iranian revolution, the 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq War, and the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Fisk has been living in Beirut since 1976, [cite book
last = Fisk
first = Robert
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East
publisher = Harper Perennial
date = 2006
location = London
pages = 973
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 978-1-84115-008-6] as one of two Western journalists to stay in Beirut throughout the Lebanese civil war.Fact|date=June 2008 He was one of the first journalists to visit the scene of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. His book on the conflict, "Pity The Nation", was first published in 1990. Fisk has also reported on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the conflicts in Kosovo and Algeria.

Osama bin Laden, 9/11, and the war in Afghanistan

Fisk is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden - three times (all published by "The Independent": December 6 1993, July 10 1996, and March 22 1997). During one of Fisk's interviews with Bin Laden, Fisk noted an attempt by Bin Laden to possibly recruit him. Bin Laden said, "Mr Robert, one of our brothers had a dream. He dreamed ... that you were a spiritual person ... this means you are a true Muslim." Fisk replied, "Sheikh Osama, I am not a Muslim ... I am a journalist". [cite book
last = Fisk
first = Robert
title = The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
publisher = Vintage
date = 2007
pages = 29-30
doi =
isbn = 9781400075171 ] Bin Laden and Adam Gadahn, an Al-Qaeda spokesman and translator of American birth, have apparently mentioned Robert Fisk in speeches. Osama bin Laden said Fisk's reporting was "neutral". [ [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79C6AF22-98FB-4A1C-B21F-2BC36E87F61F.htm Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech] , Al Jazeera, 1 November 2004] According to a MEMRI report, on September 2, 2006, in a videotaped statement, Adam Gadahn said that Fisk and George Galloway have a "respect and admiration for Islam," have "sympathy for Muslims their causes", and added "I say to them, isn't it time you stopped sitting on the fence and came over to the side of truth?". [ [http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP128106 Special Dispatch Series - No. 1281] , MEMRI, September 6 2006 (contains ellipses)]

Fisk condemned the September 11, 2001 attacks, describing the actions of the "9/11 killers" as a "hideous crime against humanity." In the aftermath of 9/11, he called for an honest discussion to understand the motives behind the attacks: a discussion which he claims was not occurring in the Western press. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/24/features/bookfri.php The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East] , "The New York Times" (reprinted in "The International Herald Tribune"), November 25, 2005.] He believes that Al Qaeda ordered the attacks in response to U.S. policies in the Middle East, particularly its support for Israel. [ [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2319 One Year On: A View From The Middle East] , Robert Fisk, The Independent, September 11 2002, reprinted at ZNet] He has questioned the approach offered by President Bush, who did not take into account foreign policy and instead claimed that the perpetrators of 9/11 did it because "they hate our freedom." [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People] , George W. Bush, White House Office of the Press Secretary, September 20 2001]

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 beaten by a group of Afghan refugees but was also saved from this attack by another Afghan refugee. In his graphic account of his own beating, published in "The Independent" of December 10 2001, Fisk excused the attackers of responsibility ("I couldn't blame them for what they were doing,") and said that, 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.'" [cite web
url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles1.htm
title=My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war
author=Fisk, Robert
date=2001-12-10
accessdate=2006-07-19
publisher=robert-fisk.com]

In August 2007 Fisk publicly expressed, for the first time, doubts about the historical record of the September 11 attacks. In an article for "The Independent", he raised such concerns as missing aircraft parts, the melting point of steel, the collapse of World Trade Center 7, and other familiar criticisms that have circulated within the 9/11 Truth Movement, although he said that many other criticisms were "crazed".cite news
first=Robert|last=Fisk
date=2007-08-25
title=Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11
work=The Independent
url=http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2893860.ece
accessdate=2007-08-25]

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 what he calls their "hotel journalism", literally reporting from one's hotel room without interviews or first hand experience of events. [cite web
url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles450.htm
title=Hotel journalism gives American troops a free hand as the press shelters indoors
author=Fisk, Robert|date=2005-01-17
accessdate=2006-07-19
publisher= [http://robert-fisk.com/] ]

Fisk's opposition to the war brought attacks from many pro-war supporters. Irish columnist and Senator Eoghan Harris called Fisk's analysis of Middle East politics "a first cousin to believing that aliens take away people in flying saucers", [ [http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/airkissing-the-terrorists--call-it-luvvies-actually-496908.html Air-kissing the terrorists - call it Luvvies Actually - Analysis, Opinion - Independent.ie ] ] while "Guardian" columnist and war supporter Simon Hoggart attacked his prediction that "the (action of the) West (in response to 9/11) was about to bring total disaster upon its own head." While acknowledging Fisk's "brilliant and vivid reporting", Hoggart stated his belief that Fisk's pessimism revealed a judgement that was "not just mistaken, but reliably mistaken". [Hoggart, Simon. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,596271,00.html A war cry from the pulpit] , "The Guardian", November 17, 2001.] In May 2002, actor John Malkovich, asked at the Cambridge Union Society who he would like to fight to the death, offered Fisk's name. Fisk commented afterwards that he and other journalists who criticized U.S. and Israeli policy in the Middle East would have to deal with the hate mail and death threats that comments like Malkovich's would inevitably bring forth.cite web
url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles77.htm
title=Robert Fisk: Why does John Malkovich want to kill me?
date=14 May 2002]

Awards

In 1991, Fisk won a Jacob's Award for his RTÉ Radio coverage of the first Gulf War. ["The Irish Times", "In the wars", November 19, 1991] He received Amnesty International UK Press Awards in 1998 for his reports from Algeria and again in 2000 for his articles on the 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. [cite news|title="Times reporter wins award"|date=1987-12-15|publisher=The Times] In 2001, he was awarded the David Watt prize for "outstanding contributions towards the clarification of political issues and the promotion of their greater understanding" for his investigation into the Armenian Genocide by the Turks in 1915. [cite news|title=" [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/fisk-wins-award-for-political-journalism-678347.html Fisk wins award for political journalism] "|date=2001-07-20|publisher=The Independent] More recently, Fisk was awarded the 2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize along with $350,000. [cite web|title="2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize awarded to Robert Fisk"|publisher=Lannan Foundation|url=http://www.lannan.org/lf/cf/detail/2006-lannan-cultural-freedom-prize-awarded-to-robert-fisk/]

He was made an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of St Andrews on June 24 2004. The Political and Social Sciences department of Ghent University (Belgium) awarded Fisk an honorary doctorate on March 24 2006. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the American University of Beirut in June 2006. Trinity College Dublin awarded him a second, honarary, Doctorate in July 2008. [cite web|title="Five recipients to receive honorary degrees at Trinity College Dublin"|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/news.php?headerID=954&vs_date=2008-7-1]

"The Great War for Civilisation"

"Publishers Weekly" said this about Fisk's 2005 book ""

Gary Kamiya, a writer for Salon.com wrote that,

"Fisking"

Fisk's ability to arouse the ire of political conservatives has led the blogosphere to spawn the term "fisking". [ [http://www.word-detective.com/071503.html#fisk Word detective, 2003] ] This refers "not to what Fisk does, but to what is done unto him" - the fisker begins by copying text from the fiskee, and then produces an interlinear critique pointing out flaws and raising doubts. Since the fiskee cannot respond, "the fisker can without too much trouble make the fiskee look ridiculous." [ [http://kairosnews.org/node/1820 Fisking as a Rhetorical Construct] ] The original fiskee was of course Fisk himself, [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/magazine/19wwln_safire.html?ex=1298005200&en=a5d02adfe7aca7c6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "Blargon"] , The New York Times, February 19, 2006.] but even the Archbishop of Canterbury has been fisked. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2005/jun/19/media.theobserver "Archbishop on end of a good fisking", Observer, June 19, 2005] ]

Bogus Saddam biography

In February 2008 Fisk reported that he had discovered a biography of Saddam Hussein with his name on the cover as author, but clearly a forgery. [cite web
url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-the-curious-case-of-the-forged-biography-776775.html
title=Robert Fisk: The curious case of the forged biography
accessdate=2008-02-02
published=2008-02-0]

Works

*"The Point of No Return: The Strike which Broke the British in Ulster" (1975). London: Times Books/Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-96682-X
*"In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality, 1939-1945" (2001). London: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-2411-8 — (1st ed. was 1983).
*"Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War" (3rd ed. 2001). London: Oxford University Press; xxi, 727 pages. ISBN 0-19-280130-9 — (1st ed. was 1990).
*"The Great War for Civilisation - The Conquest of the Middle East" (October 2005) London. Fourth Estate; xxvi, 1366 pages. ISBN 1-84115-007-X
*"The Age of the Warrior: Selected Writings" (2008) London, Fourth Estate ISBN 978 0 00 727073 6

Video documentary

* [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/22824 From Beirut To Bosnia] - Three-part series on Muslims and the West made in 1993

Forgeries misattributed to Robert Fisk

*"Saddam Hussein - From Birth to Martyrdom" (2007). Egypt: Ibda; 272 pages. (forged authorship [ cite web |url = http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-the-curious-case-of-the-forged-biography-776775.html | title=Robert Fisk: The curious case of the forged biography |date=2008-02-01 | author=Fisk, Robert | accessdate=2008-02-01 | publisher=The Independent] )

References

External links

* [http://www.independent.co.uk "The Independent"] ,The newspaper which Fisk currently writes for.
* [http://www.robert-fisk.com Robert-Fisk.com] unofficial archive of Fisk articles.
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2403298.ece Robert Fisk on Shakespeare and war]
* [http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/search/videos/robertfisk] Collections of Fisk's global speaking engagement
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/13/middleeastthemedia.lebanon] , Rachel Cooke, "Man of War", The Observer, Sunday April 13 2008
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/ Latest Robert Fisk Articles]
* [http://www.journalisted.com/robert-fisk Journalisted - Articles by Robert Fisk]