Tag Archives: paul moorcraft

Mark Pack

Inside the Danger Zones: Paul Moorcraft on thirty years of war reporting

By Mark Pack | Mon 3rd January 2011 - 8:55 am

Paul Moorcraft’s account of his several decades touring the world’s violent trouble-spots as a journalist and some-time government representative entertains as well as informs. From Rhodesia in the 1970s through to his contemplation of pioneering a niche market in blind observers for African elections in 2010, Moorcraft’s account reflects plenty of the swagger of many war correspondents but with enough self-mockery to make the account illuminating and interesting rather than a macho display. Even the clichés about drinking and womanising journalists, which he seems to have often fulfilled to the maximum, are full of his own failings.

The result is a portrait of not only the countries he visited but also the breed that makes up war correspondents, with their bravery, their bravado and their desire to get the story and the footage even at great personal risk. The motivation for such story getting may often be as much ego as public service, but in the end the public benefits from people willing to take remarkable risks with their personal safety in the name of journalism.

Continue reading »
Posted in Books | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    Throwing one's hands up and saying that voters always had trouble knowing what we stand for is really missing the wood for the trees. As a smaller party that's ...
  • David Sparrow
    Interesting and thoughtful article in the Guardian online, I agree now is not the time the only beneficiaries will be the Tories and Labour but Ed does need to ...
  • Peter Davies
    The Labour Party has been remarkably unsuccessful at excluding the middle class. They have the second most middle class membership of any major party (The Green...
  • Tristan Ward
    @ Jason Conner "But there are some very wealthy upper middle class people on this site by the looks of things and I am not one of them. " Are you suggesti...
  • Tristan Ward
    @ David Raw Historically, Tristan, when the party moved to the right (2010-15) the consequence was that the number of Lib Dem M.P.’s dropped from 57 in 201...