The Frontline Club

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.

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.

David Carr has been writing about the media and its relationship with business, culture and governments for 25 years and has watched the print landscape change dramatically. Now a media and cultural columnist at the New York Times he writes the Media Equation column for the Monday Business section. He will be joining us in conversation with Richard Gizbert, presenter of Al Jazeera English's The Listening Post, a weekly show that looks at news coverage by the world's media. Gizbert has also spent 25 years working in the media world as a foreign correspondent, covering stories around the world. Drawing on their experiences working with two very different global media players, Carr and Gizbert will be discussing the future of the news industry. From the future of newspapers like the New York Times and whether they can adapt quickly enough to survive to the emergence of new business models offering alternative sources of funding. They will be addressing some of the big questions that are exercising many minds within the media. A remarkable opportunity to debate the future of the news industry with two of its key players.

When reports began coming in of the bombing in Oslo on 22 July the general consensus among experts appeared to be that the attack had all the hallmarks of Islamic extremism. It was only when news came through of a gunman on Utøya that it began to become clear that something quite different was taking place in Norway. As we mark the ten year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, we will be examining the extent of our understanding of extremism. Anders Behring Breivik has since been deemed a "mad man" by many commentators, who refuse to make a connection between his actions and the ideas of rightwing commentators cited in his manifesto. For this event, in association with BBC Arabic, we will be investigating extremism in the 21st century and the process of radicalisation of groups and individuals. What impact has the "war on terror" and other counter terrorism strategies had? Is there any truth in the suggestion that post 9/11 policy and rhetoric has fuelled not only Islamic extremism but the far right? And have we become so concerned with Islamic extremism that we've become blinkered to the threats from the far right? We will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss whether in the past decade we have seen a rise of rightwing and Islamic extremism. Chaired by Margaret Gilmore, Senior Research Fellow with RUSI ((Royal United Services Institute) analysing United Kingdom Public Policy on National Security and Resilience. Formerly BBC Senior Home Affairs Correspondent and co-author of The Terrorist Hunters, a definitive account of the terrorist threat to the UK in the past five years. WIth: Dr Christina Hellmich, lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading. She is a specialist in Middle East politics working in Yemen, with a particular research interest in political Islam and global terrorism. Her recent book, Al-Qaeda: From global network to local franchise (Zed 2011), examines the key sources that inform the present understanding of al-Qaeda. Ghaffar Hussain, director of Training and Consultancy at the Quilliam Foundation; organising and delivering radicalisation awareness training, providing strategic consultancy for a wide range of public and private organisations and co-ordinating outreach efforts to a wide variety of individuals and groups. He is author of A Brief History of Islamism. Dr Matthew Feldman, senior lecturer in 20th century history at the University of Northampton, and an editor of Wiley-Blackwell's online journal Compass: Political Religions. He directs Northampton's Radicalism and New Media research network, and co-edits Continuum Books; new monograph series, Historicising Modernism. He has published various publications on fascist ideology, wartime propaganda and far-right extremism since World War One. He acts as an expert witness on cases against the contemporary radical right in Europe and the US. He is currently researching Ezra Pound's links to Italian Fascism; the nature of extreme right-wing 'lone wolf' terrorism in the 21st century, and the postwar evolution of fascist ideology and practice since 1945. Hugo MacPherson, formerly manager of the MPower Youth Project which entered communities and schools to counter radicalisation as part of the government's Prevent programme. Recently he was part of a UK team sent to the Middle East to advise on effective youth engagement policy during the Arab Spring. An Arabic speaker and formerly a producer on Al Jazeera, he has made films on youth in Beirut and Damascus and on football fanatics in Cairo.

When reports began coming in of the bombing in Oslo on 22 July the general consensus among experts appeared to be that the attack had all the hallmarks of Islamic extremism.It was only when news came through of a gunman on Utøya that it began to become clear that something quite different was taking place in Norway.As we mark the ten year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, we will be examining the extent of our understanding of extremism.Anders Behring Breivik has since been deemed a "mad man" by many commentators, who refuse to make a connection between his actions and the ideas of rightwing commentators cited in his manifesto.For this event, in association with BBC Arabic, we will be investigating extremism in the 21st century and the process of radicalisation of groups and individuals.What impact has the "war on terror" and other counter terrorism strategies had? Is there any truth in the suggestion that post 9/11 policy and rhetoric has fuelled not only Islamic extremism but the far right? And have we become so concerned with Islamic extremism that we’ve become blinkered to the threats from the far right?We will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss whether in the past decade we have seen a rise of rightwing and Islamic extremism.Chaired by Margaret Gilmore, Senior Research Fellow with RUSI ((Royal United Services Institute) analysing United Kingdom Public Policy on National Security and Resilience. Formerly BBC Senior Home Affairs Correspondent and co-author of The Terrorist Hunters, a definitive account of the terrorist threat to the UK in the past five years.WIth:Dr Christina Hellmich, lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading. She is a specialist in Middle East politics working in Yemen, with a particular research interest in political Islam and global terrorism. Her recent book, Al-Qaeda: From global network to local franchise (Zed 2011), examines the key sources that inform the present understanding of al-Qaeda.Ghaffar Hussain, director of Training and Consultancy at the Quilliam Foundation; organising and delivering radicalisation awareness training, providing strategic consultancy for a wide range of public and private organisations and co-ordinating outreach efforts to a wide variety of individuals and groups. He is author of A Brief History of Islamism.Dr Matthew Feldman, senior lecturer in 20th century history at the University of Northampton, and an editor of Wiley-Blackwell’s online journal Compass: Political Religions. He directs Northampton’s Radicalism and New Media research network, and co-edits Continuum Books; new monograph series, Historicising Modernism. He has published various publications on fascist ideology, wartime propaganda and far-right extremism since World War One. He acts as an expert witness on cases against the contemporary radical right in Europe and the US. He is currently researching Ezra Pound’s links to Italian Fascism; the nature of extreme right-wing ‘lone wolf’ terrorism in the 21st century, and the postwar evolution of fascist ideology and practice since 1945.Hugo MacPherson, formerly manager of the MPower Youth Project which entered communities and schools to counter radicalisation as part of the government’s Prevent programme. Recently he was part of a UK team sent to the Middle East to advise on effective youth engagement policy during the Arab Spring. An Arabic speaker and formerly a producer on Al Jazeera, he has made films on youth in Beirut and Damascus and on football fanatics in Cairo.

#fcbbcaEXTERNAL EVENT HELD AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.To mark ten years since the terrorists attacks on the United States, the Frontline Club is holding a special event to look at the extent to which 9/11 has defined our world today and will continue to shape our future. We will be looking at the "War on Terror" that followed and the impact of the rhetoric, and the reality of a global battle cast in terms of "good vs. evil": Is it a war that can be won? What has been the impacton a world that is increasingly interconnected? We will take stock of the seismic events the world has witnessed - from wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan to terrorists attacks from London to Mumbai and uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa. Our panel will also try to make sense of other changes that have taken place - from increased surveillance to extraordinary rendition - and examine how the narrative employed by governments, leaders and the media shaped public attitudes. Join us for a special event with a panel of experts to examine the world today and how the events of 10 years ago have shaped it and will continue to do so.Chaired byPaddy O'Connell of BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House who was living and working in New York on 9/11 and anchored the New York end of the special programme that night for BBC One.Twitter: @paddy_o_c With:Isabel Hilton, international journalist and broadcaster and editor of chinadialogue.net. She began her career in journalism with Scottish Television, then worked for the Daily Express and the Sunday Times before joining the launch team for The Independent in 1986. In 1992 she became a presenter of the BBC's flagship news programme, The World Tonight and a columnist for The Guardian. In 1999 she joined the New Yorker as a staff writer. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Granta, the New Statesman, El Pais, Index on Censorship and many other publications. She has reported from China, Latin America, Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe and has written and presented several documentaries for BBC television. Since 2001 she has been a presenter of the BBC Radio Three's cultural programme, Night Waves. She has authored and co-authored several books and holds honorary doctorates from Bradford and Stirling Universities. She was appointed OBE in 2010 for her contribution to raising environmental awareness in China.Twitter: @isabelhiltonMehdi Hasan,senior editor (politics) at the New Statesman and a former news and current affairs editor at Channel 4. He is co-author of Ed: the Milibands and the Making of a Labour Leaderand author of the new ebook The Debt Delusion.His blog is here.Twitter: @ns_mehdihasan Carne Ross, a former British diplomat, author and journalist. Having resigned from the British foreign service after giving secret testimony to an official inquiry into the Iraq war, he then set up the world's first independent diplomatic advisory group, Independent Diplomat, which advises marginalised countries and groups around the world. He is author of The Leaderless Revolution: How Ordinary People Will Take Power And Change Politics in the 21st Century.Twitter:@carnerossMaajid Nawaz, co-Founder and executive director of Quilliam and Founder of Khudi, he was formerly on the UK national leadership for the global Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). He was involved in HT for almost 14 years and was a founding member of HT in Denmark and Pakistan and eventually served four years in an Egyptian prison as an Amnesty International ‘prisoner of conscience’. In prison, he gradually began changing his views until finally renouncing the Islamist ideology while remaining Muslim. He now engages in counter-Islamist thought-generating, social-activism, writing, debating and media appearances.Twitter:@MaajidNawazMichael Goldfarb, author, journalist, broadcas

With the world watching the latest uprisings in Syria and the continued intervention in Libya, the media has largely turned its attention away from the catalyst of the Arab spring, Tunisia and the next country to oust its president, Egypt. But what does the future hold for these fledgeling democracies? The combination of Tunisia's 'gerontocracy'  and its high youth demographic has been a diminishing trust in the new government.  There is also a constant conflict between the idealists, who want all traces of the former regime erased, and the realists, who are concerned that further political upheaval will result in an increase in military power. In Egypt, protesters have returned to Tahrir Square in a bid to salvage the revolution with a fresh set of demands including the curbing of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' powers, an end to military trials and scrapping of new anti-protest laws. Join us at the Frontline club with a panel of experts to discuss what the future holds for Tunisia and Egypt. Chaired by Steve Crawshaw, international advocacy director, Amnesty International and co-author of Small Acts of Resistance How courage, tenacity and ingenuity can change the world. With: Khalid Abdalla, is a British-Egyptian actor, producer and activist. His films include United 93, The Kite Runner, Green Zone, and the upcoming Egyptian film In the Last Days of the City, filmed during the last two years of Mubarak’s Rule. Co-founder of Zero Production, an independent film and documentary production house based in Cairo, earlier this year he launched Mosireen, a non-profit media centre in downtown Cairo to support filmmakers and citizen journalists through the revolution. Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East policy studies and director of the Olive Tree Programme at City University. Dr Maha Azzam, Associate Fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. Brian Whitaker, journalist for The Guardian since 1987 and its Middle East editor from 2000-2007. He is currently an editor on the paper's "Comment Is Free" section. Author of What's Really Wrong with the Middle East.

With the world watching the latest uprisings in Syria and the continued intervention in Libya, the media has largely turned its attention away from the catalyst of the Arab spring, Tunisia and the next country to oust its president, Egypt. But what does the future hold for these fledgeling democracies?The combination of Tunisia’s ‘gerontocracy’ and its high youth demographic has been a diminishing trust in the new government. There is also a constant conflict between the idealists, who want all traces of the former regime erased, and the realists, who are concerned that further political upheaval will result in an increase in military power.In Egypt, protesters have returned to Tahrir Square in a bid to salvage the revolution with a fresh set of demands including the curbing of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ powers, an end to military trials and scrapping of new anti-protest laws.Join us at the Frontline club with a panel of experts to discuss what the future holds for Tunisia and Egypt.Chaired by Steve Crawshaw, international advocacy director, Amnesty International and co-author of Small Acts of Resistance How courage, tenacity and ingenuity can change the world.With:Khalid Abdalla, is a British-Egyptian actor, producer and activist. His films include United 93, The Kite Runner, Green Zone, and the upcoming Egyptian film In the Last Days of the City, filmed during the last two years of Mubarak’s Rule. Co-founder of Zero Production, an independent film and documentary production house based in Cairo, earlier this year he launched Mosireen, a non-profit media centre in downtown Cairo to support filmmakers and citizen journalists through the revolution.Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East policy studies and director of the Olive Tree Programme at City University.Dr Maha Azzam, Associate Fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House.Brian Whitaker, journalist for The Guardian since 1987 and its Middle East editor from 2000-2007. He is currently an editor on the paper’s "Comment Is Fre

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks we will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss the "war on terror" that was launched by the United States government in their wake. What has been achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq and, ten years on, what could be learnt from the Arab Spring about change in the region? Less than five months into a new campaign in Libya, is it time that we reassess our involvement in the Arab world? We will also be examining the doctrine of counterinsurgency  - or COIN - that was advocated so strongly in both Afghanistan and Iraq and asking what lessons can be learnt that could shape future policy. Chaired by David Loyn, BBC's international development correspondent With: Frank Ledwidge, served in the Balkan wars and Iraq as a military intelligence officer and in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor. Former lecturer at the RAF College, Cranwell and author of Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jean MacKenzie, senior correspondent for GlobalPost and former program director for the Institute for War Peace Reporting in Kabul. She has reported from Afghanistan since 2004 and written extensively about the war. She is currently working on a chapter on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan for a book project being sponsored by NYU. Malte Roschinski, security consultant, political analyst and author based in Germany. As journalist with AFP news agency, he reported from post-Taliban Afghanistan in late 2001. Lived for eight months in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2010, working as intelligence analyst for clients in the humanitarian sector.

When nine-year-old Kamin Mohammadi fled to London with her family in June 1979 escaping Iran after the revolution that brought down the Shah little was she to know that she would not step foot in the country again for 17 years. She had watched the revolution unfold as her friends slowly stopped coming to school, and her neighbours started to disappear in fear of the secret police. Now, as an Iranian exile in Britain, Mohammadi struggled to fit in and pushed away her Iranian background. She will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Pooneh Ghoddoosi from BBC Persian TV to talk about her journey back to her homeland to find the family she left behind, and to rediscover her Iranian identity after 17 years away from the country that she loved. Now splitting her time between London and Florence,  Mohammadi is a writer, broadcaster and journalist specialising in Iran. Her work has seen her nominated for awards such as the Amnesty Human Rights in Journalism Award and the American Society of Magazine Editors for a National Magazine award 2011. She has also controversially covered issues such as the 'epidemic' of drug abuse in Iran post-1979 and Western attitudes to Iranian women.

When nine-year-old Kamin Mohammadi fled to London with her family in June 1979 escaping Iran after the revolution that brought down the Shah little was she to know that she would not step foot in the country again for 17 years.She had watched the revolution unfold as her friends slowly stopped coming to school, and her neighbours started to disappear in fear of the secret police. Now, as an Iranian exile in Britain, Mohammadi struggled to fit in and pushed away her Iranian background.She will be joining us at the Frontline Club in conversation with Pooneh Ghoddoosi from BBC Persian TV to talk about her journey back to her homeland to find the family she left behind, and to rediscover her Iranian identity after 17 years away from the country that she loved.Now splitting her time between London and Florence, Mohammadi is a writer, broadcaster and journalist specialising in Iran. Her work has seen her nominated for awards such as the Amnesty Human Rights in Journalism Award and the American Society of Magazine Editors for a National Magazine award 2011. She has also controversially covered issues such as the 'epidemic' of drug abuse in Iran post-1979 and Western attitudes to Iranian women.

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks we will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss the “war on terror” that was launched by the United States government in their wake.What has been achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq and, ten years on, what could be learnt from the Arab Spring about change in the region? Less than five months into a new campaign in Libya, is it time that we reassess our involvement in the Arab world?We will also be examining the doctrine of counterinsurgency - or COIN – that was advocated so strongly in both Afghanistan and Iraq and asking what lessons can be learnt that could shape future policy.Chaired by David Loyn, BBC’s international development correspondentWith:Frank Ledwidge, served in the Balkan wars and Iraq as a military intelligence officer and in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor. Former lecturer at the RAF College, Cranwell and author of Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan.Jean MacKenzie, senior correspondent for GlobalPost and former program director for the Institute for War Peace Reporting in Kabul. She has reported from Afghanistan since 2004 and written extensively about the war. She is currently working on a chapter on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan for a book project being sponsored by NYU.Malte Roschinski, security consultant, political analyst and author based in Germany. As journalist with AFP news agency, he reported from post-Taliban Afghanistan in late 2001. Lived for eight months in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2010, working as intelligence analyst for clients in the humanitarian sector.

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks we will be bringing together a panel of experts to discuss the “war on terror” that was launched by the United States government in their wake.What has been achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq and, ten years on, what could be learnt from the Arab Spring about change in the region? Less than five months into a new campaign in Libya, is it time that we reassess our involvement in the Arab world?We will also be examining the doctrine of counterinsurgency - or COIN – that was advocated so strongly in both Afghanistan and Iraq and asking what lessons can be learnt that could shape future policy.Chaired by David Loyn, BBC’s international development correspondentWith:Frank Ledwidge, served in the Balkan wars and Iraq as a military intelligence officer and in Afghanistan as a civilian advisor. Former lecturer at the RAF College, Cranwell and author of Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan.Jean MacKenzie, senior correspondent for GlobalPost and former program director for the Institute for War Peace Reporting in Kabul. She has reported from Afghanistan since 2004 and written extensively about the war. She is currently working on a chapter on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan for a book project being sponsored by NYU.Malte Roschinski, security consultant, political analyst and author based in Germany. As journalist with AFP news agency, he reported from post-Taliban Afghanistan in late 2001. Lived for eight months in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2010, working as intelligence analyst for clients in the humanitarian sector.

Academy Award winning Director Kevin Macdonald will be joining us for a special evening at the Frontline Club. Kevin will be discussing his most recent film Life in a Day, a project using entirely crowd-sourced footage chronicling the world's experience over the course of twenty-four hours. We will also take a look at his career to date, from his Oscar-winning documentary One Day in September, about the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics to Touching the Void, one of the most successful documentaries in British history. In 2006 Kevin directed the multi-award winning Last King of Scotland which tells the relationship between Idi Amin and his young Scottish doctor and followed this with the excellent documentary, My Enemy's Enemy which focused on the one-time Gestapo commander Klaus Barbie, infamously known as "The Butcher of Lyon." In 2009 Kevin adapted the BBC drama State of Play into a feature film starring Russell Crowe. Life in a Day is one of two films Kevin has released this year, The Eagle is a fictional film which tells the story of a young Roman officer searching to recover the Roman eagle standard of his father's legion. Being one of the few directors to work successfully within both documentary and fiction, Kevin has a fascinating insight into the film world across the variety of methods and techniques he has used to create some of the most interesting and powerful films of the last two decades. Kevin's directorial work: The Making of an Englishman (1995) Chaplin's Goliath (1996) The Moving World of George Rickey (1997) Howard Hawks: American Artist (1997) Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance (1998) One Day in September (2000) Humphrey Jennings (2000) A Brief History of Errol Morris (2000) Being Mick (2001) Touching the Void (2003) The Last King of Scotland (2006) My Enemy's Enemy (2007) State of Play (2009) The Eagle (2011) Life in a Day (2011)

Since mid - March when the Arab Spring reached Syria there have been continuous crack downs on protestors by Syrian forces. There are claims more than 1,700 civilians have been killed. The authorities in Syria claim 500 soldiers and police have been killed by armed gangs, which they also blame for most of the civilian deaths. We will be bringing together a panel of experts to examine the situation on the ground in Syria. Could the international community be doing more to intervene in what some claim are crimes against humanity being committed by Syrian forces? Unlike Egypt, the protests began not with the call for the Bashar al-Asad to stand down but that he enact promised reforms. Following the violent attacks against protesters the tone has changed, however it remains unclear if the ousting of Bashar al-Asad is a possible outcome. Join us with Paddy O'Connell of BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House to discuss the situation in Syria and what the future holds for the Syrian people. With: Daniel Pye, a Damascus-based freelance journalist who has worked as deputy editor of a Syrian current affairs magazine since February 2011. Ammar Waqqaf, member of the British Syrian Society. BBC Newsnight's Sue Lloyd-Roberts who has been one of the only Western journalists to report from inside Syria since the protests began. Malik Al-Abdeh, chief editor of Barada TV a London-based Syrian opposition satellite channel and former BBC journalist. Christopher Phillips, Syria analyst in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Middle East team and author of Contemporary Arab Identity: The daily reproduction of the Arab World to be published in early 2012.