Just woke up to an e-mail from susanhu asking if I can diary this, so here goes:
Tonite on Nightline:
Witness To Hate – A Reporter’s Journal
Long before 9/11 and the series of stories about “Why do they hate us?” there was Frank Gardner. He is a 43-year-old reporter for the BBC, specializing in security and international affairs. He is the kind of reporter we reporters and producers listen to when he speaks of the latest terrorist threats, or intelligence information, or the motivations of al Qaeda. A year ago, on a reporting trip in Saudi Arabia, Gardner found himself face-to-face with militant Islam. What happened that day changed his life forever. Tonight, you’ll hear his story.
Frank Gardner’s love affair with the Arab world began when he was a teenager when he was introduced to the famous explorer of the Arab world, Wilfred Thesiger. After seeing the pictures and hearing stories about the Arab world of the 1940s and ’50s, he decided to explore a world that has fascinated him ever since. Gardner is one of few Western journalists fluent in Arabic, a language he studied first at university, then on the streets of Cairo, the Arabian Gulf, and even with Beduin tribes in the desert near Aqaba, Jordan. Armed with a degree in Arabic and Islamic studies, he took his skills to the world of journalism. And when 9/11 came along, he was able to travel extensively to explain the grievances that people in the Arab world have against the West. His ability to put things in context helped BBC audiences worldwide.
Gardner used to think his command of Arabic in the Arab world was his flak jacket, a bulletproof vest, which would protect him from any danger.
After a trip to Saudi Arabia just over a year ago, he no longer thinks that way. Tonight in a three-part program, we learn why. His is an instructive story — not just for journalists who travel to places of danger every day, but for those who think they understand a place well — only to find out that there are certain unknowns that, despite understanding, cannot be reckoned with. It’s a remarkable tale of intrepid reporting, a love of learning and courage.
Over the weekend, Gardner was given a rare honor, the Order of the British Empire, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II, for his service to journalism. Tonight you can see what that service is — and what price he has paid.
You can learn more about Frank on BBC’s site here. He is truly a journalist’s journalist.
“In one year he travelled to 28 countries. He’s the sort of guy who will get through a passport because he runs out of room,” he [his friend] said.
(posted without much comment to get it up ASAP)