From Our Own Correspondent: 60th Anniversary Special
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2015
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As part of marking 60 years of reporting on landmark international events by Radio 4's iconic series, "From Our Own Correspondent", Owen Bennett-Jones presents a discussion, recorded at London's Frontline Club, on how foreign reporting has evolved over the decades – and where it is heading.
Joined by a panel of leading journalists and an audience that includes experienced reporters on foreign events, the programme recalls outstanding moments of foreign reporting. How did coverage of significant events – such as the Suez Crisis, the independence of former British colonies and the fall of communism – shape our views of the world, of particular countries and peoples?
The programme will also consider how politics and broader economic and social changes – plus the demands of modern-day broadcasting – have all changed the way correspondents now bring often complicated international stories to diverse audiences here at home.
Some developments continue to be far-reaching – such as China's transition from revolutionary peasant state to burgeoning economic power and the advent of extreme Islamism. How have more specialised reporting, embedding journalists with different participants in conflicts and focusing on the experiences of the general public changed the way we understand such issues? And how is the use of social media affecting reporting on foreign events?
The programme will name the places we should be watching in the years ahead, and discuss how reporting is likely to change further as "citizen journalists" become ubiquitous and the trustworthiness of information around the world becomes ever more important.
Producer: Simon Coates
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this special discussion edition of From Our Own Correspondent, |
| 0:05.4 | recorded at London's Frontline Club. |
| 0:08.0 | It's introduced by Owen Bennett Jones. |
| 0:11.6 | Welcome to... Bennett Jones. |
| 0:17.0 | Welcome to the frontline club in Central London. This is Owen Bennett Jones. |
| 0:18.0 | And as you can hear from the Hubb, I'm joined by a very lively audience for the special program marking 60 years of from our own correspondent |
| 0:26.7 | Now the Front Line Club aims to promote freedom of expression and it supports journalists operators, photographers who risk their lives in the course of their work. |
| 0:37.0 | And with us today we have many people who over the years have actually contributed to from our own correspondent since its first edition, which was on 25th of September 1955, |
| 0:47.0 | the program has chronicled the great events, Imperial Decline the struggles for independence, the rise and fall of dictators, |
| 0:58.0 | but it's also described the world through the prism of individuals, their sorrows, and we can talk about this maybe too rarely, |
| 1:05.6 | their joys. |
| 1:06.6 | So what have the pivotal changes been in foreign reporting during those 60 years, during the time from our own correspondent has been on air. |
| 1:15.4 | Let's introduce the panel who are going to discuss that and other issues. |
| 1:18.8 | I'm Lee's Tousette, the BBC's Chief International Correspondent. |
| 1:22.0 | Hi I'm Paul Hamelos, I'm Buzzfeed World Features Editor. |
| 1:26.0 | I'm Lindsay Hilsom. I used to be a contributor to Fromher Own Correspondent |
| 1:30.0 | when I was a young journalist. I'm now the international editor of Channel 4 News. |
| 1:35.0 | I'm Jamie Kimarasami I'm a presenter on BBC radio and television |
| 1:38.0 | I used to be based in Washington, Moscow, Poland and Paris. And a regular contributor to from our own correspondent. |
| 1:45.0 | Or we should say now Fook as we tend to call it. |
| 1:48.0 | Now then, could you answer this opening question, maybe Lindsay, you could start. |
| 1:58.3 | As you look back over all the years you've been doing Foreign Affairs reporting, what's been the most important change in the nature of the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.