Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk (1946–2020) was a British journalist and author who reported for decades on the Middle East, including the Lebanese Civil War and Iraq War.

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Lebanese Civil War: A 1975–1990 conflict in Lebanon involving local factions and regional and international powers. Fisk reported extensively from Lebanon during the war and its aftermath.
Ayatollah Khomeini: The Iranian cleric who led the 1979 revolution and became the Islamic Republic of Iran’s first supreme leader. Fisk interviewed Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution and wrote extensively about Iran.
War correspondent: A journalist who reports from armed conflicts and their surrounding political and civilian settings. Fisk’s career is a prominent example of long-term conflict reporting from the field.
Journalism awards and controversies: Public disputes over journalistic accuracy, ethics, sourcing, and professional recognition. Fisk received major honors while facing criticism over some of his reporting and claims.
Pity the Nation: Robert Fisk’s 1990 book on Lebanon, its civil war, and the foreign powers involved. It extends his eyewitness reporting on Lebanon into a detailed account of the country’s conflict.
Sabra and Shatila massacre: The 1982 killing of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in refugee camps in Beirut by Lebanese militia members. Fisk’s reporting on the massacre became one of his best-known accounts from Lebanon.
Osama bin Laden: The founder of al-Qaeda, the militant organization responsible for the September 11 attacks. Fisk interviewed bin Laden three times in the 1990s, producing widely discussed profiles.
Foreign correspondent: A journalist based abroad who reports on events in a country or region for an external audience. His decades of Middle East reporting exemplify the role’s sustained, regional form.
Bellingcat: An investigative journalism group that uses open-source information to investigate conflicts and international events. Its evidence-led digital investigations contrast with Fisk’s eyewitness-centered reporting style.
The Point of No Return: Robert Fisk’s 1975 book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This early book shows that his reporting on conflict began before his Middle East career.