Robert Fisk

For the American lawyer and librarian, see Robert Farris Fisk. For people of a similar name, see Robert Fiske (disambiguation).

Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk at Al Jazeera Forum 2010
Born(1946-07-12)12 July 1946
Maidstone, Kent, England
Died30 October 2020(2020-10-30) (aged 74)
Dublin, Ireland
Citizenship
  • Irish
  • British
Education
OccupationMiddle East correspondent for The Independent
Notable credits
Spouses
  • ​
    (m. 2009)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1994; div. 2006)​
Websiteindependent.co.uk/author/robert-fisk

Robert William Fisk (12 July 1946 – 30 October 2020) was an English writer and journalist.[1][2] He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians.[3]

As an international correspondent, he covered the civil wars in Lebanon, Algeria, and Syria, the Iran–Iraq conflict, the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic revolution in Iran, Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and the U.S. invasion, and occupation of Iraq. An Arabic speaker,[4][5] he was among the few Western journalists to interview Osama bin Laden, which he did three times between 1993 and 1997.[6][7]

He began his journalistic career at the Newcastle Chronicle and then the Sunday Express. From there, he went to work for The Times as a correspondent in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East; in the last role, he based himself in Beirut intermittently from 1976. After 1989, he worked for The Independent.[8] Fisk received many British and international journalism awards, including the Press Awards Foreign Reporter of the Year seven times.[1]

Books by Fisk include The Point of No Return (1975), In Time of War (1985), Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War (1990), The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (2005),[1] and Syria: Descent Into the Abyss (2015).[9]

The term fisking (meaning a line-by-line rebuttal) was named after him.

  1. ^ a b c "Robert Fisk: Celebrated Middle East correspondent of The Independent dies aged 74". The Independent. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  2. ^ Pope, Conor (1 November 2020). "Veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk dies aged 74". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  3. ^ Wheatcroft, Geoffrey (11 December 2005). "One Man's Arabia". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference nyt-obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Davison, Phil (2 November 2020). "Robert Fisk, daring but controversial British war correspondent and author, dies at 74". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  6. ^ Fisk, Robert (2005). The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. Fourth Estate. pp. 1–39. ISBN 1-84115-007-X.
  7. ^ "Honoured War Reporter Sides With Victims of Conflict". New Zealand Press Association. 4 November 2005.
  8. ^ "Robert Fisk". The Independent. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  9. ^ Fisk, Robert; et al. (2015). Syria: Descent Into the Abyss. Independent Print. ISBN 978-1633533707.