The Frontline Club is a media club and registered charity created by Vaughan and Pranvera Smith, located near Paddington Station in London. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support diversity and professionalism in the media, promote safe practice, and encourage both freedom of the press and freedom of expression worldwide.
Since opening its doors in 2003, Frontline Club has hosted over 1,200 events. Its founders do not receive wages and the events programme is almost self-sustaining, mainly from membership fees and ticket income.
Discussions, held most weekday evenings, are broadcast live. Past participants include John Simpson, Robert Fisk, Jeremy Paxman, Tim Hetherington, Nick Robinson, David Aaronovitch, Alan Rusbridger, Jeremy Bowen, Louis Theroux,[1] Gillian Tett,[2] Christina Lamb, Julian Assange, Jon Lee Anderson the late Benazir Bhutto, the late Boris Berezovsky, the late Alexander Litvinenko, and his widow, Marina Litvinenko.
The club includes a restaurant open to non-members, a club room, meeting rooms, two lodging rooms and a discussion forum as well as an annex with 12 bedrooms available to members[3] The club also hosts film and documentary screenings and organises training and workshops in such skills as camera operation and film editing.
In May 2011, broadcaster Louis Theroux said in an interview with the Evening Standard that the Frontline Club was his favourite London club.[4]
- ^ "'I've always seen myself as a journalist' - Louis Theroux on his style, work and drive | Online Journalism Features". Journalism.co.uk. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ "Time Change - Insight with Gillian Tett: Scaremongerer no more". 2009. Archived from the original on 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
- ^ "Members". Frontline Club. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ Lucy Hunter, Johnston (23 May 2011). "Louis Theroux's My London". The Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.