For the last thirty years, Martin Fletcher has been the gold standard of television war correspondent. His new book Breaking News captures the flavor of those years. He discusses with KQED’s Michael Krasny some of the most tumultuous moments of our time, along with his own ambitious, daring, and sometimes hilarious quest for adventure- Book Passage
Bio
Martin Fletcher
Martin Fletcher, NBC News' Tel Aviv bureau chief and correspondent, has covered every event of consequence in the unpredictable Middle East region including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the crisis in the Persian Gulf. He began his Tel Aviv assignment in 1982 and took on the additional role of bureau chief in November 1990. He joined NBC News as a cameraman in August 1977 and has also been based in Johannesburg, Paris and Frankfurt. He has won 4 emmys.
Michael Krasny
Michael Krasny, Ph.D., is host of KQED’s award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program that concentrates on the arts, culture, health, business, and technology. Forum is one of KQED’s most-popular shows and the nation’s most-listened-to locally produced public radio talk show. Before coming to KQED Public Radio in 1993, Dr. Krasny hosted a night-time talk program for KGO Radio and co-anchored the weekly KGO television show Nightfocus. He hosted Bay TV’s Take Issue, a nightly news analysis show, programs for KQED Public Television, KRON television, and NPR, and did news commentary for KTVU television. He has also served as host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation. Since 1970, he has been a professor of English at San Francisco State University and has taught at Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco. He is the author of Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest and Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life, coauthor of the textbook Sound Ideas, and creator of the DVD presentation “Masterpieces of Short Fiction.” He is a widely published scholar and literary critic, a fiction writer, and a guest and frequent interviewer on the City Arts & Lectures stage. He has worked widely as a facilitator and host in the corporate sector and as moderator for a host of major nonprofit events. Dr. Krasny has interviewed many of the leading newsmakers and cultural icons of our time, including former President Jimmy Carter, Cesar Chavez, Noam Chomsky, Hilary Rodham Clinton, Francis Ford Coppola, Don DeLillo, Newt Gingrich, Vice President Al Gore, Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, President Barack Obama, Rosa Parks, Nancy Pelosi, Robert Redford, Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, John Updike, and countless others.
NBC foreign correspondent, Martin Fletcher, says he doesn't "believe it's possible to be objective, but it is possible to be fair." Fletcher discusses his methods for getting to know and gaining the trust of some of the world's most dangerous subjects.
NBC foreign correspondent, Martin Fletcher, talks about being the only journalist to find and interview Somalian warlord General Aidid, the man responsible for the Black Hawk Down incident.
Aidid, at the time, was the most wanted man in the world. Fletcher says Aidid was "an affable guy", he was "highly educated," he was a "sophisticated guy."
NBC foreign correspondent, Martin Fletcher, talks about the most precarious situation he experienced as a journalist. He reflects on finding Somalian warlord General Aidid, and describes that experience as a "Daniel Pearl moment."