Jakub Szántó

Behind the Curtain of War: A Reporter in the Middle East and Elsewhere

Za oponou války: Zpravodajem nejen na Blízkém východě Za oponou války: Zpravodajem nejen na Blízkém východě
Za oponou války: Zpravodajem nejen na Blízkém východě
Argo, 2018, 260 pp
9788025725719

“An unusual insight into the life of a reporter who risks his life and deliberately heads into danger at a time when the work of a journalist is risky in itself. Szántó’s effort to be in the thick of it and find out what is really going on is invaluable at a time when some politicians are proclaiming “alternative facts”, and creating a fake picture or video is becoming easier.”
— iLiteratura

“Szántó unveils and demythicizes the work of journalists in the midst of turbulent situations and unpredictable developments.”
— Právo

Foreign rights:
Argo publishers
http://www.argo.cz/
veronika.chaloupkova@argo.cz
Goodreads rating
85.8% (Rated by 387 users)

The debut work by a war correspondent and Czech Television reporter in the Middle East.

Other

Jakub Szántó offers a detailed insider’s account of his experiences as a war correspondent in various corners of the Earth and different types of military conflicts and revolutions. He is professionally dedicated to his work, but he recalls his experiences in a personal rather than objective way. The dramas of front lines, child and juvenile soldiers, famine, destitution and the pain of war or revolution are presented vividly by an eyewitness who spent 20 years of his life experiencing them. The book is valuable not only as a personal testimony but also as a glimpse into the work of a war correspondent, a journalist in situations it is impossible to prepare for. As a history graduate Szántó is also able to set the events he has observed and experienced in the historical context. The tragedy of the events related is softened by humour and irony. The book includes an extensive section of the author’s photographs from the field.

 

Jakub Szántó (1977) is a journalist and television reporter. He graduated in modern history from the Institute of International Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague, and also studied at the Central European University in Budapest. Since 1999 he has worked as a television reporter. In 2005 he was awarded the title PhDr. in Modern History at Charles University. He reported on foreign news for TV Nova and since 2006 has worked for Czech Television. Since July 2013 he has been Czech Television’s permanent Middle East correspondent. Over the long term he has focused on the region of the Middle East and Africa, where he has covered a large proportion of international crises; prior to that he also covered the Chechen War, the Georgian-Russian War, piracy in Somalia and the revolution in Ukraine. Between 2003 and 2016 he regularly contributed to the weekly magazine Reflex. Szántó is the holder of the 2014 Open Society Fund Prague’s Journalism Award and the 2017 Ferdinand Peroutka Award for journalism.


“An unusual insight into the life of a reporter who risks his life and deliberately heads into danger at a time when the work of a journalist is risky in itself. Szántó’s effort to be in the thick of it and find out what is really going on is invaluable at a time when some politicians are proclaiming “alternative facts”, and creating a fake picture or video is becoming easier.”
— iLiteratura

“Szántó unveils and demythicizes the work of journalists in the midst of turbulent situations and unpredictable developments.”
— Právo

Za oponou války: Zpravodajem nejen na Blízkém východě
Argo, 2018, 260 pp
9788025725719
Foreign rights:
Argo publishers
http://www.argo.cz/
veronika.chaloupkova@argo.cz
Goodreads rating
85.8% (Rated by 387 users)