David Pratt (Scottish journalist)

Last updated

David Pratt
Born
NationalityScottish
Alma mater Glasgow School of Art
OccupationJournalist & Photographer
Known forWar reporting
Notable work Intifada – The Long Day of Rage (2007 book)
Pictures from Iraq (2022 film)

David Pratt is a Scottish journalist, documentary filmmaker, photographer, and author who has won Scottish Press awards as Scottish Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year, and Feature Writer of the Year. [1] [2]

Contents

As well as being a war reporter his photography has featured in his 2020 documentary Pictures from Afghanistan and 2022 documentary Pictures from Iraq. He is the author of Intifada – The Long Day of Rage (2006).

Early life and education

Pratt grew up in a working-class family in the Hillhouse scheme near Hamilton alongside his brother Ken. [3] As a teenager he was a keen mountaineer. [3]

He has an honours arts degree from the Glasgow School of Art. [4] [5]

Career

After graduation, Pratt briefly taught art and design history before moving to journalism. [5] Pratt has reported on wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti; he has reported on the Iranian revolution, Iraq, Libya, the Nicaraguan revolution, and events in Gaza, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria. [4] [3] [6] He was a staff reporter for The Herald, but has also contributed to Agence France Presse, Al-Jazeera, the BBC, Channel 4 News, The National, The New York Times, Reuters, Svenska Dagbladet, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Sunday National, and The Sunday Times . [5]

In 2019, his war photography appeared in an exhibition Only With the Heart. [3] [6]

His work was featured in the 2020 documentary Pictures from Afghanistan [4] [3] and the 2022 documentary Pictures from Iraq that he co-directed with Robbie Fraser. [7] Pratt is the presenter of Pictures from The Balkans, directed by Fraser and broadcast on the BBC in 2022 and 2023. [8] In Pictures from The Balkans, Pratt revisits locations he filmed in during the Yugoslav Wars travelling along the Danube River near Vukovar, Croatia. [9] Pratt also features in the 2023 BBC Scotland two-part documentary Pictures from Ukraine . Also produced by Robbie Fraser, Pictures from Ukraine documents Pratt's 2022 journey from Poland to Mykolaiv via Kyiv and Lviv, during the Russo-Ukrainian war. [10] In 2022, Pratt held a photography exhibition Sogo Community Arts Hub on the Saltmarket, also called Pictures from Ukraine. [11]

Intifada – The Long Day of Rage

David Pratt
Intifada - The Long Day of Rage book cover.jpg
CountryScotland
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPalestinian Intifadas
GenreNon-fiction
Published2006
PublisherSunday Herald Books
Pages304
ISBN 9781932033632

In his 2006 book Intifada – The Long Day of Rage, Pratt documented violence between Palestinians and Israelis in Gaza and the West Bank between 2000 and 2001.

Content

Pratt documents the formulaic way that violence is dispensed in Palestine by Palestinian youth and Israeli Defense Forces during the 2000 and 2001 Palestinian uprisings, or Intifadas .

In the foreword, Pratt is open about his struggle to remain impartial and while he notes that both sides see themselves as victims, he is critical of the State of Israel from the start and states his conviction that the Palestinian people remain the victims of "a great injustice". Pratt states: “This book makes no pretence towards impartiality…because the weight of evidence which as a reporter I have come across over considerable time, convinces me that the State of Israel has a case to answer for in its appalling treatment of the Palestinian people.” However, the book does present the Intifadas from both perspectives and includes reporting on writing about the Intifadas by Israeli writers A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, and Amos Oz.

The book includes criticism of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority. It discusses the complicity between the PLO and the state of Israel and their collective failure to deal with the revolutionary events. The criticism of Yasser Arafat is strong. The book presents the Oslo Accords as insincere agreements and the second Intifada as counterproductive, linking it to both the election of Ariel Sharon and the rise of Islamism in Palestine, which it describes as being supported by Israel.

Critical reception

The book is described by Jason Burke as highly readable; he describes the narrative as "accessible, colorful and informed". [12] Philip Connolly, writing in An Phoblacht, praises Pratt for his straight talking and for avoiding political hyperbole. [13] Raymond Deane at The Electronic Intifada describes the conclusion of the book as eloquent and describes the book as one of the most "informative books of its kind." due to its detail and clarity. [14]

Bibliography

Awards

Related Research Articles

Intifada is an Arabic word for a rebellion or uprising, or a resistance movement. It can be used to refer to an uprising against oppression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axis of evil</span> American term for "sponsors of terrorism"

The phrase "axis of evil" was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush and originally referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. It was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after the September 11 attacks and almost a year before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and often repeated throughout his presidency. He used it to describe foreign governments that, during his administration, allegedly sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Intifada</span> 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation

The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation, characterized by a period of heightened violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel between 2000 and 2005. The general triggers for the unrest are speculated to have been centered on the failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit, which was expected to reach a final agreement on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process in July 2000. An uptick in violent incidents started in September 2000, after Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound, which is situated atop the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem; the visit itself was peaceful, but, as anticipated, sparked protests and riots that Israeli police put down with rubber bullets, live ammunition, and tear gas. Within the first few days of the uprising, the IDF had fired one million rounds of ammunition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Pilger</span> Australian journalist (1939–2023)

John Richard Pilger was an Australian journalist, writer, scholar and documentary filmmaker. From 1962, he was based mainly in Britain. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.

Michael Holmes is an Australian news anchor and correspondent for CNN International (CNNI), anchoring CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes since 2019. The shows air between the hours of 12am and 4am Friday through Monday ET. Prior to that he anchored CNNI's CNN Today with Amara Walker. He has also anchored the 10a ET edition of International Desk and in early 2013 joined Suzanne Malveaux as co-anchor of CNN USA's Around The World at noon ET, an hour-long bulletin focusing on international news. Previously, he was the host of CNNI's behind-the-news program BackStory and other CNN International programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Bowen</span> Welsh journalist and TV presenter (born 1960)

Jeremy Francis John Bowen is a Welsh journalist and television presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Myre</span> American journalist

Greg Myre is an American journalist and an NPR national security correspondent with a focus on the intelligence community. Before joining NPR, he was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and The New York Times for 20 years. He reported from more than 50 countries and covered a dozen wars and conflicts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Farrell (journalist)</span> Irish and British journalist

Stephen Farrell is a journalist who works for Reuters news agency. He holds both Irish and British citizenship. Farrell worked for The Times from 1995 to 2007, reporting from Kosovo, India, Afghanistan and the Middle East, including Iraq. In 2007, he joined The New York Times, and reported from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Libya, later moving to New York and London. In 2017 he joined Reuters, working as bureau chief in Jerusalem until Jan. 2022. He then worked in Ukraine and is now based in London.

Zaki Chehab is an Arab journalist. Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ArabsToday.net, an Arabic-language news website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Macgregor</span> U.S. Army Colonel and former government official (born 1947)

Douglas Abbott Macgregor is a retired U.S. Army colonel, government official, author, consultant, and political commentator. He was a leader in an early tank battle in the Gulf War and was a top planner in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. His 1997 book Breaking the Phalanx argued for radical reforms inside the Army. His thinking contributed to US strategy in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Benjamin C. Wedeman is an American journalist and war correspondent. He is a CNN senior international correspondent based in Rome. He has been with the network since 1994, and has earned multiple Emmy Awards and Edward Murrow Awards for team reporting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for the Study of War</span> American think tank

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is an American nonprofit research group and think tank founded in 2007 by military historian Kimberly Kagan and headquartered in Washington, D.C. ISW provides research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian civil war, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War, "focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones". ISW currently publishes daily updates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran and the Israel-Hamas War.

Goran Tomašević, is a Serbian photographer. Working for The Globe and Mail since May 2022, he has spent more than 30 years travelling around the globe to cover the world's biggest stories.

Sam Kiley is a Senior International Correspondent at CNN. Prior to CNN, he was the Foreign Affairs Editor of Sky News. He is a journalist with over twenty years' experience, based at different times of his career in London, Los Angeles, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Jerusalem. He has written for The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday newspapers, The Spectator and New Statesman weekly political news magazines, and reported for BBC Two, Sky One, Channel 4, and lately, Sky News.

Al Jazeera Arabic is a flagship news channel that primarily caters to an Arabic-speaking audience. Al Jazeera English, launched in 2006, is the English-language counterpart to Al Jazeera Arabic. According to Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera Arabic is editorially independent from Al Jazeera English, although it shares the same editorial vision. It is based in Doha and operated by the Al Jazeera Media Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phyllis Bennis</span> American writer, activist, and political commentator

Phyllis Bennis is an American Jewish writer, activist, and political commentator. Focusing mainly on issues related to the Middle East and the United Nations, she is a strong critic of Israel and the United States and a leading advocate of Palestinian rights.

<i>And Then All Hell Broke Loose</i>

And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East is a book written by Richard Engel about his journey in the Middle East as a freelance reporter. The book gives account of the terrorist activities and numerous wars in the region. His journey includes reporting in Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon.

<i>Pictures from Afghanistan</i> British film

Pictures from Afghanistan is a 2020 documentary by Robbie Frazer that follows the work of Scottish journalist and war photographer David Pratt as he revisits the locations in Afghanistan that he reported on in the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War.

<i>Pictures from Iraq</i> British film

Pictures from Iraq is a 2022 documentary by Scottish filmmaker Robbie Fraser and Scottish photojournalist David Pratt that follows Pratt revisiting locations in Iraq that he reported during 1991, and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Robbie Fraser is a Scottish film maker. He has made documentaries about the Scottish poet Hamish Henderson, the Scottish mountaineer Hamish MacInnes, and had made two documentaries about the work of Scottish photojournalist David Pratt: Pictures from Afghanistan and Pictures from Iraq.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 MacKenzie, Hector (1 May 2019). "Stage set for 'extraordinary' book festival in Wester Ross". RossShire Journal. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. "Gina Davidson and The Sunday Post win top accolades at Scottish Press Awards". www.allmediascotland.com. 18 April 2013. Archived from the original on 22 April 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Allan, Vicky (23 February 2020). ""You were living in caves, moving primarily at night." 40 years of David Pratt in Afghanistan". HeraldScotland. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "Go See: Pictures from Afghanistan - War photographer and journalist David Pratt". Photoarchivenews. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Only With The Heart — David Pratt – Sogo Arts". sogoarts.com. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  6. 1 2 Wishart, Ruth (21 November 2019). "War photographs will make David Pratt a big draw at Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival". Helensburgh Advertiser. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  7. "Pictures from Iraq". Glasgow Film Festival. 2022.
  8. "BBC Scotland - Pictures from..., The Balkans". BBC. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  9. "Pictures from The Balkans". Radio Times. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  10. Young, Gregor (20 February 2023). "Tears and trauma: David Pratt in Ukraine". The National. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  11. Mannion, Kimberly (14 October 2022). "The art of war photography with David Pratt". The Glasgow Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  12. Burke, Jason. "Intifada: The Long Day of Rage (2)". Frontline Club. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  13. Connolly, Philip (22 February 2007). "Middle East conflict: putting the blame where it belongs. Book Review, Intifada: The Long day of Rage". www.anphoblacht.com. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  14. Deane, Raymond (15 December 2006). "Book Review: Incandescent Nation". The Electronic Intifada . Retrieved 15 January 2022.