View source for Robert Fisk

{{short description|English writer and journalist (1946–2020)}}
{{about||the American lawyer and librarian|Robert Farris Fisk|people of a similar name|Robert Fiske (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Robert Fisk
| image              = Robert Fisk at Al Jazeera Forum 2010 (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Fisk at [[Al Jazeera Forum]] 2010
| birth_name          = Robert William Fisk
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1946|07|12|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Maidstone]], Kent, England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2020|10|30|1946|07|12|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Dublin]], Ireland
| education          = {{plainlist|class=nowrap|
*[[Lancaster University]] (BA, 1968)
*[[Trinity College Dublin]] (PhD, 1985)}}
| occupation         = Middle East correspondent for ''[[The Independent]]''
| title              = 
| family             = 
| spouse             = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|[[Lara Marlowe]]|1994|2006|end=div.}}| {{marriage|[[Nelofer Pazira]]|2009}}}}
| children           = 
| citizenship        = {{plainlist|
*Irish
*British}}
| relatives          =
| credits            = {{plainlist|
*[[Jacob's Award]]
*[[Amnesty International|Amnesty International UK Press Awards]]
*[[British Press Awards]]
*[[British International Journalist of the Year award|International Journalist of the Year]]
*[[Lannan Literary Awards|Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize]]}}
| URL                = [https://www.independent.co.uk/author/robert-fisk/ independent.co.uk/author/robert-fisk]
}}
'''Robert William Fisk''' (12 July 1946{{spnd}}30 October 2020) was an English writer and journalist.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/robert-fisk-death-middle-east-correspondent-journalist-dublin-b1514866.html |title=Robert Fisk: Celebrated Middle East correspondent of The Independent dies aged 74 |work=The Independent |date=1 November 2020 |access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="IT20201101">{{cite news|last=Pope|first=Conor|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/veteran-journalist-and-author-robert-fisk-dies-aged-74-1.4397069 |title=Veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk dies aged 74|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=1 November 2020|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> He was critical of [[United States foreign policy in the Middle East]], and the [[Criticism of the Israeli government|Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wheatcroft |first1=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Wheatcroft |title=One Man's Arabia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/books/review/one-mans-arabia.html |access-date=3 November 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=11 December 2005}}</ref>

As an international [[correspondent]], he covered the [[civil war]]s in [[Lebanese Civil War|Lebanon]], [[Algerian Civil War|Algeria]], and [[Syrian civil war|Syria]], the [[Iran–Iraq War|Iran–Iraq conflict]], the wars in [[Bosnian War|Bosnia]] and [[Kosovo War|Kosovo]], the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic revolution in Iran]], [[Invasion of Kuwait|Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait]], and [[2003 invasion of Iraq|the U.S. invasion]] and [[Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)|occupation of Iraq]]. An [[Arabic]] speaker,<ref name=nyt-obit/><ref name=wp-20201102>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/robert-fisk-daring-but-controversial-british-war-correspondent-and-author-dies-at-74/2020/11/02/a5a84dd2-1d14-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html |title=Robert Fisk, daring but controversial British war correspondent and author, dies at 74 |last=Davison |first=Phil |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2 November 2020 |access-date=4 April 2021}}</ref> he was among the few Western journalists to interview [[Osama bin Laden]], which he did three times between 1993 and 1997.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East |year=2005 |publisher=Fourth Estate |pages=1–39 |isbn=1-84115-007-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Honoured War Reporter Sides With Victims of Conflict|date=4 November 2005|publisher=[[New Zealand Press Association]]}}</ref>

Fisk 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]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Robert Fisk|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/author/robert-fisk|access-date=4 June 2020|website=The Independent}}</ref> Fisk received many British and international journalism awards, including the [[British Press Awards|Press Awards]] [[Foreign Reporter of the Year]] seven times.<ref name="obit" />

Fisk's books 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 Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East]]'' (2005),<ref name="obit"/> and ''Syria: Descent Into the Abyss'' (2015).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fisk|first=Robert|display-authors=etal|title=Syria: Descent Into the Abyss|publisher=Independent Print|year=2015|isbn=978-1633533707}}</ref>

The term '''[[wikt:fisking|fisking]]''' (meaning a line-by-line rebuttal) was named after him.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Stuart |date=1 March 2012 |title='Fisked' by the international press corps |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/collegeofjournalism/entries/a9081f8-e0c1-3cd4-8bfd-07d1b8a04f6e |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Fcollegeofjournalism%2Fentries%2F5a9081f8-e0c1-3cd4-8bfd-07d1b8a04f6e |archive-date=28 July 2023 |access-date=20 November 2024 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Fisk was an only child, born in [[Maidstone]], Kent,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Robert Fisk {{!}} Biography & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Fisk|access-date=23 November 2020|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> to William and Peggy Fisk. His father was Borough Treasurer at Maidstone Corporation and had fought in the [[World War I|First World War]].<ref name="ObsCooke">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/apr/13/middleeastthemedia.lebanon | location=London | work=The Observer | first=Rachel | last=Cooke | title=Man of war | date=13 April 2008}}</ref> His mother was an amateur painter who in later years became a Maidstone magistrate.<ref name=nyt-obit>{{Cite news|last=Haberman|first=Clyde|date=3 November 2020|title=Robert Fisk, Intrepid War Correspondent, Dies at 74|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/world/middleeast/robert-fisk-dead.html|access-date=4 November 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> At the end of the war Bill Fisk was punished for disobeying an order to execute another soldier; his son said, "My father's refusal to kill another man was the only thing he did in his life which I would also have done." Though his father said little about his part in the war, it fascinated his son. After his father's death, he discovered that he had been the scribe of his battalion's war diaries from August 1918.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |year=2006 |location=London |pages=362–365, 369–370, 385–386 |isbn=978-1-84115-008-6}}</ref>

Fisk was educated at [[Yardley Court]], a preparatory school,<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/deadly-skies-the-bloody-truth-about-the-battle-of-britain-70-years-on-2015062.html |title=Deadly skies: The bloody truth about the Battle of Britain 70 years on |work=The Independent |location =London |access-date=24 October 2011|date=3 July 2010}}</ref> then at [[Sutton Valence School]] and [[Lancaster University]],<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/Info/lunews.nsf/I/9273D1AFBDC1A6B38025721B0049FA77 |title=Robert Fisk lecture |journal=LU News |publisher=Lancaster University |date=November 2006 |access-date=14 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210130331/http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/Info/lunews.nsf/I/9273D1AFBDC1A6B38025721B0049FA77 |archive-date=10 December 2008 }}</ref> where he undertook his B.A. in Latin and Linguistics<ref>{{Cite web|last=(UCTV)|first=University of California Television|date=February 2007|title=Conversations with History: Robert Fisk|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjoGLA4mVxU?t=610| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/jjoGLA4mVxU| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|access-date=10 November 2020|website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and contributed to the student magazine ''[https://scan.lancastersu.co.uk/2013/05/27/the-history-of-carolynne/ John O'Gauntlet]''. He gained a PhD in [[political science]] from [[Trinity College Dublin]] in 1983;<ref name=PSPG>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/postgraduate/phdstudentspre1995.php |title=Former postgraduate students |publisher=[[Trinity College, Dublin]] |access-date=26 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928001154/http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/postgraduate/phdstudentspre1995.php |archive-date=28 September 2008 }}</ref> the title of his doctoral thesis was "A Condition of Limited Warfare: [[Éire]]'s Neutrality and the Relationship between [[Irish government|Dublin]], [[Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland|Belfast]] and [[British government|London]], 1939–1945".<ref name=PSPG /> It was published as ''In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality 1939-1945'' (London: André Deutsch, 1983; reprinted in Dublin by Gill & MacMillan, 1996). Reviewer F. I. Magee in 1984 wrote: "This book presents a detailed and definitive account of Anglo-Irish relations during the Second World War....Fisk's excellent book highlights the ambivalence in relations between Britain, the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland and goes a long way towards explaining why the current situation is so intractable."<ref>F. I. Magee, "In Time Of War" '' Political Studies'' (1984) 32#4 p. 670.</ref>

==Career==
===Newspaper correspondent ===
Fisk worked on the ''[[Sunday Express]]'' diary column before a disagreement with the editor, [[John Junor]], prompted a move to ''[[The Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-my-days-in-fleet-streets-lubyanka-877812.html|title=My days in Fleet Street's Lubyanka|date=26 July 2008|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=26 July 2008|location=London}}</ref> From 1972 to 1975, at the height of [[the Troubles]], Fisk was the ''Times'' [[Belfast]] correspondent,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Greg|last2=Clarke|first2=Vivienne|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40074401.html |title=Veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk dies aged 74|work=Irish Examiner|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> before being posted to Portugal after the [[Carnation Revolution]] in 1974.<ref>{{cite journal&nbsp;|last=Head|first=Linda S.|url=https://www.alshindagah.com/Shindagah75/the_worlds_best_known_war_correspondent.htm |title=The World's Best-Known War Correspondent|work=Al Shindagah|date=April–May 2007|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> He then was appointed Middle East correspondent (1976–1987).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/55863/robert-fisk/ |title=Robert Fisk|publisher=Penguin Random House|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> In addition to the Troubles and Portugal, he reported the [[History of Iran|Iranian revolution]] in 1979.<ref name="IT20201101" /> When a story of his on [[Iran Air Flight 655]] was [[Spike (journalism)|spiked]] shortly after the paper's takeover by [[Rupert Murdoch]], Fisk moved to ''[[The Independent]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://german-documentaries.de/en_EN/films/this-is-not-a-movie.13301 |title=This Is Not a Movie|website=German Documentaries|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> in 1989.<ref name="IT20201101" /> ''[[The New York Times]]'' called Fisk "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain".<ref name="nyt_eb">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/books/review/19bron.html?ei=5070&en=55044ab9f817eb99&ex=1153454400&pagewanted=print |title= A Foreign Correspondent Who Does More Than Report |date=19 November 2005 |access-date=19 July 2006 |work=The New York Times |author=Bronner, Ethan}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'' called him "one of the most influential correspondents in the Middle East since the Second World War."<ref>{{Cite news|date=5 November 2020|title=Robert Fisk, a voice on the Middle East, died on October 30th|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/11/05/robert-fisk-a-voice-on-the-middle-east-died-on-october-30th|access-date=15 November 2020|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

===War reporting===
[[File:Robert Fisk, Christchurch, 2008.jpg|thumb|Robert Fisk in 2008]]
Fisk lived in [[Beirut]] from 1976,<ref>{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |year=2006 |location=London |page=973 |isbn=978-1-84115-008-6}}</ref> remaining throughout the [[Lebanese Civil War]]. He was one of the first Western journalists to report on the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]] in Lebanon,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://themuslimtimes.info/2020/01/02/robert-fisk-on-journalism-fake-news-and-truth/ |title=Robert Fisk on journalism, fake news and truth|work=The Muslim Times|first= Rafiq A.|last=Tschannen |date=January 2, 2020|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> as well as the [[1982 Hama massacre|Hama Massacre]] in [[Syria]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2012/2/2/robert-fisk-remembers-hama-massacre |title=Robert Fisk remembers 'Hama massacre'|website=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]]|date=2 February 2012|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> His book on the Lebanese conflict, ''[[Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War]]'', was published in 1990.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fisk|first=Robert|title=Pity the nation : the abduction of Lebanon|oclc=21679122}}</ref>

Fisk also reported on the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], the [[Iran–Iraq War]], the [[Arab–Israeli conflict]], the [[Gulf War]], the [[Kosovo War]], the [[Algerian Civil War]], the [[Bosnian War]], the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|2001 international intervention in Afghanistan]], the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion of Iraq]] in 2003, the [[Arab Spring]] in 2011, and the ongoing [[Syrian Civil War]]. During the [[Iran–Iraq War]], he suffered permanent partial hearing loss as a result of being close to Iraqi heavy artillery in the [[Shatt-al-Arab]] when covering the early stages of the conflict.<ref>Fisk, Robert ''The Great War for Civilisation'', 2005, p. 224.</ref>

After the United States and allies launched their [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|intervention in Afghanistan]], Fisk was for a time transferred to [[Pakistan]] to cover the conflict. While reporting from there, he was attacked and beaten by a group of [[Afghan refugees]] fleeing heavy bombing by the [[United States Air Force]]. In his graphic account of his almost being beaten to death until a local Muslim leader intervened,<ref name="Whitaker 2001">{{cite web | last=Whitaker | first=Raymond | title=Robert Fisk beaten by mob | website=The Independent | date=2001-12-09 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/robert-fisk-beaten-mob-9240245.html | access-date=2020-12-08}}</ref> Fisk absolved the attackers of responsibility, writing that their "brutality was entirely the product of others, of us—of we who had armed their struggle against the Russians and ignored their pain and laughed at [[War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|their civil war]] and then armed and paid them again for the 'War for Civilisation' just a few miles away and then bombed their homes and ripped up their families and called them '[[collateral damage]]'."<ref>{{cite web |last=Fisk |first=Robert |url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles1.htm |title=My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war|date=10 December 2001 |access-date=19 July 2006 |publisher=robert-fisk.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618131439/http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles1.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=18 June 2006}}</ref> According to [[Richard Falk]], Fisk said of his attacker: "There is every reason to be angry. I've been an outspoken critic of the US actions myself. If I had been them, I would have attacked me."<ref name="Falk">{{Cite web|last1=Falk|first1=Richard|last2=Falcone|first2=Daniel|date=9 November 2020|title=The Life of Robert Fisk|url=https://richardfalk.org/2020/11/15/remembering-robert-fisk/|access-date=19 November 2020}}</ref>

During the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], Fisk was based in [[Baghdad]] and filed many eyewitness reports. He criticised other journalists based in Iraq for what he called their "hotel journalism": reporting from one's hotel room without interviews or firsthand experience of events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles450.htm|title=Hotel journalism gives American troops a free hand as the press shelters indoors|author=Fisk, Robert|date=17 January 2005|access-date=19 July 2006|publisher=robert-fisk.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327175323/http://robert-fisk.com/articles450.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=27 March 2006}}</ref><ref name="Gdnobit">{{cite news | last=Morris | first=Harvey | title=Robert Fisk obituary | newspaper=The Guardian | date=3 November 2020 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/nov/03/robert-fisk-obituary | access-date=8 December 2020}}</ref> Fisk's criticism of the invasion was rejected by some other journalists.<ref>[[Eoghan Harris|Harris, Eoghan]] (23 November 2003). [http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/airkissing-the-terrorists--call-it-luvvies-actually-496908.html "Air-kissing the terrorists – call it Luvvies Actually"]. ''[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|Sunday Independent]]'' (Dublin).</ref><ref>[[Simon Hoggart|Hoggart, Simon]] (17 November 2001). [https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,596271,00.html "A war cry from the pulpit"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref> Fisk criticised the [[Coalition of the willing (Iraq War)|Coalition]]'s handling of the [[2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency|sectarian violence in post-invasion Iraq]] and argued that the official narrative of sectarian conflict was not possible: "The real question I ask myself is: who are these people who are trying to provoke the civil war? Now the Americans will say it's [[Al Qaeda]], it's the Sunni insurgents. It is the death squads. Many of the death squads work for the [[Ministry of Interior (Iraq)|Ministry of Interior]]. Who runs the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad? Who pays the Ministry of the Interior? Who pays the militiamen who make up the death squads? We do, the occupation authorities. ... We need to look at this story in a different light."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1582067.htm|work=Lateline |date=2 March 2006 |title=Robert Fisk shares his Middle East knowledge|publisher=ABC (Australia)}}</ref>

His 2005 work, ''[[The Great War for Civilisation]]'', was critical of Western and Israeli approaches to the Middle East. For ''[[The Independent on Sunday]],'' [[Neal Ascherson]] wrote: "This is a very long book, allowing Fisk to interleave political analysis, recent history and his own adventures with the real stories which concern him. These are the sufferings of ordinary people under monstrous tyrannies or in criminal, avoidable wars".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ascherson|first=Neal|date=16 October 2005|title=The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-great-war-for-civilisation-by-robert-fisk-320299.html|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Independent on Sunday}}<!-- Date and time stamp indicates article was for the Sindy (closed 2016) rather than the Indy. --></ref> In ''[[The Guardian]]'', former British Ambassador to Libya [[Oliver Miles]] complained of "a deplorable number of mistakes" in the book that "undermine the reader's confidence", and that "vigilant editing and ruthless pruning could perhaps have made two or three good short books out of this one".<ref name=Miles /> [[Richard Beeston]], a longtime foreign correspondent and then foreign editor for ''[[The Times]]'', wrote in a review of the book that Fisk's "central argument is lost in a verbal avalanche, as Fisk empties 30 years of notebooks onto the page" and that while there are what he calls "passages of descriptive brilliance" he considered some of his arguments "ridiculous" and "utter nonsense".<ref>{{cite web | last=Beeston | first=Richard | title=Great reporter, lousy prophet | website=The Spectator | date=2005-10-22 | url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/great-reporter-lousy-prophet | access-date=2022-08-16}}</ref>

===Osama bin Laden===
Fisk interviewed [[Osama bin Laden]] on three occasions.<ref name="Gdnobit" /> The interviews appeared in articles published by ''The Independent'' on 6 December 1993, 10 July 1996, and 22 March 1997. In Fisk's first interview, "Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace", he wrote of bin Laden, then overseeing the construction of a highway in [[Sudan]]: "With his high cheekbones, narrow eyes and long brown robe, Mr Bin Laden looks every inch the mountain warrior of mujahedin legend. Chadored children danced in front of him, preachers acknowledged his wisdom" while observing that he was accused of "training for further jihad wars".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/anti-soviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-1465715.html|title=Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: The Saudi|date=6 December 1993|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

During one of Fisk's interviews with bin Laden, Fisk noted an attempt by bin Laden to convert him. Bin Laden said: "Mr Robert, one of our brothers had a dream&nbsp;... that you were a spiritual person ... this means you are a true Muslim". Fisk replied: "Sheikh Osama, I am not a Muslim. ... I am a journalist [whose] task is to tell the truth." Bin Laden replied: "If you tell the truth, that means you are a good Muslim."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Naparstek|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Naparstek|date=30 August 2008|url=http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3564/features11749/watching_the_warriors_.html|title=Watching the warriors|journal=[[New Zealand Listener]]|volume=215|issue=3564}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East |publisher=[[Vintage (publisher)|Vintage]] |year=2007 |pages=29–30 |isbn=978-1-4000-7517-1 }}</ref> During the 1996 interview, bin Laden said the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]] was corrupt. During the final interview in 1997, bin Laden said he sought God's help "to turn America into a shadow of itself".<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-on-bin-laden-at-50-438729.html|title=Bin Laden at 50|work=The Independent|location=London|date=4 March 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426204415/https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-on-bin-laden-at-50-438729.html|archive-date=26 April 2009}}</ref>

Fisk strongly condemned the [[September 11 attacks]], calling them a "hideous [[crime against humanity]]". He also denounced the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration's]] response to the attacks, arguing that "a score of nations" were being identified and positioned as "haters of democracy" or "kernels of evil", and urged a more honest debate on [[American intervention in the Middle East|U.S. policy in the Middle East]]. He argued that such a debate had hitherto been avoided "because, of course, to look too closely at the Middle East would raise disturbing questions about the region, about our Western policies in those tragic lands, and about America's [[Israel–United States relations|relationship]] with [[Israel]]".<ref>Fisk, Robert (11 September 2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110902095213/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/one-year-on-a-view-from-the-middle-east-607205.html "One year on: A view from the Middle East"], ''The Independent'' (London).</ref>

In 2007, Fisk expressed personal doubts about the official historical record of the attacks. In an article for ''The Independent'', he wrote that, while the Bush administration was incapable of successfully carrying out such attacks due to its organisational incompetence, he was "increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11". He said he did not condone the "crazed 'research' of [[David Icke]]" but was "talking about scientific issues".<ref name="truthiness">{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|date=25 August 2007 |title=Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11 |work=The Independent |location=London |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2893860.ece |access-date=25 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827183903/http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2893860.ece |archive-date=27 August 2007 }}</ref> Fisk had earlier addressed similar concerns in a 2006 speech at [[University of Sydney|Sydney University]],<ref>Bolt, Andrew (29 March 2006). "Are they all mad?" ''Herald Sun'' (Melbourne).</ref> in which he said: "Partly I think because of the culture of secrecy of the White House—never have we had a White House so secret as this one—partly because of this culture, I think suspicions are growing in the United States, not just among Berkeley guys with flowers in their hair. ... But there are a lot of things we don't know, a lot of things we're not going to be told. ... Perhaps [[United Airlines Flight 93|the [fourth] plane]] was hit by a missile, we still don't know".<ref>Fisk, Robert (26 March 2006). [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1597318.htm "Robert Fisk at Sydney Ideas 2006"]. ABC News Australia.</ref>

[[Bill Durodié]] noted that at one point bin Laden advised the White House to "read Robert Fisk, rather than, as one might have supposed, the Koran."<ref name="Bin Laden recommends Fisk">{{cite book|author-link=Bill Durodie|last=Durodie|first=Bill|title=Home-grown nihilism – the clash within civilisations|date=2008|publisher=The Smith Institute|location=London|page=125|url=http://www.durodie.net/images/uploads/British_Security_Durodie.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215034054/http://www.durodie.net/images/uploads/British_Security_Durodie.pdf|archive-date=15 February 2010}}</ref>

===Syrian Civil War===
Reporting from [[Douma, Syria|Douma]] in April 2018 on the [[Douma chemical attack]], Fisk quoted a Syrian doctor who attributed the victims' breathing problems not to gas but to dust and lack of oxygen after heavy shelling by government forces. Other people he spoke to doubted a gas attack, and Fisk queried the incident.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-chemical-attack-gas-douma-robert-fisk-ghouta-damascus-a8307726.html|title=The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor's doubts over the chemical attack|work=The Independent|date=1 January 2020|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> His reporting was criticised for relying on government-supplied contacts, with [[Asser Khattab]] writing in ''[[Raseef22]]'' that the doctor Fisk quoted "had been introduced to him by officials in the Syrian government and army".<ref name=":3">{{cite news|last1=Khattab|first1=Asser|date=30 October 2021|title=Robert Fisk, the Man Who Died Twice|work=[[Raseef22]]|url=https://raseef22.net/article/1085047-robert-fisk-the-man-who-died-twice|access-date=3 November 2021|ref=raseef22}}</ref> [[Richard Spencer (journalist)|Richard Spencer]] and [[Catherine Philp]] in ''[[The Times]]'' wrote that journalists had been taken to Douma on a government-organised trip while international investigators were forced to remain in Damascus, and that the doctor Fisk interviewed admitted to not having been to the hospital where the victims were taken.<ref name="Spencer">{{Cite news|last1=Spencer|first1=Richard|last2=Philp|first2=Catherine|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/critics-leap-on-reporter-robert-fisk-s-failure-to-find-signs-of-gas-attack-fx7f3fs2r|title=Critics leap on reporter Robert Fisk's failure to find signs of gas attack|work=[[The Times]]|date=18 April 2018|access-date=23 June 2019|issn=0140-0460|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210824054505/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/critics-leap-on-reporter-robert-fisk-s-failure-to-find-signs-of-gas-attack-fx7f3fs2r|archive-date=24 August 2021|url-status=live}} {{subscription required}}</ref> According to [[Snopes]], other reporters on the same trip as Fisk had interviewed locals who said they had inhaled toxic gas.<ref>{{cite news|last=Palma|first=Bethania|url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/04/20/critics-slam-viral-stories-claiming-douma-chemical-attack-victims-died-dust/|title=Critics Slam Viral Stories Claiming Douma Chemical Attack Victims Died from 'Dust'|work=Snopes|date=20 April 2018|access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref>

Fisk returned to the subject of the Douma attacks in a January 2020 article about internal disagreements within the [[Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]] (OPCW) recorded in documents released by [[WikiLeaks]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-war-chemical-weapons-watchdog-opcw-assad-damascus-russia-a9262336.html|title=The Syrian conflict is awash with propaganda – chemical warfare bodies should not be caught up in it|work=The Independent|date=1 January 2020|access-date=1 January 2020}}</ref>

=== Media appearances ===
In 1993, Fisk produced a three-part series, ''From Beirut To Bosnia'', which he said was an attempt "to find out why an increasing number of Muslims had come to hate the West".<ref name="killed">{{cite book|title=Killed: great journalism too hot to print|editor=David Wallis|publisher=Nation Books|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/killedgreatjourn00wall/page/388 388]|url=https://archive.org/details/killedgreatjourn00wall|url-access=registration|isbn=978-1-56025-581-9}}</ref> Fisk said that the [[Discovery Channel]] did not rerun the films, after initially showing them in full, due to a letter campaign by pro-Israel groups such as [[Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America|CAMERA]].<ref name="killed" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Trager|first=Robert|author2=Donna Lee Dickerson |title=Freedom of expression in the 21st century|publisher=Pine Forge Press|year=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/freedomofexpress00trag/page/80 80]|isbn=978-0-8039-9085-2|url=https://archive.org/details/freedomofexpress00trag|url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[Kirsty Young]] interviewed Fisk for ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' in 2006. His final selections were ''[[Adagio for Strings]]'' by [[Samuel Barber]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by [[Thomas Malory]], and a violin.<ref>{{Cite AV media|title=Desert Island Discs: Robert Fisk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0093v0v|access-date=15 November 2020|work=BBC Sounds<!-- Originally broadcast on Radio 4 -->}}</ref>

Fisk featured in the 2016 documentary film ''[[Notes to Eternity]]'' by New Zealand filmmaker Sarah Cordery, along with [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Norman Finkelstein]], and [[Sara Roy]].<ref>''[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]]'', ''Movie Review: Notes to Eternity'', May 10, 2016 [https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/film-reviews/79845149/movie-review-notes-to-eternity] Retrieved 3 January 2021</ref> The film explores their lives and work in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Fisk was profiled in [[Yung Chang]]'s 2019 documentary film ''[[This Is Not a Movie (2019 film)|This Is Not a Movie]]''.<ref>{{cite news|first=Simon|last=Houpt|title=Journalism documentary This Is Not a Movie plays like Robert Fisk's greatest hits and misses|url= https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/reviews/article-journalism-documentary-this-is-not-a-movie-plays-like-robert-fisks/|newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date=18 May 2020}}.</ref> Reviewing the film, ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' wrote: "The two things that give this documentary its power and provocativeness are intellectual rather than dramatic: Fisk’s work, and his ideas."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Jenkins|first=Mark|title=Review: This Is Not a Movie Is a Smart, Clear-Eyed Tribute to Robert Fisk|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-this-is-not-a-movie-is-a-smart-clear-eyed-tribute-to-robert-fisk/|magazine=Slant|date=13 October 2020|access-date=15 November 2020}}</ref> Cath Clarke, writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'', said the film asks its audience about war: "Is there something deep in our souls that permits it because it feels natural? His painful, deeply serious question about the inevitability of war sets the tone of this documentary about his career."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Clarke|first=Cath|date=11 June 2020|title=This Is Not a Movie review – the drama and tragedy of the Middle East|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/11/this-is-not-a-movie-review-middle-east-war-reporter-robert-fisk-biographical-documentary|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

==Views==
[[File:Robert Fisk book signing at De Roma, Antwerp.jpg|alt=Photo of Fisk in Antwerp in 2015|thumb|Fisk book signing in 2015]]

===Stances and reception===
Fisk was known for his criticism of [[foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]], particularly the country's involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East.<ref name="IT20201101" /> He was consistently critical of Israel, calling some of its actions against Palestinians [[Israeli war crimes|war crimes]].<ref name="BBCObit">{{cite news |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-54774539 |title=Robert Fisk, veteran UK journalist, dies aged 74 |date=3 November 2020}}</ref> One of his beliefs was that he should report events from the point of view of the victim rather than those in authority.<ref name="TimesObit">{{cite news |work=[[The Times]] |title=Robert Fisk obituary |date=2 November 2020 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/robert-fisk-obituary-2c2n2n086}}</ref><ref>Pat and Samir Twair, [https://www.wrmea.org/008-december/robert-fisk-on-reporting-from-the-viewpoint-of-the-victim.html Robert Fisk on Reporting "From the Viewpoint Of the Victim"], ''[[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]]'', December 2008. ''"A story should be told from the viewpoint of the victim whose blood is being spilled. During the time of the slave trade, I’d have interviewed the slaves, not the captain of the slave ship."''</ref> In its November 2020 obituary of Fisk, ''[[The Times]]'' wrote that he had developed a "visceral dislike of the Israeli government and its allies" after covering the [[Sabra and Shatila massacre]], arguing that this had made Fisk biased and "unable to provide a dispassionate account of events and their context".<ref name="TimesObit"/> [[David Pryce-Jones]], writing in ''[[The Spectator]]'' in 2003, said that Fisk was guilty of "hysteria and distortion" in his coverage of Middle Eastern topics. In contrast, ''[[The Independent]]'', for whom he wrote from 1989, called him "renowned for his courage in questioning official narratives from governments".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/robert-fisk-obituary-died-journalist-middle-east-b1538618.html |work=[[The Independent]] |title=Robert Fisk: The outstanding and truth-telling journalist who ventured into danger |first=David |last=McKittrick |date=4 November 2020}}</ref>

The BBC's [[Jeremy Bowen]] also praised Fisk after his death, and noted the controversy he drew for his "sharp criticism of the US and Israel, and of Western foreign policy". Bowen called himself an admirer who would miss Fisk's "guts and his appetite for the fight".<ref name="BBCObit" /> Fisk dismissed the controversy related to his reporting in Syria, saying he was "writing only what he saw and heard".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/01/robert-fisk-veteran-british-foreign-correspondent-dies-aged-74 |title=Robert Fisk, veteran British foreign correspondent, dies aged 74 |first=Clea |last=Skopeliti |date=1 November 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> His ex-wife, [[Lara Marlowe]], took exception to the use of the adjective "controversial" in his obituaries, saying "he was a prolific non-conformist in the world of journalism, whose judgments avoided jumping on the bandwagon" and, in her experience, had been "intuitive, rapid [...] and invariably right".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Marlowe|first=Lara|title=Lara Marlowe: Robert Fisk, my former husband, was the finest journalist of his generation|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/lara-marlowe-robert-fisk-my-former-husband-was-the-finest-journalist-of-his-generation-1.4401075|date=7 November 2020|access-date=15 November 2020|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref>

Similarly, the foreign correspondent for ''The Independent'' [[Patrick Cockburn]], responding to criticisms raised in obituaries, said "Derring-do in times of war usually gets good notices from the press and from public opinion, but moral endurance is a much rarer commodity, when the plaudits are replaced by abuse, often from people who see a world divided between devils and angels and denounce anybody reporting less than angelic behaviour on the part of the latter for being secret sympathisers with the devil." Cockburn wrote that Fisk, better than anyone else, could "find out significant news as fast as possible, disregard all efforts by governments, armies and media to suppress it, and pass that information on to the public so they can better judge what is happening in the world around them".<ref>{{Cite news|date=13 November 2020|title=Robert Fisk had true independence of mind – which is why he angered governments |first=Patrick |last=Cockburn|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/robert-fisk-iraq-reporting-governments-b1722619.html|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref>

=== On journalism and politics ===
{{primary sources|section|date=January 2022}}
Fisk described himself as a [[Pacifism|pacifist]] and [[Non-voting|non-voter]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/free-podcast-download-the-lost-art-of-reportage-1818070.html |title=The lost art of reportage |work=The Independent|date=10 November 2009 |access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref> He said that journalism must "challenge authority, all authority, especially so when governments and politicians take us to war". He quoted, with approval, the words of Israeli journalist [[Amira Hass]]: "There is a misconception that journalists can be objective. ... What journalism is really about is to monitor power and the centres of power."<ref name="Miles">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/nov/19/highereducation.news|title=The big picture|last=Miles|first=Oliver|date=19 November 2005|access-date=19 July 2006|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>  In light of his earlier training as a journalist on the ''Newcastle Evening Chronicle'', he said, "I had a suspicion that the language we were forced to write as trainee reporters all those years ago had somehow imprisoned us, that we had been schooled to mould the world and ourselves in clichés, that for the most part this would define our lives, destroy our anger and imagination, make us loyal to our betters, to governments, to authority. For some reason, I had become possessed of the belief that the blame for our failure as journalists to report the Middle East with any sense of moral passion or indignation lay in the way that we as journalists were trained."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|date=3 August 2001|title=Top hack blasts local rags|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-top-hack-blasts-local-rags-9196235.html|access-date=2 December 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref> In an interview with the BBC in 2005, he articulated this position further: "If you believe that victims should have more of a say than people who commit atrocities, then yes, I take a definite position. If reporters don't do that then they are out of their minds."<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 December 2005|title=Viewpoint: UK war reporter Robert Fisk|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4393358.stm|publisher=BBC News|access-date=15 November 2020}}</ref>

On coverage of foreign reporting, he said in a 2006 interview with Harry Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley: "the French are very good at getting to the scene and reporting the reality. I know France doesn't have a very clean reputation in American politics at the moment but my goodness, they've got good journalists. You read a translation of ''[[Libération]]'', ''[[Le Figaro|Figaro]]'', ''[[Le Monde]]—''they've got it. I work a lot with French. I normally work on my own, but if I work with other reporters, I tend to report with Italians or the French because, my goodness, they get to the war front."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Conversation with Robert Fisk, p. 4 of 6|url=http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people6/Fisk/fisk-con4.html|access-date=15 November 2020|website=globetrotter.berkeley.edu}}</ref>

Speaking on "Lies, Misreporting, and Catastrophe in the Middle East" at the [[First Congregational Church of Berkeley]] on 22 September 2010, Fisk said: "I think it is the duty of a foreign correspondent to be neutral and unbiased on the side of those who suffer, whoever they may be."<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|title=Robert Fisk: Terror of Power and Power of Terror|url=http://www.radioproject.org/2010/10/robert-fisk-the-terror-of-power-and-the-power-of-terror/|access-date=28 June 2011|work=Making Contact|date=12 October 2010|agency=National Radio Project}}</ref> He wrote at length on how many contemporary conflicts had their origins, in his view, in lines drawn on maps: "After the Allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of [[Northern Ireland]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and most of the [[Middle East]]. And I have spent my entire career—in [[Belfast]] and [[Sarajevo]], in [[Beirut]] and [[Baghdad]]—watching the people within those borders burn."<ref>Robert Fisk, ''The Great War for Civilisation'', 2005</ref>

===Armenian genocide===
Fisk wrote extensively about the [[Armenian genocide]] of 1915 and supported moves to persuade the Turkish government to acknowledge it.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/armenian-genocide-to-continue-to-deny-the-truth-of-this-mass-human-cruelty-is-close-to-a-criminal-10188119.html|title=Armenian genocide: To continue to deny the truth of this mass human cruelty is close to a criminal lie|work=The Independent|date=20 April 2015|access-date=1 November 2020}}</ref>

===Remembrance Day===
{{primary sources|section|date=January 2022}}
For [[Remembrance Day]] in 2011, Fisk wrote that his father "old Bill Fisk became very ruminative about the Great War. He learned that Haig had lied, that he himself had fought for a world that betrayed him, that 20,000 British dead on the first day of the Somme—which he mercifully avoided because his first regiment, the Cheshires, sent him to Dublin and Cork to deal with another 1916 "problem"—was a trashing of human life. In hospital and recovering from cancer, I asked him once why the Great War was fought. 'All I can tell you, fellah,' he said, 'was that it was a great waste.' And he swept his hand from left to right. Then he stopped wearing his [[Remembrance poppy|poppy]]. I asked him why, and he said that he didn't want to see 'so many damn fools' wearing it."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|date=5 November 2011|title=Robert Fisk: Do those who flaunt the poppy on their lapels know that they mock the war dead?|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-do-those-who-flaunt-poppy-their-lapels-know-they-mock-war-dead-6257416.html|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref> He returned to the subject in 2014, writing: "My family was haunted by my father's experience on the Somme and the loss of his friends. Why do we pay homage to the dead but ignore the lessons of their war?"<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|title=WWI Centenary: My father threw away his poppy in disgust|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/first-world-war-centenary-my-father-threw-away-his-poppy-disgust-9645299.html|date=5 August 2014|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref> In 2016, he said: "His example was one of great courage. He fought for his country and then, unafraid, he threw his poppy away. Television celebrities do not have to fight for their country—yet they do not even have the guts to break this fake conformity and toss their sordid poppies in the office waste paper bin."<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 November 2016|last=Fisk|first=Robert|title=The poppy has become a symbol of racism – I have never worn one, and now I never will|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/poppy-symbol-racism-never-worn-one-never-will-robert-fisk-remembrance-day-first-world-war-second-world-war-a7394976.html|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Fisk married American-born journalist [[Lara Marlowe]] in 1994. They divorced in 2006.<ref name="ObsCooke" /> At the time of his death, he was married to [[Nelofer Pazira]], an Afghan-Canadian journalist, author and human rights activist.<ref name="BarberFT20">{{cite news |last1=Barber |first1=Tony|title=Robert Fisk, foreign correspondent and author, 1946-2020 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/349fe7bc-f889-46e8-980b-93d9a736aebc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/349fe7bc-f889-46e8-980b-93d9a736aebc |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|location=London|access-date=25 February 2021 |work=[[Financial Times]]|date=6 November 2020}}</ref>

On settling down, he wrote in 2005: "I told the journalism students there [at City, University of London] that when I saw families walking happily in London or Paris, I wondered whether I had not missed out on life, that perhaps comparative safety and security with nothing more than the mortgage to worry about was preferable to the existence I had chosen for myself. A friend of my father's once said I had enjoyed the privilege of seeing things that no other man had seen. But after a flood of questions from students in Sydney about suffering in the Middle East, I began to wonder if my privilege had not also been my curse."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|date=16 October 2005|title=On tour with my ghosts|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-on-tour-with-my-ghosts-319979.html|access-date=16 November 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref>

==Death==
On 30 October 2020, Fisk died aged 74 at [[St. Vincent's University Hospital]] in [[Dublin]], Ireland, after a suspected [[stroke]].<ref name="IT20201101" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Prideaux|first=Sophie|title=Veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk dies aged 74|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/veteran-middle-east-correspondent-robert-fisk-dies-aged-74-1.1103844|date=2 November 2020|access-date=3 November 2020|work=The National}}</ref> Due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland|Irish government's COVID-19 restrictions]], his funeral was held privately.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Death Notice of Robert FISK|url=https://rip.ie/death-notice/robert-fisk-dalkey-dublin/438038|date=2 November 2020|access-date=17 November 2020|website=rip.ie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Pope|first1=Conor|last2=Bowers|first2=Shauna|last3=Clarke|first3=Vivienne|title=Funeral of 'fearless' journalist and author Robert Fisk takes place|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/funeral-of-fearless-journalist-and-author-robert-fisk-takes-place-1.4397454|date=2 November 2020|access-date=18 November 2020|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref>

Irish president [[Michael D. Higgins]] said, "with his passing the world of journalism and informed commentary on the Middle East has lost one of its finest commentators". [[Taoiseach]] [[Micheál Martin]] said, "he was fearless and independent in his reporting, with a deeply researched understanding of the complexities of the Middle East, eastern history and politics".<ref>{{Cite web|title='Fearless and unflinching' - reporter Robert Fisk has died, aged 74|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/fearless-and-unflinching-reporter-robert-fisk-has-died-aged-74-39694755.html|access-date=2021-06-02|website=The Independent|date=November 2020 }}</ref>

The Australian antiwar journalist [[John Pilger]] said: "Robert Fisk has died. I pay warmest tribute to one of the last great reporters. The weasel word 'controversial' appears in even his own paper, ''The Independent'', whose pages he honoured. He went against the grain and told the truth, spectacularly. Journalism has lost the bravest."<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Pilger's tribute to Robert Fisk|url=https://twitter.com/johnpilger/status/1323214193441603585|access-date=15 November 2020|website=Twitter}}</ref> Former [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the UK Labour Party]] [[Jeremy Corbyn]] eulogised him on [[Twitter]], writing, "So sad to hear of the death of Robert Fisk. A huge loss of a brilliant man with unparalleled knowledge of history, politics and people of Middle East."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jeremy Corbyn's tribute to Robert Fisk|url=https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1323220369948479489|access-date=15 November 2020|website=Twitter}}</ref> The Greek politician and economic theorist [[Yanis Varoufakis]] also posted a eulogy on Twitter, writing, "With Robert Fisk's passing we have lost a journalistic eye without which we shall be partially blind, a pen without which our capacity to express the truth is diminished, a soul without which our own empathy for victims of imperialism will be lacking."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Yanis Varoufakis pays tribute to Robert Fisk|url=https://twitter.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/1323136525962342400|access-date=15 November 2020|website=Twitter}}</ref> [[Christian Broughton]], the managing director of ''[[The Independent]]'', said: "Fearless, uncompromising, determined and utterly committed to uncovering the truth and reality at all costs, Robert Fisk was the greatest journalist of his generation. The fire he lit at ''The Independent'' will burn on."<ref>{{Cite news|date=1 November 2020|title=Robert Fisk, veteran Middle East correspondent of The Independent, dies aged 74|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/robert-fisk-death-middle-east-correspondent-journalist-dublin-b1514866.html|access-date=15 November 2020|work=The Independent}}</ref> Harry Browne wrote in [[Jacobin (magazine)|''Jacobin'']]: "Robert Fisk's voice was everywhere, and his ideas were vital in both creating and meeting that Irish urge for explanation."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Robert Fisk Was a Reporter Who Brought the Wars Home and Shaped the Thinking of a Generation|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/robert-fisk-journalism-obituary-anti-imperialism-ireland|access-date=19 November 2020|work=jacobinmag.com}}</ref> The ''[[Irish Times]]'' obituary read: "He used to explain his rejection of conventional journalistic detachment by saying: 'If you watch wars, the old ideas of journalism that you have to be neutral and take nobody's side is rubbish. As a journalist, you have got to be neutral and unbiased on the side of those who suffer."<ref>{{Cite news|title=Robert Fisk obituary: Veteran war reporter who described himself as a pacifist|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/robert-fisk-obituary-veteran-war-reporter-who-described-himself-as-a-pacifist-1.4400201|date=7 November 2020|access-date=19 November 2020|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> Former [[Chartered Institute of Journalists]] president [[Liz Justice]] wrote: "I knew him as a very detailed and knowledgeable journalist. My friend had to edit his work from 2,000 words to 400 and we have very different views involving eggshells and walking carefully. We both agree he will be missed."<ref>{{Cite web|publisher=The Chartered Institute of Journalists |title=The veteran British foreign correspondent Robert Fisk has died at the age of 74 after becoming unwell on Friday|url=https://cioj.org/the-veteran-british-foreign-correspondent-robert-fisk-has-died-at-the-age-of-74-after-becoming-unwell-on-friday/|access-date=25 November 2020}}</ref> [[Richard Falk]], in an interview with ''[[CounterPunch]]'', said: "Fisk's departure from the region left a journalistic gap that has not been filled. It is important to appreciate that there are few war correspondents in the world that combine Fisk's reporting fearlessness with his interpretative depth, engaging writing style, and candid exposures of the foibles of the high and mighty."<ref name="Falk" />

== Memoir ==
''Love in a Time of War'', a memoir by Fisk's first wife, [[Lara Marlowe]], was published in 2021. It covers the years from 1988 to 2003, the period Fisk and Marlowe worked together.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Marlowe|first=Lara|title=Life with Robert Fisk: I realised I would not be at peace until I wrote this book|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/life-with-robert-fisk-i-realised-i-would-not-be-at-peace-until-i-wrote-this-book-1.4705520|date=23 October 2021|access-date=27 October 2021|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}</ref>

==Awards, honours and degrees ==
Fisk received the [[British Press Awards]]' [[British International Journalist of the Year award|International Journalist of the Year]] seven times,<ref name="Robert Fisk Awards 001">{{cite book|last=Keatinge|first=Patrick|title=Ireland in International Affairs: Interests, Institutions and Identities: Essays in Honour of Professor N.P. Keatinge, FTCD, MRIA|date=2 December 2002|publisher=Institute of Public Administration|isbn=978-1-902448-76-3|page=217}}</ref> and twice won its "Reporter of the Year" award.<ref>{{cite news |title=Times reporter wins award |date=15 December 1987 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location =London}}</ref> He also received [[Amnesty International UK Media Awards]] in 1992 for his report "The Other Side of the Hostage Saga",<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://find.galegroup.com/inda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=INDA&userGroupName=ucalgary&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=FQ4200478768&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0|title=Fisk wins Amnesty award|date=7 June 1992|work=The Independent on Sunday|access-date=19 January 2018|page=18}}</ref> in 1998 for his reports from [[Algeria]]<ref name="Robert Fisk Awards - 1998 Amnesty Media Awards 002">{{cite news|url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/awards/1998.html |title=Amnesty International UK (AIUK) Media Awards 1998 – Winners – Short-list – Judges |access-date=18 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010513170831/http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/awards/1998.html |archive-date=13 May 2001 }}</ref> and again in 2000 for his articles on the [[Operation Allied Force|NATO air campaign against the FRY in 1999]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/awards/2000.shtml |title=Amnesty international media awards – Media Awards Winners 2000 |access-date=20 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010513172219/http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/awards/2000.shtml |archive-date=13 May 2001 }}</ref>

* 1984 [[Lancaster University]] honorary degree<ref name="lancu">{{cite web|author=Lancaster University|publisher=Lancaster University|title=Honorary Degrees|access-date=9 June 2013|url=http://www.lancs.ac.uk/about-us/ourpeople/honorary-degrees/#eighties}}</ref>
* 1991 [[Jacob's Award]] for coverage of the [[Gulf War]] on [[RTÉ Radio 1]]<ref>"In the wars". ''The Irish Times'' (Dublin). 19 November 1991.</ref>
*1994 Foreign Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards for coverage on Algeria, the Hebron massacre, and Bosnia <ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=28 November 2016|title=Press Awards|url=http://www.pressawards.org.uk/page-view.php?pagename=1990-1999-Winners|access-date=15 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128031418/http://www.pressawards.org.uk/page-view.php?pagename=1990-1999-Winners|archive-date=28 November 2016}}</ref>
*1995 Foreign Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards<ref name=":2" />
* 1999 [[Orwell Prize]] for journalism<ref>[http://theorwellprize.co.uk/winners/filter/type-Journalism%20Prize/year-1999/ List of 1999 winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120214206/http://theorwellprize.co.uk/winners/filter/type-Journalism%20Prize/year-1999/ |date=20 November 2010 }}. The Orwell Prize for Journalism.</ref>
* 2001 David Watt Prize for an investigation of the 1915 [[Armenian genocide]] by the [[Ottoman Empire]]<ref>{{cite news |title= Fisk wins award for political journalism |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/fisk-wins-award-for-political-journalism-678347.html|first=Louise|last=Jury |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081211132859/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/fisk-wins-award-for-political-journalism-678347.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 11 December 2008 |date=20 July 2001 |work=[[The Independent]]|location =London}}</ref>
* 2002 [[Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marthagellhorn.com/previous.htm|title=Previous Winners|publisher=[[Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism]]}}</ref>
* 2003 [[Open University]] honorary doctorate<ref name="OU">{{cite news
 |url=http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Doctor%20of%20the%20University%201973-2011.pdf 
 |publisher=The Open University 
 |title=Doctor of the University 1973–2011 
 |access-date=10 June 2013 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213042428/http://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/files/ceremonies/file/Doctor%20of%20the%20University%201973-2011.pdf 
 |archive-date=13 December 2013 }}</ref>
* 2004 [[University of St Andrews]] honorary degree<ref name="uandy">{{cite web|author=University of St Andrews|publisher=The University of St Andrews|date=21 June 2004|title=Honorary degrees June 2004|access-date=9 June 2013|url=http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2004/title,42816,en.php|archive-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213152542/http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archive/2004/title,42816,en.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2004 Golden Doves for Peace, IRIAD<ref>{{Cite web |title=Golden Doves for Peace |url=https://www.archiviodisarmo.it/golden-doves-for-peace.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.archiviodisarmo.it}}</ref>
* 2004 [[Carleton University]] honorary degree<ref name="carl">{{cite web|author=Carleton University|publisher=Carleton University|date= 31 May 2013|title=Honorary Degrees Awarded Since 1954|access-date=9 June 2013|url=http://www1.carleton.ca/senate/honourary-degrees/honorary-degrees-awarded-since-1954/}}</ref>
* 2005 [[University of Adelaide]] [[Edward Said#Edward Said memorial lectures|Edward Said Memorial lecture]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adelaide.edu.au/esml/about/|title=About the Edward Said Memorial Lecture|publisher=University of Adelaide|access-date=17 October 2009|archive-date=13 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013020509/http://www.adelaide.edu.au/esml/about/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2006 [[Ghent University]] honorary degree Political and Social Sciences<ref name="UGhent">{{cite web|author=Ghent University|publisher=Ghent University|year=2006|title=Honorary Doctorates (Dutch)|access-date=1 January 2017|url=http://www.ugent.be/nl/univgent/collecties/archief/geschiedenis/overzichten/eredoctoren.htm#2000%20-%202009}}</ref>
* 2006 [[American University of Beirut]] honorary degree<ref name="aub">{{cite web|author=American University of Beirut|publisher=American University of Beirut|year=2006|title=Honorary Doctorates|access-date=10 June 2013|url=http://www.aub.edu.lb/doctorates/recipients/2006/Pages/fisk-profile.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130801032120/http://www.aub.edu.lb/doctorates/recipients/2006/Pages/fisk-profile.aspx|archive-date=1 August 2013}}</ref>
* 2006 [[Queen's University Belfast]] honorary degree<ref name="qub">{{cite web|author=Communications & External Affairs Office |publisher=Queen's University Belfast |year=2006 |title=Destinguished journalist receives Queen's honorary degree |access-date=10 June 2013 |url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/ceao/News/ArchivedPressReleases/2006PressReleases/07-2006PressReleases/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604111009/http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/ceao/News/ArchivedPressReleases/2006PressReleases/07-2006PressReleases/ |archive-date= 4 June 2013}}</ref>
* 2006 [[Lannan Literary Awards|Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize]] worth $350,000<ref>{{cite web |title=2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize awarded to Robert Fisk |publisher=Lannan Foundation |url=http://www.lannan.org/lf/cf/detail/2006-lannan-cultural-freedom-prize-awarded-to-robert-fisk/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522170120/http://www.lannan.org/lf/cf/detail/2006-lannan-cultural-freedom-prize-awarded-to-robert-fisk/ |archive-date=22 May 2007}}</ref>
* 2008 [[University of Kent]] honorary degree<ref name="ukent">{{cite web|publisher=The University of Kent|date=7 July 2008|title=University Honorary Degrees July 2008|access-date=7 June 2013|url=http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/stories/honorarydegreesjuly2008/2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615084132/http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/stories/honorarydegreesjuly2008/2008|archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref>
* 2008 [[Trinity College Dublin]] honorary doctorate<ref>{{cite web|title=Five recipients to receive honorary degrees at Trinity College Dublin |url=http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/news.php?headerID=954&vs_date=1 |date=12 July 2008 |access-date=2 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211145843/http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/news.php?headerID=954&vs_date=1 |archive-date=11 December 2015 }}</ref>
* 2009 [[College Historical Society]]'s Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse<ref name="jta">{{cite news|last=Ihle|first=Jon|publisher= Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date= 8 January 2009|title=Trinity College awards harsh Israel critic|access-date=7 June 2013|url=https://www.jta.org/2009/01/08/news-opinion/world/trinity-college-awards-harsh-israel-critic}}</ref>
* 2009 [[Liverpool Hope University]] honorary degree<ref name="uhope">{{cite web|last=Schofield|first=Ben|publisher=Liverpool Daily Post.co.uk|date=16 July 2009|title=Liverpool Bishops honoured by Liverpool Hope University|access-date=9 June 2013|url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/07/16/liverpool-bishops-honoured-by-liverpool-hope-university-99623-24165522/}}</ref><ref name="uhope2">{{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|work=The Independent|date=18 July 2009|title=Some lessons in sacrifice from Liverpool in two world wars|access-date=9 June 2013|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-some-lessons-in-sacrifice-from-liverpool-in-two-world-wars-1751587.html|location=London}}</ref>
* 2011 International Prize at the Amalfi Coast Media Awards, Italy<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/robert-fisk-wins-international-prize-2299315.html "Robert Fisk wins International Prize"]. ''The Independent'' (London). 18 June 2011.</ref>

== Bibliography==
*''The Point of No Return: The Strike Which Broke the British in Ulster'' (1975). London: Times Books/Deutsch. {{ISBN|0-233-96682-X}}
*''In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality, 1939–1945'' (2001). London: Gill & Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-7171-2411-8}} (1st ed. 1983).
*''[[Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War]]'' (3rd ed. 2001). London: Oxford University Press; xxi, 727 pages. {{ISBN|0-19-280130-9}} (1st ed. was 1990).
*''[[The Great War for Civilisation|The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East]]'' (October 2005) London. Fourth Estate; xxvi, 1366 pages. {{ISBN|1-84115-007-X}}
*''The Age of the Warrior: Selected Writings'' (2008) London, Fourth Estate {{ISBN|978-0-00-727073-6}}
*''Robert Fisk on Algeria: Why Algeria's Tragedy Matters'' (2013) Independent Print Limited {{ISBN|9781633533677}}
*''Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East'' (2024) Fourth Estate Ltd {{ISBN|9780007350612}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2403298.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406175420/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2403298.ece|title=Shakespeare and War|work=The Independent|date=30 March 2007|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 April 2007}}
* {{cite news|last=Fisk|first=Robert|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/05/201052574726865274.html|title=Journalism and 'the words of power'|work=Al Jazeera|date=25 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810102419/http://www.aljazeera.com/focus/2010/05/201052574726865274.html|archive-date=10 August 2017}} (address to the fifth Al Jazeera annual forum on 23 May 2010)

==External links==
{{Commons category|Robert Fisk}}
{{Wikiquote|Robert Fisk}}
{{Wiktionary|fisking}}
{{Portal|England|Biography}}
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/author/robert-fisk Column archive] at ''[[The Independent]]''
* {{Journalisted|robert-fisk}}
* [https://znetwork.org/author/robertfisk/ Z Network articles]
* {{NPG name|id=84412}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisk, Robert}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Lancaster University]]
[[Category:Alumni of Lonsdale College, Lancaster]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:British newspaper journalists]]
[[Category:British people of the Iraq War]]
[[Category:British war correspondents]]
[[Category:English expatriates in Lebanon]]
[[Category:English reporters and correspondents]]
[[Category:Irish Independent people]]
[[Category:Jacob's Award winners]]
[[Category:People educated at Sutton Valence School]]
[[Category:People from Maidstone]]
[[Category:The i Paper journalists]]
[[Category:The Independent people]]
[[Category:The Times people]]
[[Category:War correspondents of the Iraq War]]
[[Category:War correspondents of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)]]
[[Category:Writers on the Middle East]]
[[Category:English activists for Palestinian solidarity]]