Big thanks to Morpium for getting video to me. I’m uploading to the site as fast as I can!
A tragedy and a loss to journalism and to an informed public.
His work was fierce. If you haven’t already, buy Restrepo, buy Infidel.
In 2007 he won the World Press Photo award for one of his shots from Afghanistan.
I was privileged to meet him once, at a premiere for Restrepo last year here in LA. He had such a huge heart and was such a gentleman. He was asked why he kept going back into conflict zones, and he struggled to answer because he had not yet emotionally recovered from his previous time in. He had that need to champion people who had no voice and to show the world the things we should be paying attention to. His last tweet yesterday announced his arrival in Misrata.
His last tweet… I cannot believe that such a powerful voice has been silenced.
Vanity Fair article about his death.
*****
UPDATE:
Hetherington Family Releases Statement on Tim’s Death
by Vanity Fair
April 20, 2011, 4:30 PM
Photograph by Matt Stuart.
The following statement was released to Vanity Fair from the family of contributing photographer Tim Hetherington:
It is with great sadness we learned that our son and brother, photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington, was killed today in Misrata, Libya by a rocket-propelled grenade. Tim will be remembered for his amazing images and his Academy Award–nominated documentary “Restrepo,” which he co-produced with his friend Sebastian Junger.
Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict. He will be forever missed.
*****
Sharon found some info on another talk that Michael is doing in Brisbane tomorrow night, although this one is not open to the public. He will be a featured speaker at the Queensland branch of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association. See this page for details, but here is the write-up about Michael:
6.00 Gala dinner featuring Michael Ware:
Report from the front lineA native of Brisbane, Michael received his law degree from the University of Queensland and spent a year as Associate to then President of the Queensland Court of Appeal, Tony Fitzgerald before moving into journalism firstly with the Courier Mail and then TIME Magazine. He was TIME Magazine’s correspondent in Afghanistan before being based in Iraq prior to the coalition’s invasion in 2003.
Michael was appointed TIME Magazine’s Baghdad bureau chief in 2004 and then joined CNN in 2006 and quickly established himself as one the foremost on-air experts on Iraq, providing in-depth analysis and reports across all CNN Networks. He quickly gained international notoriety as one of the few western journalists to travel to insurgent camps and report on that perspective of the war. Hear the remarkable and gripping story of a man famed for being right on the front line in the most dangerous place on the planet.
Here you go, folks… I told you it was going to be worth the wait!
Frontline witness to brutality
4 Mar 11 @ 04:30am by Candice Holznagel
NEVER-BEFORE seen footage from the hands of al-Qaeda insurgents will bring the brutal truth of war to the big screen in a cinema film being produced by Brisbane journalist Michael Ware.
Ware, who spent his childhood days in Caloundra, is somewhat of a celebrity in the US after almost 10 years abroad bringing the reality of the Afghan and Iraq wars to the western world.
Kings Beach, where his family holidayed regularly, is a stark comparison to the life Ware went on to live.
As a Time magazine reporter and then with news organisation CNN, Ware reported from both within the US Army and as a man living among the insurgents.
His experiences, including being kidnapped and held at gunpoint, were gut-wrenching.
“Straight after my kidnapping by al-Qaeda I didn’t leave my bedroom for three days,’’ Ware told ABC’s Australian Story last year.
“Every time I got into a car of any description, going anywhere… I immediately wanted to throw up.
“At the same time, I was under threat from Al Qaeda, they were specifically targeting me for something I’d published.
“We knew that there was a team coming to kill me.’‘
It was Ware’s “stomach churning’’ experience in the battle of Fallujah which “cleansed’’ him of the horrors of the kidnapping.
He was aboard the first US vehicles to enter Fallujah in 2004 and stood beside the soldiers in a darkened house, facing heavy fire from insurgents.
According to Ware’s parents, Gail and Len, who now reside in Caloundra, it was these experiences which took a toll on their son.
“It’s wonderful him being home, it’s just sad the reason that’s brought him home post-traumatic stress,’’ Mrs Ware told the Journal.
“I think he’s progressing well.
“I said to him that he should have come home earlier but he said the damage can be done in one year or the 10 years he was there.
“It’s a living nightmare.
“I don’t know if he will ever be the same person again.’‘
Mrs Ware is proud of her son, who has won numerous awards for his journalistic skills.
“No one else was doing what he did,’’ she said.
“He landed in Afghanistan and didn’t know a soul.
“What do you do, turn right, turn left or go ahead?
`He can just blend. Michael lived their lifestyle.’‘
Earlier this week, Ware was attending meeting after meeting to progress his film project.
He hoped the film, based on the war in Iraq, would be launched through the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival but either way it will hit the big screen next year.
“It’s based on the years I shot video, using things like the al-Qaeda videos the world has never seen,’’ Ware said.
“It’s the first time in history that we know of that a Congressional Medal of Honour has been caught on film.
“It’s the war documentary.
“It just happens to be set in Iraq.
“This really is a film that looks at the true nature of us.
“It’s one war seen through the viewfinder of one man.
“It will confront the psyche of 300 million Americans.’‘
Speaking in his passionate and zealous manner, Ware said the development of the film had turned into a form of therapy.
“I think at heart I am and will always be a journalist.
“I’m exploring a new form of it.’‘
[One correction -- it should have read that a nominee for the Congressional Medal of Honour was caught on film.]
Since it seems that everyone is having that problem of the video freezing, I did a fast and dirty conversion to .mp4 — this version has its own problems (a bad case of the hiccups!) but it does at least play. I will try to make a cleaner version when I get home tonight.
Okay, clean mp4 version is now available.
And also an m4v version.
I think we all expected it, but Michael has confirmed to me that he has left CNN. Although he isn’t ready to go public with what he is planning, I posted on the site what he was willing to let me say. (Okay, it’s not much. Sorry. But your patience will definitely be rewarded.)
If you would like to see the tribute clip I made, it is here.
And if you would like to leave a comment here for Michael… while I can’t promise that he will read them, I will definitely send him the link to the page.
Amid all the celebration of the events in Egypt, I hate to have to post this … but Michael’s bio has been removed from CNN’s page.
No official comment yet, but I think we all know what this means.
CNN’s World Headlines:
