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Ben Anderson (born )
is a British journalist, television reporter, and writer. A recipient of the Foreign Press Award, he was born in
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
, educated at
Bedford Modern School
Bedford Modern School (often called BMS) is a Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference independent school in Bedford, England. The school has its origins in The Harpur Trust, born from the endowments left by Sir William Harpur in the six ...
and now lives in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York.
Biography
In 2005, Anderson reported for ''Frontline Football'' – four films for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
that followed national football teams beset by turmoil during the qualifying rounds of the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
. In the previous year, he was a reporter on ''
Holidays in the Danger Zone'' - The Violent Coast. This four-part series for BBC2 focused on travelling along
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
's notoriously dangerous coast. Back in 2003, Anderson was a reporter on ''Correspondent - Terror in South East Asia'', which profiled
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaikh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born March 1, 1964 or April 14, 1965) is a Pakistani Islamist militant held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-re ...
's time in
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
with
Ramsi Yousef, prior to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
.
Anderson is known for ''
Holidays in the Axis of Evil
''Holidays in the Danger Zone: Holidays in the Axis of Evil'' is a two part travel documentary on all of the countries in U.S. President George W. Bush's "Axis of evil", part of the '' Holidays in the Danger Zone'' series, produced and broadca ...
'', the BBC series in which he travelled secretly to Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Libya and Cuba. He also made films about gang wars in El Salvador, the landless movement in Brazil, pollution in Varanasi, gorilla poaching in Congo, homosexuals in America, Maoist insurgents in Bihar, water rights for Palestinians in the West Bank, the third generation of Agent Orange victims in Vietnam, deportees and pimps in Cambodia and the war in Southern Iraq. Ben is also the presenter of ''World's Toughest Tribes'' – a six-part television documentary series for
Discovery Channel that focuses on unique modern-day tribes.
His recent work includes "Taking on the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
", a harrowing film that resulted from two months in
Helmand
Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
's most violent province, with the Queen's Company, Grenadier Guards. The film was shortlisted for RTS programme and Journalism awards, as well as a
BAFTA. His
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
from Helmand, 'No Worse Enemy: The Inside Story of the Chaotic Struggle for Afghanistan'', was published by the London Review of Books in 2012. Sherard Cowper-Coles, former British Ambassador to Afghanistan, praised the book as, "The truth about the Afghan war, from a brave and exceptionally honest reporter... Essential reading for anyone who wants to know what is really going on in Helmand."
Anderson has since covered slave labour in Dubai, and new threats and solutions to deforestation for BBC 1's Panorama. He has been back to Helmand several times, for Newsnight, The Times, the Guardian magazine, GQ and VBS (where
Spike Jonze singled out his film "Obama's War" as amongst the best of 2009.) In 2010 he wrote, filmed and produced ''
The Battle for Marjah'' for HBO/Channel Four and in 2011 he made ''The Battle for Bomb Alley'' for BBC1, which followed US Marines as they struggled to reclaim the district of Sangin in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. He won a Frontline Club Award and a Beyaux-Calvados award for his work with the pieces ''Mission Accomplished? The Secret of Helmand'' and ''This Is What Winning Looks Like'', a feature-length documentary he produced with VICE Media that focuses on the problems arising from the American and British troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Vice Media
In 2013, Anderson joined HBO's
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...
as an on-air correspondent and producer, going on to be nominated for an
Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Informational Series or Special as a senior producer of Vice in 2015.
He has worked with World Champion Boxer
David Haye
David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Ama ...
on a film.
Filmography
Writings
References
Further reading
* Gibbons-Neff and Ben Anderson.
A Hunt for a Deadly Sniper From Two Perspectives" ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. June 4, 2013.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Ben
British sportswriters
Living people
1970s births
Year of birth uncertain
People educated at Bedford Modern School