Con Coughlin
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Con Coughlin (born 14 January 1955) is a British journalist and author, currently ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' defence editor.


Early life

Coughlin was born in 1955 in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England. He read Modern History at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he specialised in the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
under the tutelage of the historian
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fi ...
.


Journalistic career

In August 1977 Coughlin joined the Thomson Regional Newspapers graduate trainee course and after undertaking his initial training in Cardiff served out his indentures as a trainee reporter with the ''
Reading Evening Post The ''Reading Post'' (until 2009, the ''Reading Evening Post'') was an English local newspaper covering Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. The title page of the paper featured the Maiwand Lion, a famous local landmark at Forbury Gardens. T ...
''. In November 1980 Coughlin joined ''The Daily Telegraph'' as a general news reporter. Coughlin has spent most of his journalistic career working for what is now the Telegraph Media Group. As a young reporter for his newspaper, he was initially given responsibility for covering a number of major crime stories, such as the arrest of
Peter Sutcliffe Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
(dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper) and the Brixton riots. Becoming a foreign correspondent, his first big assignment was to cover the
American invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...
in late 1983. From there he was sent to Beirut during the
Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
where he developed his interest in the Middle East and international terrorism. After the Telegraph group was bought in 1985 by the Canadian businessman Conrad Black, Coughlin was appointed ''The Daily Telegraph''s Middle East correspondent by
Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard'' ...
, the newspaper's new editor. Coughlin opened the newspaper's bureau in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, and spent the next three years covering a multitude of stories throughout the region. In April 1986 he narrowly escaped being kidnapped by Hezbollah fighters in Beirut, the day before another British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped. In March 2009 Coughlin recalled this experience in ''My Alter Ego'', a programme for
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
. In 1989 Coughlin returned to London, where he transferred to '' The Sunday Telegraph'' and was appointed the newspaper's chief foreign correspondent. During the next few years he received several promotions, becoming Foreign Editor in 1997 and Executive Editor in 1999. The following year ''The Sunday Telegraph'' won the prestigious "newspaper of the year" award at the
British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of United Kingdom, British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The Sunday People, The People'' and ''Campaign (magazine), World's Press ...
. He has appeared as a foreign-affairs analyst on the American networks
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, ABC and
MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...
and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
. In Britain he broadcasts regularly 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. ...
...
and Sky News. In 2006 Coughlin rejoined ''The Daily Telegraph'' as the newspaper's defence and security editor after a brief spell writing for the '' Daily Mail'', and later that year was promoted to the post of executive foreign editor. He writes a weekly column, "Inside Abroad", and comments on a broad range of subjects, with a special interest in defence and security issues, the Middle East and international terrorism. He maintains a blog for the ''Telegraph''s website.


Author

Coughlin is the author of several books. His first book was ''Hostage: The Complete Story of the Lebanon Captives'' (Little, Brown 1992), which was followed by a study of the politics of modern Jerusalem, ''A Golden Basin Full of Scorpions'' which was BBC correspondent John Simpson's "book of the year" and was described as "excellent, a brilliant book" by the author A. N. Wilson. In 2002 Coughlin published a biography of
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
. The American edition, ''Saddam: King of Terror'' (ECCO) was a ''New York Times'' best-seller in 2003, and received international critical acclaim. His next book, ''American Ally: Tony Blair and the War on Terror'' (ECCO, 2006) was nominated Kirkus Reviews books of the year. In 2009 Coughlin published ''Khomeini's Ghost'' (Macmillan, London, and ECCO, New York City) a study of the life of Ayatollah Khomeini and his impact on the radicalisation of the Islamic world during the previous thirty years. Historian
Dominic Sandbrook Dominic Christopher Sandbrook (born 2 October 1974) is a British historian, author, columnist and television presenter. Early life and career Born in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, he was educated at Malvern College and studied history and French at B ...
, reviewing ''Khomeini's Ghost'' in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'', wrote: "Readers already familiar with recent Iranian history will not discover much new information in Coughlin's account, but it nevertheless makes a very readable and entertaining introduction to a nation badly misunderstood in the west. And while Coughlin makes no secret of his deep antipathy to the Iranian government, his treatment of its founder is satisfyingly nuanced". Iranian-American journalist Azadeh Moaveni, in a review for ''
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 ...
'', asserted that the book contained factual errors and misrepresentations of facts, the author having documents out of context to bolster his argument. In January 2014
Thomas Dunne Books Thomas Dunne Books was an imprint of St. Martin's Press, which is a division of Macmillan Publishers. From 1986 until April 2020, it published popular trade fiction and nonfiction. History The imprint signed David Irving, a scholar, for a Joseph ...
published Coughlin's book on ''Churchill's First War: Young Winston at War with the Afghans''. In addition Coughlin has regularly written for several other publications including ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' and ''
The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''.


Gaddafi legal case

Telegraph Newspapers apologised for a libel against
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...
in April 2002. ''The Sunday Telegraph'' had published an article by Coughlin in November 1995, then the newspaper's chief foreign correspondent (and a piece for the newspaper's Mandrake column, published during the following month, which quoted Coughlin)"Gaddafi v Telegraph Group Ltd 998EWCA Civ 1626 (28 October 1998)", Judgemental alleging that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was involved in a massive criminal operation with Iranian officials that involved counterfeit notes and money laundering in Europe based on information received by British intelligence and banking officials. ''The Sunday Telegraph'' was served with a libel writ by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The original story followed a lunch given by
Malcolm Rifkind Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from ...
, then Foreign Secretary, at which editor Charles Moore and colleagues were present, and later briefings given to Coughlin by MI6 agents who had insisted on the preservation of their anonymity. After a hearing at the Court of Appeal in October 1998, it was established that the journalists had a right to bring the story before the public under the
Qualified privilege The defence of qualified privilege permits a person in a position of authority or trust to make statements or relay or report statements that would be considered slander and libel if made by anyone else. In New Zealand and Ontario, for instance, ...
, under the Reynold's Defence rules established by an earlier case, Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd the previous July. The main court case followed in 2002, which was defended by the Telegraph Group and was eventually settled out of court without any damages being paid, and with both sides agreeing to pay their own costs. In 2002
Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is a human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.
QC made a statement on behalf of the
Telegraph Group Telegraph Media Group Limited (TMG; previously the Telegraph Group) is the proprietor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph''. It is a subsidiary of Press Holdings. David and Frederick Barclay acquired the group on 30 July 2004, af ...
stating "there was no truth in the allegation that
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Muammar al-Gaddafi ( ar, سيف الإسلام معمر القذافي; born 25 June 1972) is a Libyan political figure. He is the second son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash. He was a p ...
participated in any currency sting".


Habbush letter

In late 2003, in a front-page exclusive story, Coughlin revealed a leaked intelligence memorandum, purportedly uncovered by Iraq's interim government, which detailed a meeting between
Mohamed Atta Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta ( ; ar, محمد محمد الأمير عوض السيد عطا ; September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an Egyptian hijacker and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks in 2001 in which f ...
, one of the 11 September hijackers, and Iraqi intelligence at the time of Saddam Hussein. The memo was supposedly written by Iraqi security chief General
Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti ( ar, طاهر جليل حبوش التكريتي; born 1950) is a former Iraqi intelligence official who served under the regime of Saddam Hussein; in 2001, he was Iraq's head of intelligence and as such, informed M ...
to the president of Iraq. The report was subsequently challenged with American officials also reiterating that there was no such link. ''The Daily Telegraphs report was repeated by several conservative columnists in the United States, including
Deroy Murdock Deroy Murdock (born 1963) is an American political commentator and a contributing editor with ''National Review Online''. A native of Los Angeles, Murdock lives in New York City. A first-generation American, his parents were born in Costa Rica. ...
and
William Safire William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He w ...
.


Turkey

Coughlin alleged that the
Turkish Prime Minister The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Turkish Parliament and presided over the cab ...
, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has negotiated a deal with Iran for Tehran to make a $25 million contribution to the campaign funds of Turkey's ruling party. Immediately after the publication of the article, Turkish Government rebutted all allegations and asked the newspaper to remove Coughlin's article from its website. Justice and Development Party also demanded an apology for publishing what it called an article without any sources but with many lies in it. ''The Daily Telegraph'' lost the libel lawsuit Erdoğan filed in UK. As a result, he won "a substantial sum" in libel damages and an apology was published by the newspaper.


Views


On civil liberties of terrorist suspects

In April 2009, Coughlin wrote an article entitled "My advice to Obama: Don't pick a fight with Dick Cheney", which was published on the ''Telegraphs website. In the article, which followed claims that US forces had waterboarded an Al Qaeda suspect 183 times, Coughlin argued that: "There are always two sides to a story, even a deeply unpleasant one such as waterboarding an al-Qaeda suspect", before asking "what if, as Mr Cheney is now suggesting, these brutal interrogation methods actually produced information that saved lives by thwarting potential al-Qaeda attacks?". Coughlin suggested that the problem posed "an interesting ethical dilemma", namely: "Are interrogation methods like waterboarding justified if they save lives, or should we respect the detainees' human rights, thereby enabling the terror attacks to take place and claim innocent lives? I know which option I'd go for". Coughlin has continued to write articles supporting the use of torture, for example on 10 February 2010 "When the next bomb goes off in London, blame the judges".


On China

In March 2020, Couglin wrote a column in ''The Daily Telegraph'' accusing the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
(CCP) of being a corrupt elite that has no interest in protecting the interests of its citizens, nor those of the world beyond, desperate not to be held accountable for causing a disaster of truly catastrophic proportions. In April 2020, he wrote in another column suggesting readers should treat China like a hostile state due to the deliberate lack of transparency and cooperation that has characterized the CCP response, and its reprehensible behaviour by launching a disinformation campaign seeking to portray China as the victim, rather than being the instigator of a global health crisis.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coughlin, Con 1955 births Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford The Daily Telegraph people English male journalists English newspaper editors Living people People educated at Christ's Hospital People from Upminster