Macquarie University’s Professor Peter Greste is an award-winning broadcast journalist, academic, media freedom activist and author.
Before becoming an academic in 2018, he spent 25 years as a foreign correspondent mostly for the BBC and Al Jazeera. He began his career with the civil war in Yugoslavia and elections in South Africa as a freelance reporter in the early 90’s. In 1995 he joined the BBC as its Afghanistan correspondent and went on to cover Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
In 2011 he won a Peabody Award for a BBC documentary on Somalia. Later that year, he moved to Al Jazeera as its East Africa correspondent. In December 2013 he was covering Egypt on a short three-week assignment when he was arrested on terrorism charges. After a trial widely dismissed as a sham, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years behind bars.
In prison, he wrote a series of letters defending press freedom. Those letters established the tone of the campaign that ultimately forced the Egyptian government to free him in February the following year after 400 days behind bars. To honour his advocacy, he has won numerous domestic and international awards, including a Walkley for a ‘lifetime contribution to journalism” (Australia’s highest accolade for journalists), the British Royal Television Society’s Judges Award, and Tribeca Disruptive Innovator’s Awards all in 2015.
He has also won the International Association of Press Clubs’ Freedom of Speech Award; the Australian Human Rights Commission Medal, and the Australian Press Council’s 2018 Press Freedom award.
Peter has written about his experiences in The First Casualty, published in 2017 and now in production as a feature film. He remains an avid advocate of media freedom and journalist safety.
Talking Points
Abandon Hope: Lessons on resilience from a convicted terrorist.
How do you cope when the universe throws you a curveball? When Egyptian security agents stormed Peter Greste’s hotel room and threw him in prison on terrorism charges, he had to dig deep. This keynote explores his experience behind bars, the strategies – both political and psychological – that he used to survive and get out of prison, and the lessons he carries with him to this day. Abandon Hope: Lessons on resilience from a convicted terrorist.
Key Takeaways: The importance of integrity in dealing with crises; abandoning ‘hope’ – the counter-intuitive value of accepting and dealing with the reality we are facing rather than what we might wish for; accepting the limits of our own agency as a profoundly empowering tool; the inner strength that we all have but few recognise.
The Grey Zone: The war on journalism and why we need to protect the space for peaceful disagreement.
When journalist Peter Greste was thrown in an Egyptian prison on terrorism charges, he saw his case as part of a much longer, more insidious war on journalism that began shortly after 9/11. The “War on Terror” became a war over ideas, and the space where ideas are transmitted – the media – became part of the battlefield. Peter takes us on an extraordinary physical and historical journey through some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones and reminds us why “The Grey Zone” – that space for disagreement without violence – is so important to protect. The Grey Zone: The war on journalism and why we need to protect the space for peaceful disagreement.
Key Takeaways:
A deeper understanding of how 9/11 and the rhetoric of security has eroded civic and democratic space; an understanding of “The Grey Zone”, first discussed by Islamic State which wants to eliminate it; an insight into why this is a problem for Australia.
Video
Why a press freedom law should matter to us all | Peter Greste | TEDxUQ
There is no better reminder of the value of freedom than when it is taken away. After being arrested in Cairo and charged with terrorism offences while working as a foreign correspondent for Al Jazeera, it became clear to Professor Peter Greste that national security legislation can pose a threat to journalistic transparency and integrity. Professor Greste proposes a solution to protect the rights of journalists in Australia: a press freedom law. Professor Peter Greste is the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication at The University of Queensland. He came to academia in 2018 after 30 years as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, Reuters, and Al Jazeera in some of the world’s most volatile places, including Afghanistan, Latin American, Africa, and the Middle East. He is best known for becoming a headline himself in 2013, when he and two of his colleagues were arrested in Cairo while working for Al Jazeera, and charged with terrorism offences. In letters smuggled from prison, he described the arrests as an attack on media freedom. The letters helped launch a global campaign that eventually got them released after more than 400 days in prison, earning him numerous human rights awards. In 2017, alongside two of his colleagues, he established the advocacy group, the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom. In his talk, Peter will share his academic research investigating the impact of national security legislation on public interest journalism.THE CORRESPONDENT | Official Trailer [HD] | In Cinemas Boxing Day
While covering the news desk in Cairo for a colleague over the Christmas holidays, Australian journalist Peter Greste is arrested and accused of terrorism. He has become a pawn in the middle of a deadly game full of corrupt officials and ancient rivalries. Now the subject of his own worldwide news story, with only his wits and unlikely allies keeping him alive, Greste’s very survival means staring down a brutal regime. THE CORRESPONDENT is a gripping thriller and a compelling true story about the relentless defence of the truth and triumph of the human spirit. Starring Richard Roxburgh as Peter Greste and directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog).Peter Greste | The Changing Nature, and Challenges, of Investigative Journalism in the Age of Terrorism | The Wheeler Centre
What are the threats to press freedom in the West and around the world? How do real and anticipated acts of terrorism curtail freedom of speech? And how can we hold powerful people to account when journalists, and media institutions, are compromised? These are questions that matter to Peter Greste. After 20 years as a distinguished foreign correspondent, covering conflicts in some of the most dangerous places on the planet, Greste became a household name in Australia in 2013. He and two Al Jazeera colleagues were charged with spreading ‘false news’ and accused of helping the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Greste spent 400 days in jail. In his riveting and heavily researched new book, The First Casualty, Greste examines the issue of global press freedom in the volatile 21st Century. Drawing on his own experience of reporting, including his incarceration and trial in Egypt, Greste also looks at the nightmare of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Australia’s own metadata laws and Trump’s campaign against journalists in the US. At Kyneton Town Hall, Greste joins Rafael Epstein for a discussion of the changing nature, and challenges, of investigative journalism in the age of terrorism.Peter Greste: Full address to the National Press Club
Journalist Peter Greste, who spent 400 days in an Egyptian jail, addresses the National Press Club.
