David Loyn
Encyclopedia
David Loyn has been a foreign correspondent since the late 1970s, mostly with the BBC
. He is an authority on Afghan history.
Loyn worked as a Radio correspondent for IRN for 8 years, and in 1987 he joined the BBC
as a TV correspondent. He is currently the BBC
’s International Development correspondent.
Loyn has frequently sought to report on the motivation of insurgent groups, including interviews with Hamas
and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon
, Maoist Naxalite
rebels in India, Kashmiri separatists, and the Kosovo Liberation Army
. He has conducted several significant exclusive interviews with the Taliban in Afghanistan
.
Loyn’s reporting career includes the following highlights:
Loyn’s first book, ‘’Frontline’’, told the story of the Frontline TV agency. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Orwell Prize
. It is currently in production as a feature film. His second book, ‘’Butcher and Bolt – 200 years of foreign engagement in Afghanistan’’, was published in 2008. (In the US the book is called ‘’In Afghanistan’’).
Butcher and Bolt was widely seen as providing insight into why the Afghan war proved a far harder fight than it had initially looked in 2001. The book drew parallels between foreign engagements in the past and today to suggest why Afghanistan was harder to hold than it was to take.
Loyn has written extensively on how international development issues are reported.
He has been a long-term advocate of better understanding of the effects of reporting violence, both on the journalists and for those on the receiving end. He is on the European board of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma. He is also a member of the Dart Society, which brings together journalists on both sides of the Atlantic. But Loyn has been an opponent of a school of journalism known as ‘Peace News’, and debated with its supporters both in public and in a widely cited academic discourse.
Loyn is on the board of the Media Standards Trust
and a trustee of the Roddy Scott
Foundation. He is on the Advisory Council of the Mcdonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life in Oxford, and is a founder member of London’s Frontline Club
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. He is an authority on Afghan history.
Loyn worked as a Radio correspondent for IRN for 8 years, and in 1987 he joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as a TV correspondent. He is currently the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
’s International Development correspondent.
Loyn has frequently sought to report on the motivation of insurgent groups, including interviews with Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Maoist Naxalite
Naxalite
The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...
rebels in India, Kashmiri separatists, and the Kosovo Liberation Army
Kosovo Liberation Army
The Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian paramilitary organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s....
. He has conducted several significant exclusive interviews with the Taliban in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
Loyn’s reporting career includes the following highlights:
- He reported extensively from Eastern Europe in the early 1980s, witnessing the birth of the Solidarity UnionSolidarity UnionSolidarity Union is a trade union in New Zealand and was founded in August 2006.The Solidarity Union seeks to organise workers in clusters in South Auckland around an area strategy building local workers councils...
in PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and interviewing Lech WałęsaLech WałęsaLech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
. - In 1984 his reports on the massacres in India which followed the death of Indira GandhiIndira GandhiIndira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
won him the Sony Award as Radio Reporter of the Year. - In 1989 Loyn reported on the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe, including the fall of the Berlin WallBerlin WallThe Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
and the revolutionRomanian Revolution of 1989The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
in RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. - In 1993 he became the first new BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
correspondent in India for more than 20 years, following Mark TullyMark TullySir William "Mark" Tully, OBE is the former Chief of Bureau, BBC, New Delhi. He worked for BBC for a period of 30 years before resigning in July 1994. He held the position of Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi for 20 years. Since 1994 he has been working as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in...
. - In 1996 Loyn and his team (Rahimullah Yusufzai, Fred Scott and Vladimir Lozinski) were the only journalists with the Taliban when they took KabulKabulKabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
. - In 1998 (with Vaughan SmithVaughan SmithDuring the 90s Smith also ran Frontline News TV, an agency set up in 1989 to represent the interests of young video journalists who wanted to push the envelope of their profession. The workings of Frontline News TV captured the imagination of a generation of young freelancers and was described by...
), he secured exclusive access to the Kosovo Liberation Army to report from behind their lines in a series of reports that won the Foreign News Award from the Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television SocietyThe Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
, the first of two awards won by Loyn that year; he was also made the RTS Journalist of the Year. - As International Development Correspondent, Loyn has reported frequently from conflict and disaster zones, particularly in AfricaAfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. - In 2006 Loyn travelled to Helmand province to interview the Taliban for a series of exclusive reports.
Loyn’s first book, ‘’Frontline’’, told the story of the Frontline TV agency. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Orwell Prize
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize used to be regarded as the pre-eminent British prize for political writing.Three prizes are awarded each year: one for a book, one for journalism and another for blogging...
. It is currently in production as a feature film. His second book, ‘’Butcher and Bolt – 200 years of foreign engagement in Afghanistan’’, was published in 2008. (In the US the book is called ‘’In Afghanistan’’).
Butcher and Bolt was widely seen as providing insight into why the Afghan war proved a far harder fight than it had initially looked in 2001. The book drew parallels between foreign engagements in the past and today to suggest why Afghanistan was harder to hold than it was to take.
Loyn has written extensively on how international development issues are reported.
He has been a long-term advocate of better understanding of the effects of reporting violence, both on the journalists and for those on the receiving end. He is on the European board of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma. He is also a member of the Dart Society, which brings together journalists on both sides of the Atlantic. But Loyn has been an opponent of a school of journalism known as ‘Peace News’, and debated with its supporters both in public and in a widely cited academic discourse.
Loyn is on the board of the Media Standards Trust
Media Standards Trust
The Media Standards Trust was formed in 2006 to address concerns of a deterioration in journalistic standards at a time when the media were becoming enormously powerful while remaining largely opaque and unaccountable...
and a trustee of the Roddy Scott
Roddy Scott
Roddy Scott was a British freelance cameraman who documented neglected conflicts in such places as Sierra Leone, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. He derived the bulk of his income from updating a guide to war and traveled widely in his freelance journalism, usually career without sponsors or...
Foundation. He is on the Advisory Council of the Mcdonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life in Oxford, and is a founder member of London’s Frontline Club
Frontline Club
The Frontline Club is a media club near London's Paddington Station. With a strong emphasis on conflict reporting, it aims to champion independent journalism, provide an effective platform from which to support diversity and professionalism in the media, promote safe practice, and encourage both...
.