Breaking News: A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World [Hardcover]

Martin Fletcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2008

Martin Fletcher doesn’t claim to be a hero. Yet he didn’t flinch, either. During three decades covering wars, revolutions, and natural disasters, Fletcher worked his way from news agency cameraman to top network correspondent, facing down his own fears while facing up to mass killers, warlords, and murderers. With humor and elegance, Fletcher describes his growth from clueless adventurer to grizzled veteran of the world’s battlefields. His working philosophy of “Get in, get close, get out, get a drink,” put him repeatedly in harm’s way, but he never lost sight of why he did it. In a world obsessed with celebrities, leaders, and wealth, Fletcher took a different route: he focused on those left behind, those paying the price. He answers the question: Why should we care?
            These extraordinary, real-life adventure stories each examine different dilemmas facing a foreign correspondent. Can you eat the food of a warlord, who stole it from the starving? Do you listen politely to a terrorist threatening to blow up your children? Do you ask the tough questions of a Khmer Rouge killer, knowing he is your only ticket out of the Cambodian jungle? And above all, how do you stay sane faced with so much pain?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Currently NBC news bureau chief in Tel Aviv, Fletcher offers a vivid account of his 30-year career as a war correspondent in the hot spots of the globe. At age 25, Fletcher grew bored with his BBC desk job and grabbed a position as a cameraman with a video news agency. Five days after he arrived in Israel for his second assignment, Egypt and Syria invaded. With no experience under fire, Fletcher found himself dodging bullets on the front lines—and loved it. Over the following decades, wherever there was a conflict—Rhodesia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Kosovo, South Africa, the killing fields of Rwanda, the first and second intifadas—Fletcher covered the scene. While documenting his adventures, Fletcher also gives a riveting portrayal of the suffering around him and of the macho adrenaline junkies who make up his profession. Fletcher has a clear understanding of the ambiguities of his position as a purveyor of misery and death—for one story, he finds a Somali refugee near death and films her until she stops breathing. Fletcher's engagement with his own family's suffering in the Holocaust adds complexity to a narrative that is both fast-paced and moving. (Mar.)
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Review

“For decades Martin Fletcher has been the gold standard of television war correspondents, and his new book, Breaking News, does not disappoint. It is a real-life, cross-continent adventure story, told by a man who has spent his life bearing witness to the good, the bad, and the brutal. It’s a great and moving read.”
- Anderson Cooper

“Martin Fletcher has given us a stunning and memorable account of the risks, rewards, complexities, and enduring lessons of reporting from some of the most dangerous places in the world. His family’s Holocaust history frames his own eloquent insights and questions about the madness of the world that followed. I’ve known and admired Martin for more than thirty years, and this book makes me proud to call him friend and colleague.”
- Tom Brokaw

“A page-turner and a marvelous read. Martin, the ever-dashing war correspondent, cheated death so many times that he should have been hardened. Instead you meet a soulful man.”
- Connie Chung

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312371187
• ISBN-13: 978-0312371180
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Martin Fletcher's Amazing "BREAKING NEWS"!, March 7, 2008

By 

Spartan "Spartan" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking News: A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World (Hardcover)

Hanging my boots up last year after my final trip to Afghanistan was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in my life. It was done at the insistence of my daughter and my knees. I finally had to realize that I could be a liability to those around me in a war zone. With that in mind, I was quite intrigued when friends contacted me and asked if I would read and review Martin Fletcher's book, "Breaking News". Martin was starting his career with the Yom Kipper (October) War of 1973 just as I was ending my Navy Combat Camera days with the very same war. Martin's account of this war is "spot on"! I wish he had written about this many years ago when I got asked to leave a Political Science class in college for telling the professor he didn't know what he was talking about. When the professor asked me how I knew, I replied with the only answer I could give, "because I was there"! Where were you when I needed you, Martin!

"Breaking News" is a MUST READ for anyone interested in international conflicts and what it is like to cover these conflicts as a cameraman and as a broadcast journalist. In his 35 year career, Martin Fletcher has pretty much seen it all, and this book is his very personal account of what life is like in the day to day world of the Foreign Correspondent. Part of what makes this book great is that it does not focus on world leaders, and "their" stories. It focuses on the day to day struggles of the average person caught in the middle of these conflicts. It gives an excellent account of the journalistic integrity of one man working in the trenches of so many conflicts, Martin Fletcher.

I am always reluctant to give too much detail in a book review because I hate to give out "spoilers". Once again, I will just say, "READ THIS BOOK"! Martin takes us on a journey of adventure and personal growth from the October War of 1973 to the Coup in Cyprus just a year later, to the Rhodesian War that gave us what today is known as Zimbabwe. He gives an excellent account of life in Paris for news reporters and takes us to Algiers and Iran for an insider's look at the Hostage Crisis in Tehran. From there he takes us to Afghanistan and covering the Afghan/Soviet War. He gives us a very telling account of life in Israel during the first Gulf War with SCUD missiles falling in Tel Aviv.

I could go on and on about his coverage of the Middle East, Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia and numerous other places of conflict and genocide. But, once again I will simply point out that Martin's book is really about his own personal and professional growth. There is some humor here, but there is a huge amount of sorrow and pain. One does not do this kind of work for 35 years without it taking a toll on your soul.

Martin closes his book with the following: And I can only hope that Shakespeare wasn't referring to storytellers like me when he wrote "Life is but a walking shadow...it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"! Rest assured that Martin's book is anything but this! It is a glimpse into one man's continent crossing dedicated life as a Foreign Correspondent, a glimpse into hell, and hopefully an offered understanding of "conflict" on the average person, as well as what covering such conflicts does to those who report them.

Please...READ THIS BOOK "BREAKING NEWS"!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories of History-Making news from an excellent reporter, June 11, 2008

By 

Pat Nava "Patrick "The Lab Rat"" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Breaking News: A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World (Hardcover)

I couldn't put this book down, and read it in one day. Martin Fletcher takes you where most reporters won't go, or can't go. You'll read of the intense competition between the networks, and what ranks as "go" or "no-go" story; which amounts to the number of people dying or killed as being newsworthy.

Stories of fellow journalists who are killed and wounded (including his own first-person account), in attempts to bring the stories of war and its victims to our television screens. How Fletcher identifies with the suffering of the victims of war in Somalia and the "Ethnic-Cleansing" of the conflicts in Rwanda and Kosovo; with his own family's suffering in The Holocaust.

From the Arab-Israeli Wars to the present Palestinian struggle, to personal interviews with a warlord, suicide bombers and refugees (one very touching story of a young girl). There'll be stories that will make you laugh, cry, and some that will anger you. But they are all presented within a very personal and moving context that almost makes you feel as if you're right there, experiencing Fletcher's witness of history in the making. And that indeed, this is a very dangerous and evil world in which
live.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPERB!, March 24, 2008

By 

kstme (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Breaking News: A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World (Hardcover)

An amazing, POWERFUL, insight into the world of Martin Fletcher. I read the book in two sittings, four days ago, and I am still thinking about it. He tells his story in a 'mostly' chronological order, leaving me breathless at the end. It's an incredible journey and I am so thankful he took the time to tell it!