Karen Allen shares her experiences of war

By UKJournalism

Broadcast Journalism students received an introduction to war reporting by BBCís Health Correspondent and alumnus of the Department Karen Allen.

Karen was an embedded reporter during the war in Iraq and in December 2004 she spent six weeks reporting from Baghdad.

So when she came to speak to students on our Postgraduate Diploma and Masters Broadcast Journalism courses, she gave them first hand account of what itís like to be a war reporter.

Karen spoke of the daily threat to the BBCís embedded journalists during the war and told of some of the tough decisions the BBC faced when choosing whether or not to broadcast shocking images of the death and destruction that accompanies war.

Absolutely important

When asked by students if the BBC should still have a bureau in Iraq despite recent kidnappings, Karen said: "Itís absolutely important that we have someone there to dig out original stories so weíre not just getting general information that comes from the news agencies.

"Caroline Hawley (BBC's Baghdad Correspondent) can ask questions on the ground and be taken into local villages and schools to get the human perspective on things."

Another student asked how people in Baghdad reacted to the Ken Bigley story. Karen said: "For people in the UK, the brutal beheading of a man from Liverpool is a major story and evokes a lot of public emotion.

Different perspective

"But to the people of Baghdad, Ken Bigley is just one man, whereas there were scores of Iraqi children being killed every day there. They have a totally different perspective on things."

After graduating from the Postgraduate Diploma in Radio and Television Journalism here in 1990, Karen worked for BBC local radio and regional TV and as a reporter at Sky TV before taking up the post of Health Correspondent for BBC TV and radio.

Her work can now be seen and heard on programmes such as Radio 4's Today, The World at One and PM; plus BBC 1's 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock news. 

Karen has also spent time as a foreign correspondent in other parts of the Middle East and Africa, where she specialises in covering stories about AIDS.

More info:
Postgraduate Diploma Broadcast Journalism >
Masters Broadcast Journalism >

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