The Line of Fire with Ramita Navai

In the series finale of The Line of Fire, Ramita interviews Sebastian Junger, the number one New York Times bestselling author, multi award-winning journalist and Oscar-nominated documentary maker. Sebastian explains how he was inspired to become a journalist while researching dangerous jobs, and what drew him to conflict reporting. When he was covering the war in Bosnia, Sebastian’s first book The Perfect Storm became an instant best-seller, and Sebastian describes how retreating from the limelight to cover the war in Sierra Leone helped him cope with the pressures of overwhelming success. Sebastian discusses life-changing experiences, including the time he spent with the famed Afghan fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud and being embedded with a platoon of US soldiers in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, then considered one of the most dangerous postings in the US military. Sebastian shares his insights about the effects of witnessing violence and the worst of human nature, and about his decision to leave war reporting after the death of his close friend and collaborator Tim Hetherington who was killed while covering the Arab Spring in Libya in 2011. Show Notes: http://www.sebastianjunger.com/@sebastianjunger@sebastianjungerofficial Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Line of Fire, Ramita continues her conversation with the award-winning Peruvian journalist and documentary maker Guillermo Galdos. In Part two Guillermo tells Ramita about his meeting with one of the world’s most notorious drug lords “La Tuta”, who was too drunk and high to interview, and about getting on the wrong side of cartel boss El Chapo’s wife. We’ll hear how a single moment coming under attack in Colombia changed Guillermo forever. Ramita and Guillermo’s conversation is interrupted by a text message Guillermo receives with some shocking news. Listener discretion is advised. Show Notes: Channel 4 News website.@GuillermoGaldos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Line of Fire, Ramita’s guest is the Peruvian journalist and BAFTA-nominated documentary maker Guillermo Galdos. Guillermo is the Latin America correspondent at Channel 4 News and is known for his work investigating drug cartels. In the first of a two-part interview, Guillermo describes how his family was forced to flee Peru, and why he gave up his safe newsroom job in London to cover conflicts in Latin America. Guillermo discusses the risks of investigating drug cartels and how he has learnt to deal with some of the world’s most dangerous men - including hitmen. He also speaks candidly about dealing with the violence around him, including the murders of many of his friends and colleagues, and how he turned to Amazonian tribes and the powerful hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca to heal his trauma. Show Notes: Channel 4 News website.@GuillermoGaldos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ramita interviews Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Africa’s most famous journalist whose work has been cited by former US President Barack Obama, calling Anas “a courageous journalist who risked his life to report the truth". Anas discusses the extraordinary lengths he takes working undercover in order to expose high-level corruption - in fact, few people know Anas’s true identity, as he lives in constant fear of being killed for his work. Anas talks about the murder of his closest partner, Ahmed Suale, following their investigation into corruption within African football. He also recounts posing as a brothel cleaner for seven months to bring down a Chinese sex mafia, and being hospitalised as a psychiatric patient while investigating a drug cartel. Anas has escaped death many times, including when villagers in Malawi mistook him for a witch doctor who had been killing locals for body parts, and having his cover blown in the Ivory Coast. Show Notes: Betraying the GameMalawi’s Human Harvest@anasglobal Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second part of Ramita’s interview with Emmy and Robert F. Kennedy award-winning Iraqi journalist and documentary producer Mais Al-Bayaa. After surviving a targeted suicide bombing, Mais recounts how she discovered she was on a militia hit list, finally prompting her to leave Iraq. She also describes why, despite fleeing her motherland, she decided to return, and how the birth of her daughter has given her the courage to continue reporting on dangerous stories. Show Notes: Undercover with the clerics: Iraq secret sex tradePBS Frontline websiteIraq’s AssassinsIraq UncoveredPBS Frontline website@maisalbayaa Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mais Al-Bayaa is an Emmy and Robert F. Kennedy award-winning Iraqi journalist and documentary producer. Mais has covered her home country and events in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In part one of this fascinating interview, Mais explains how her family were exiled by Saddam Hussein, the horrors of both Gulf wars and how she became a journalist by accident. We also hear what it was like to live on the ‘road of death’, and what happened when her father was kidnapped by a Shia militia. Show Notes: Undercover with the clerics: Iraq secret sex tradePBS Frontline websiteIraq’s AssassinsIraq UncoveredPBS Frontline website@maisalbayaa Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Sam Kiley survived an attempted execution in Iraq in 2003 when he and his team were kidnapped while reporting on the US invasion. Sam joins Ramita this week as one of Britain's most experienced and prolific war reporters - he has covered nearly every conflict in the world since 1991. In fact, it's easier to name the wars he hasn't covered than the ones he has. He's also the only journalist who's completed a full combat tour with NATO in Afghanistan, spending six months in Helmand in 2008. Sam talks about how he started in journalism with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, how he learned to cover war in Somalia and surviving being shot in Lesotho. He also discusses reporting on the horrors of the Rwandan genocide, and why it is the conflict that has most affected him. Show Notes: Desperate Glory: At War in Helmand with Britain's 16 Air Assault@kileycnn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part two: Shoaib talks about being captured by the Taliban, surviving two near executions, forming a bond with his captors, and how and why he stopped his fellow prisoners from killing their Taliban jailers. Shoaib has been covering his home country for the last 22 years. He's a former BBC World Service Kabul bureau chief who launched the acclaimed political debate program Open Jirga (a co-production between BBC Media Action and BBC World Service). Shoaib is one of the few Afghan journalists who decided to stay on after the Taliban took power in August, 2021, and he's currently the country director for BBC media action, the BBC’s international development organisation. Show Notes: My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in AfghanistanSeventh Art Productions@shoaibsharifi1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shoaib Sharifi is one of Afghanistan's greatest journalists - and has won many awards for covering his home country for the last 22 years. He's a former BBC World Service Kabul bureau chief who launched the acclaimed political debate program Open Jirga (a co-production between BBC Media Action and BBC World Service). Shoaib is one of the few Afghan journalists who decided to stay on after the Taliban took power in August, 2021, and he's currently the country director for BBC Media Action, the BBC's international development organisation. In part one of this extraordinary interview, Shoaib talks about his passion for journalism and why his facial hair stalled his career. He explains how he risked his own life to finally land a job by smuggling a camera into a former football stadium in Kabul to expose the Taliban’s public executions to the world. Shoaib also discusses the challenges and dangers of reporting the truth in his home country and why he is determined to show the true face of Afghanistan to the world. Show Notes: Shoaib’s documentary My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in AfghanistanSeventh Art Productions@shoaibsharifi1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we are joined by multi award-winning author, journalist, and war correspondent Janine di Giovanni. She tells Ramita about escaping a Chechen village as it was encircled by Russian tanks and bombed by helicopter gunships after she entered the country illegally to report on the fall of Grozny. As well as describing how she survived many terrifying situations while reporting from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Janine recounts how she became a journalist, despite not wanting to be one. In her frank and honest interview, she also speaks of finding love on the battlefield, the challenges of being a female war reporter, and being part of the first PTSD study of the effect of war on journalists. Show Notes: The Vanishing: The Twilight of Christianity in the Middle EastGhosts By Daylight: A Memoir of War and Love@janinedigi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Ramsay is Sky News’ longest serving foreign correspondent. Over the past 30 years he's covered 18 wars and has won multiple awards for his reporting, including two Emmys. Stuart has just returned from covering the war in Ukraine. In this episode of The Line of Fire, Stuart recounts the terrifying moment he was shot and wounded in an ambush by the Russian military just outside of Kyiv. Show Notes: Sky News team under heavy fire as ambushed in Ukraine. Hotspots (series) Sky on Demand.@ramsaysky Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clarissa Ward was caught in a targeted suicide bomb attack whilst working in Iraq in 2005. This week CNN’s nine-time Emmy award winning correspondent discusses how 9/11 changed the course of her career and life. From the challenges and advantages of being a female war journalist to becoming obsessed with the Syrian civil war, and the trauma of losing friends and colleagues in the field. Her story about how she found herself singing for a group of women in Syria during an airstrike is also both poignant and moving. Show Notes: On All Fronts: The Education of a JournalistTug of War@clarissaward Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What can facing death and danger teach us about humanity and the world we live in, and what wisdom can be learned from working in war zones? In this brand new series, foreign correspondent Ramita Navai, renowned for seeking the ‘story behind the story’, talks to a fellow war reporter about the life-changing moment they faced death. As guests recount jaw-dropping stories, many never told before of kidnap and danger, they explore how the experience forever altered their outlook, and what it revealed about the way the world really works - the good and the bad. Please subscribe to make sure you get the latest episodes as soon as they are released. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.