Jerome Starkey

Jerome Starkey (born 1981, London) is a British war correspondent and investigative journalist. He has been a vocal critic of military efforts to censor coverage of the War in Afghanistan^[1] and claimed he was blacklisted by the military.^[2]

His work on civilian casualties in The Times^[3][4][5] was decried by Nato's International Security Assistance Force^[6][7] (ISAF) but praised by other journalists^[8] and activists.^[9]

His exposé of a Special Forces night raid, in eastern Afghanistan led the commander of the United States' Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Vice Admiral William H. McRaven, to visit the victims' family and apologize.^[10] McRaven offered to sacrifice a sheep at their door in an enactment of the ancient Pashtun ritual of Nanawatai. Jerome also worked on a successful campaign by The Independent newspaper^[11] to free student journalist Sayed Pervez Kambaksh after he was sentenced to death for blasphemy.

In 2010, Jerome was nearly killed during an embed with British troops in Helmand Province when an Improvised explosive device (IED) exploded fewer than 10 metres in front of him.^[12][13] The explosion killed Corporal David Barnsdale^[14] and injured two others. To be more accurate, whilst perfectly safe in the ICP, he witnessed the death of Dave Barnsdale and chose to report it in incredibly lurid detail to further his own career with no thought of Cpl Barnsdale's family or friends. The implication he was nearly killed is frankly offensive to all involved, but one assumes helps towards awards etc.

He won the Frontline Club award for excellence^[15] in 2010, and the Kurt Schork memorial prize in 2011.^[16][17]

References