Sue Turton

AFGHANISTAN CORRESPONDENT

I joined Al Jazeera English in 2010 as the channel’s first Afghanistan Correspondent but after ten months of NATO embeds and Taliban attacks the Arab Uprisings meant a new posting in Libya.

ARAB UPRISINGS

I covered the Libyan revolution from beginning to end, including a very nervous 24 hours on an ammo-laden tugboat gun-running with the rebels into the besieged city of Misrata. Then came Syria where I went on missions with Jabhat al Nusra, the Al Qaeda affiliate, and was the only reporter to witness them capturing Taftanaz airbase in Idlib. I was travelling through Binnish in Idlib on the same day James Foley was kidnapped from that town before being handed over to ISIS. 

I also covered stories in Iraq, Lebanon, Moscow, Turkey, Ukraine, Egypt and a host of more peaceful countries.

SKY NEWS TO HARD COPY

My career began at for Sky News in the channel's first year where I got my first taste of foreign reporting at the end of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet revolution. I then became North of England Correspondent for breakfast show GMTV followed by freelance reporting for ITV and America’s Hard Copy.

CHANNEL 4 NEWS

But my career really took off at Emmy award-winning UK nightly show, Channel 4 News where I worked for twelve years with veteran anchor Jon Snow. My work there ranged from breaking news and anchoring alongside Jon to working regularly in Africa where I was the only TV reporter to cover the trial of Simon Mann and Mark Thatcher who had plotted a coup in Equatorial Guinea. In an interview with EG dictator, President Teodoro Obiang, I cheekily asked if he had threatened to eat his political opponent’s testicles.  

RTS AWARDS

I reported on the sports news beat for a number of years covering the underbelly of sports for Channel 4 News and winning RTS awards for stories on Olympic corruption and racism in South African rugby.

UNDERCOVER DOCUMENTARY

I went undercover with hidden cameras to front a Dispatches investigation into financial fraud in Indian call centres that led to charges against the culprits.

JOURNALISM IS NOT TERRORISM

In 2014 a court in Egypt convicted myself and a number of my Al Jazeera colleagues on terrorism charges. Three of them served over 400 days in an Egyptian prison as I spent the next 18 months campaigning for their release. They are now free men but the rest of us are still convicted and effectively on the run from the Egyptian authorities. 

MOVING INTO LONGFORM

After Al Jazeera I went on to work as a freelance film maker, studio anchor and correspondent. I've made documentaries in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Indonesia and Europe, fronted two hour specials on the Rise of ISIL for Al Jazeera and am still a regular presenter on 24 hour rolling news.

ACTIVISM AUTHOR

In 2017 I wrote my first book - it's about activism and is aimed at teenagers who want to make some noise: "This book can (help you) change the world"

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

I am regularly asked to give talks, lectures and media appearances about press freedom, ISIS, working on the frontline and activism.

I have moderated interviews at the Frontline Club and been a press freedom panelist at Freedom House in DC, a speaker at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Hay-on-Wye Festival and the WOW Festival in London. Other speaking engagements include lectures at the LSE, for the British Council at the Scottish Parliament and Westminster University. And I've given speeches at Speakers' House in Parliament and for Amnesty International. 

UNREPORTED WORLD

I worked as Series Editor of Channel 4’s leading foreign documentary series for two years, producing four seasons with crews sent to countries across the globe including North Korea, Nicaragua and Maritania.

DOCUMENTARIES

I’ve produced and directed films on countries as diverse as Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, France, South Korea, the Philippines and the UK.

CONSULTING

I spend a lot of my time now trying to keep journalists and TV crews safe by working for Channel 4 as a High-Risk Filming Consultant.