

Frederick Forsyth reveals MI6 spying past - rb2e
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-34101822

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branchless
This article doesn't have a lot of information but my first instinct is to
ask: if children are dying like flies and you are a reporter then the best way
to confirm this to the British govt, to MI6 and to everyone would be to
_report on it_.

My second thought was: I wonder in the future how many people in positions of
wealth/power will come out as having worked for GCHQ/MI6 given this seems to
be a growth "industry" in the UK.

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vidarh
He was in Nigeria for the BBC, and his Wikipedia entry has this quote about
when he asked to extend his stay to continue reporting on the war:

"I was told quite bluntly, then, 'it is not our policy to cover this war.'
This was a period when the Vietnam War was front-page headlines almost every
day, regarded broadly as an American cock-up, and this particularly British
cock-up in Nigeria was not going to be covered. I smelt news management. I
don't like news management. So I made a private vow to myself: 'you may,
gentlemen, not be covering it, but I'm going to cover it.' So I quit and flew
out there, and stayed there for most of the next two years."

So it would appear he tried.

And certainly, in that light being asked by MI6 to actually confirm the truth
seems like something he'd have welcomed under the circumstances as another way
of having the information acknowledged. And, incidentally, just the kind of
things an intelligence service _should_ be engaged in...

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branchless
I see, thanks. Good old "independent" BBC state tv. Great for wildlife
documentaries but not a trusted source of news.

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eps
Sounds like he was a recruited informant rather than a career intelligence
officer. These capacities are quite a bit different.

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tedunangst
Kind of sucks some of the fun out of being a "spy" if it just means filing a
second copy of the newspaper article you were already planning to write.

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jpatokal
Incidentally, Forsyth wrote a non-fiction book about Biafra:
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Biafra-Story-Making-
African/dp/184...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Biafra-Story-Making-
African/dp/1844155234)

Turns out special agent fiction sells a lot better.

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1457389
What happened to the other comments here?

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erokar
Deleted by MI6, obviously.

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0xFFC
off the topic , since when bbc shows ads ?( I am not regular visitor of
bbc/cnn/etc kind of news , but I thought bbc does not show ads )

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boomskats
I think they've always done it if you're not based in the UK (so if your TV
licence isn't directly funding them).

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Bulkington
From the article: Forsyth said he saw "no harm" in confirming the truth that
"children were dying like flies" in Biafra.

Yes, it's wonderful to be a journalist in a conflict zone where each side
assumes you're an agent for whichever Western power is propping up the puppet
regime/insurgency. And they have grounds for the suspicion.

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JadeNB
What is the point of this sarcasm? It's not even clear at whom it's directed:
are you suggesting that Forsyth was doing something wrong by reporting
humanitarian issues when requested to do so by his government?

