Live from Tbilisi

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Branko Brkic founded Daily Maverick, a South African digital news outlet, in 2009. Today he calls himself the publication’s “maverick in chief.” But his real focus is on a campaign to help journalism save itself from the political and economic dangers looming everywhere. “Multiple threats are hurdling our way, and each of them on their own could be the Chicxulub crater to our dinosaur class,” Brkic wrote last year, in an essay for the British Journalism Review. Or, as he put it last week at the Zeg Storytelling Festival, in Tbilisi, Georgia, “This is not about saving democracy, this about saving our civilization.” 

Brkic was one of three guests with whom I spoke for a special series of The Kicker recorded live at ZegFest, an eclectic three-day conference put on in part by the people behind Coda Story, a journalism studio that covers the roots of global crises, with a focus on how authoritarians use media and information to amass power. Presentations ranged from a panel discussion on how nostalgia is weaponized in places such as Haiti and the Philippines, to a masterclass by the New Yorker photographer Platon, to a live storytelling event featuring a Pakistani Elvis impersonator. 

My podcast conversations—featuring Brkic, the Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, and the CNN correspondent turned humanitarian Arwa Damon—will appear here over the course of this week.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad on American Misadventures in the Middle East

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is an award-winning Iraqi journalist for The Guardian and the author of A Stranger in Your Own City, a reported memoir of his life as an architect turned journalist during the American war in Iraq.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Abdul-Ahad shares his journey to becoming a reporter, what he was surprised to learn about his own country, and how he approaches depicting the intimate lives of the people caught up in war—from innocent bystanders to murderous warlords.

Read more:
*Ghaith’s book: A Stranger in Your Own City 
*Mustafa’s story: “The Reluctant Collaborator: Surviving Syria’s Brutal Civil War and Its Aftermath”
*Ghaith’s collected reporting for The Guardian

Audio producer: Levan Kurtskhalia
Audio recorder and editor: Zura Patsia
Produced by: Amanda Darrach
Hosted by: Josh Hersh

Arwa Damon on Leaving CNN and Telling Stories from Gaza

For nearly twenty years, Arwa Damon worked as a journalist covering conflict zones across the Middle East. For much of that time, she was a correspondent for CNN. 

But in 2015, amid the unending horrors of the Syrian civil war, Damon had enough. She left the network and founded Inara, a charity that helps provide treatment to children facing some of the most difficult to treat conditions. Her new role has allowed her access to people and places she wouldn’t have seen as a journalist, including four visits to Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Damon joins The Kicker to talk about the transition from journalism to humanitarianism—why she reached her limit as a reporter, and how doing aid work draws on many of the same skills. 

Read more:
*Learn about Inara, Damon’s charity
*Seize the Summit: Damon’s recent documentary about four young survivors of war attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Audio recorder and editor: Zura Patsia
Produced by: Amanda Darrach
Hosted by: Josh Hersh

Branko Brkic Wants Journalists to Wake Up

Last year, Branko Brkic, the founder of the Daily Maverick, a South African news outlet, left his day job to launch an advocacy campaign in defense of journalism called Project Kontinuum.

In this conversation, Brkic speaks about the admittedly “bleak” picture that he paints, and why news outlets have to stop being merely reactive if they want to survive.

Read more:
*Brkic’s 2024 “Call to Arms” for journalism
*Brkic’s farewell editorial to readers of Daily Maverick
*Daily Maverick reflects on the revelations of its #GuptaLeaks project

Audio producer: Levan Kurtskhalia
Audio recorder and editor: Zura Patsia
Produced by: Amanda Darrach
Hosted by: Josh Hersh

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