The Correspondent

 The Correspondent

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       May 24, 2025

 

Author  Peter Greste

Distributor:      UQP
ISBN:                 9780702269141
Publisher:         University of Queensland Press
Release Date:   1 April 2025  

Website:    https://www.uqp.com.au/books/the-correspondent 

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Renowned, award-winning Latvian-Australian journalist Peter Greste made world headline news, when on 28th December 2013, he began his 400 days of incarceration in Egyptian jails. His latest memoir “The Correspondent” although updating his earlier memoir “The First Casualty” (2017), still maintains the central theme of media freedom. “The Correspondent” not only gives the reader an insight into his 400-day ordeal, but also into the world-wide erosion of freedom of the press and the legislation passed by seeming democratic countries to inhibit an independent press the right to speak and to criticise.  

Peter Greste, celebrated war correspondent, after accepting a last-minute posting in Cairo during the Arab Spring, was arrested and faced preposterous allegations of terrorism; he became a pawn in a bureaucratic system in which the concept of guilt had little to do with justice. Many journalists felt that his imprisonment was more about intimidating every other journalist working in Egypt. 

This powerful narrative is both engaging and concerning. While describing how in the claustrophobic confines of the prison (often in solitary confinement), he retained his sanity, built relationships with fellow prisoners and fought for his freedom, he also warns that his experience may discourage other reporters from seeking and reporting the truth .

Interspersed with his survival story, the author relates his front-line experiences in some of the world’s most volatile places.  This updated edition provides a first-hand insight into the challenges, in the face of terrorism, confronting Western media, since 9/11 and how this catastrophic event was the catalyst for tough government responses; how the new legislation used national security to prevent the press asking challenging questions to hold governments to account and to perform its core function in a democracy. He worries that the media will lose its moral and ethical compass.

Throughout the book, the author’s passion to continue to overturn the convictions of the many journalists around the world in prison for just doing their job is very evident.

Documentary, Non Fiction