Luke Harding

Luke Daniel Harding (born 1968) is a British journalist working as a foreign correspondent for The Guardian. He was the correspondent of The Guardian in Russia from 2007 until, returning from a stay in the UK on 5 February 2011, he was refused re-entry to Russia and deported back the same day.[1] The Guardian said his expulsion was linked with his critical articles on Russia,[2] while Russia's foreign ministry said that an extended certificate of foreign correspondence was not obtained in time.[3] After the reversal of the decision on 9 February and the granting of a short-term visa, Harding chose not to seek a further visa extension.[2]

Luke Harding at Senate House in 2015

His 2011 book Mafia State discusses his experience in Russia and the political system under Vladimir Putin, which he describes as a mafia state.

Early life and career

Harding graduated with an International Baccalaureate diploma from UWC Atlantic College and studied English at University College, Oxford. While there he edited the student newspaper Cherwell. He worked for The Sunday Correspondent, the Evening Argus in Brighton and then the Daily Mail before joining The Guardian in 1996.

He has lived in and reported from Delhi, Berlin and Moscow and has covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.[4]

Russian expulsion

In February 2011 Harding was refused re-entry into Russia. According to Harding, this made him the first foreign journalist to be expelled from Russia since the end of the Cold War. The Guardian said his expulsion was linked with his unflattering coverage of Russia, including speculation about Vladimir Putin's wealth and Putin's knowledge of the London assassination of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.[2] The director of Index on Censorship, John Kampfner, said "The Russian government's treatment of Luke Harding is petty and vindictive, and evidence – if more was needed – of the poor state of free expression in that country."[5] Elsa Vidal, head of the European and Central Asia desk at the media freedom watchdog, was quoted in The Washington Post as saying: "This is a serious and shocking step, unprecedented since the Cold War [...] It's an attempt to force correspondents working for foreign media in Moscow to engage in self-censorship."[6]

However, on the following day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained at a press conference that no visa cancellation had taken place and the problem had been caused by the fact that Harding's visa had expired. According to Lavrov, Harding then requested an exceptional visa extension until May which was approved. Lavrov also added that Harding had previously broken the rules of his press accreditation by visiting the area of counter-terrorism operations without informing the relevant security authorities. [7]

The expulsion preceded a visit to Britain by Lavrov, which led to suggestions from Labour MP Chris Bryant that the British government might rescind Lavrov's invitation.[8] On 9 February Russia reversed the decision not to re-admit him[2] although it only granted him a short term visa. Harding chose not to seek a further visa and returned to the UK in February. Harding has said that during his time in Russia he was the subject of largely psychological harassment by the Federal Security Service, whom he alleges were unhappy at the stories he wrote.[9]

Harding's accounting of the events leading up to his failed entry into Russia and their possible justification have been called into question by numerous sources who state that Harding has aggrandised his perceived importance to the Russian state and its security services and attributes quotidian and unrelated occurrences to them. [10][11]

Allegations of Plagiarism

In 2007, The Guardian redacted part of his reporting, saying that he had used three paragraphs from the alternative magazine The eXile without crediting them.[12] Julian Assange,in a Newsweek opinion column, had accused The Guardian of "milking" Snowden's story. He accused Harding of taking credit for work by other Moscow-based journalists prior to the accusations of plagiarism by The eXile's Mark Ames and Yasha Levine, from whom he had used entire paragraphs without alteration. For this he was awarded "plagiarist of the year" by the humour magazine Private Eye in 2007. ."[13]

Julian Assange

In 2011, a book written by Harding and David Leigh was published by Vintage Books in the US and Guardian Faber in the UK.[14] WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy was made into a Hollywood film, The Fifth Estate (2013).

Edward Snowden

Main article: The Snowden Files

Harding's book on Edward Snowden, The Snowden Files (2014), received positive reviews from the The Guardian[15] and the London Review of Books,[16] and a mixed review from The Daily Telegraph's David Blair.[17]

Works

Notes

^a Published in the US as Expelled

References

  1. ↑ Luke Harding (23 September 2011). "Enemy of the state", The Guardian.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dan Sabbagh (9 February 2011). "Russia U-turns over Guardian journalist's deportation", The Guardian'.'
  3. ↑ Transcript of the Russian Foreign Minister S.Lavrov’s interview with the BBC, Moscow, February 9, 2011.
  4. ↑ Luke Harding's contributor page, theguardian.com
  5. ↑ Guardian's Moscow correspondent expelled from Russia, The Guardian
  6. ↑ Russia expels U.K. reporter Luke Harding, who covered corruption, The Washington Post
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Call to halt Russian foreign minister's visit after Guardian journalist expelled, The Guardian
  9. ↑ Luke Harding (23 September 2011). "Enemy of the state". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Assange: How 'The Guardian' Milked Edward Snowden's Story". Newsweek. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  11. ↑ "Face it, the FSB is just not that into you". www.spiked-online.com. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  12. ↑ The richer they come ...
  13. ↑ "Assange: How 'The Guardian' Milked Edward Snowden's Story". Newsweek. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  14. ↑ "Review: Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War On Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding", The Independent (Eire), 18 November 2011
  15. ↑ The Snowden Files by Luke Harding – review | Books | The Guardian
  16. ↑ Daniel Soar reviews ‘The Snowden Files’ by Luke Harding · LRB 20 February 2014 – The London Review of Books
  17. ↑ The Snowden Files by Luke Harding, review – Telegraph
  18. ↑ Deadline, The. (20 May 2013) DreamWorks' 'Fifth Estate' Release Date Shifts Month; 'Delivery Man' Moved To Nov. Deadline.com. Retrieved on 12 August 2013.
  19. ↑ Mafia State by Luke Harding – review, The Guardian
  20. ↑ guardianshorts, Libya: Murder in Benghazi and the Fall of Gaddafi

External links

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