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Alex Crawford

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Alex Crawford
OBE
Crawford in 2019
Born
Alexandra Christine Crawford

(1962-04-15) 15 April 1962 (age 62)
Surrey, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationForeign correspondent
EmployerSky News
SpouseRichard Edmondson
Children4

Alexandra Christine Crawford, OBE (born 15 April 1962)[1] is a British journalist who currently works as a Special Correspondent for Sky News based in Turkey.[2][3][4]

Biography

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Crawford was born in Surrey in 1962 to an English-Chinese mother and a Scottish father.[5] She was brought up in Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe and educated at Cobham Hall School in Kent.[6][7][8]

Crawford first worked in journalism at the Wokingham Times, completing a National Council for the Training of Journalists newspaper course in Newcastle while working there.

She subsequently worked for the BBC and for TV-am before joining Sky News when it was launched in 1989.[9][10][7] She began working as a foreign correspondent for Sky News in 2005. Crawford has reported on the Gulf, the Middle East, the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya and more recently the Russo-Ukrainian War.[2]

She has been named Journalist of the Year on five occasions by the Royal Television Society and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcast journalism.[2][3][4] Her work has been recognized by the Foreign Press Association in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. She has also been cited by the Bayeux War Correspondents Awards for her reports from hostile environments for every year since 2007.[2]

Journalism since 2010

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Coverage of the Libyan Civil War

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Crawford covered the 2011 Libyan Civil War. She was widely praised for her live on-scene reporting of the Battle of Tripoli. She was the first TV journalist to enter Libya with the rebels.[citation needed] She travelled with a rebel convoy into the heart of Tripoli, shooting direct live footage of the rebel advances, which reached Green Square with little resistance from pro-Gaddafi forces. She wore a helmet and bulletproof vest, stating that she did not feel in any danger, but wore them as a precaution against celebratory gunfire.[11][12][13][14][15][16] She also covered the raid of Bab al-Azizia live from outside the compound, and was one of the first journalists to go inside once the raid was over.

Coverage of the Northern Mali conflict

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Crawford was active in covering the Northern Mali conflict from 15 January 2013 until the end of French military operations.[17] Her Sky News team was the first to enter Timbuktu after it was liberated by French forces.

Coverage of the Victoria Falls

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In 2015, Crawford reported that the Victoria Falls, separating the nations of Zambia and Zimbabwe, was drying up.[18] Tourism promoters and local leaders in both Zimbabwe and Zambia accused Crawford of being an alarmist and 'creating the news she reported on', by insisting on what the interviewees said in her report. Every 10 years or so, the Zambezi river which passes through the falls experiences very high or very low water levels, a fact that Crawford was accused of not including in her report.[19][20]

Coverage of the Syrian Civil War

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In April 2019, amid the Dawn of Idlib military operation, Crawford and her media team, including Sky producer Martin Vowles and two civilian activists came under fire from Syrian government forces in the contested village of Hbit in the northern Idlib Governorate. Crawford said, "we were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank". Bilal Abdul Kareem, an activist from New York, who had been acting as Crawford's guide was injured in the shelling by shrapnel and taken to Khan Shaykhun for medical treatment.[21]

Coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Crawford currently covers the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, having begun 5 March 2022.[22] On 9 March Alex Crawford interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in English, discussing the current state of the conflict.[23]

Personal life

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Crawford lives in Istanbul, Turkey, with her husband, sports journalist Richard Edmondson, and four children.[24][25][26]

Publications

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  • Colonel Gaddafi's Hat. London: Collins, 2012. ISBN 9780007467303
  • How to Survive in a War Zone. London: Collins, 2012. ISBN 9780007506972

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Birthdays", The Guardian, p. 35, 15 April 2014
  2. ^ a b c d "Alex Crawford". Sky News. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Alex Crawford, RTS Journalist of the Year, Posted to Sky News' South Africa Bureau". skypressoffice.co.uk. 27 April 2011. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. p. 9.
  5. ^ Desert Island Discs. BBC Radio 4. First broadcast 10 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Alex Crawford OBE". arts.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  7. ^ a b "HarperCollins Author Profile: Alex Crawford". harpercollins.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  8. ^ "Elders' News". Cobham Hall School. 17 January 2013. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2012. Alex Crawford (special correspondent for Sky News) was appointed an OBE for services to broadcast journalism in January 2012. In February, she was also awarded the Royal Television Society Television Journalist of the Year Award for the third straight year. This is the fourth time she has won this award.
  9. ^ "Three time RTS winner is May's alumnus of the month". National Council for the Training of Journalists. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  10. ^ "Alex Crawford OBE". arts.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  11. ^ Foster, Patrick (22 August 2011). "Libya coverage: Sky's Alex Crawford scoops her rivals". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  12. ^ Hickman, Leo (22 August 2011). "Alex Crawford is our new journalistic hero". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  13. ^ Hough, Andrew (22 August 2011). "Libya: Sky News reporter Alex Crawford praised for dramatic Tripoli reporting". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  14. ^ Erik Wemple (22 August 2011). "Alex Crawford explains her safety gear". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  15. ^ Jesse Emspak (22 August 2011). "Laptop, cigarette lighter aid reporter in Libya". news.discovery.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  16. ^ Alex Farber (22 August 2011). "Sky News' Alex Crawford praised for Libyan reports". broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2012.(subscription required)
  17. ^ "Mali Conflict: France Recaptures Diabaly". news.sky.com. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  18. ^ "Climate change: Sight of Victoria Falls cut to a trickle is heartbreaking".
  19. ^ "Zambia: Sky News is spreading "absurd" news over dry Vic Falls -Peter Jones".
  20. ^ "Victoria Falls drying up: Where is the alarmist journalist hiding now?".
  21. ^ "Sky journalist and crew deliberately shot at by Syrian government". The Guardian. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023.
  22. ^ Ukraine Invasion: Civilians narrowly escape shelling in residential areas, retrieved 10 March 2022
  23. ^ War in Ukraine: President Zelenskyy warns 'millions could die' unless the West intervenes, retrieved 10 March 2022
  24. ^ McGrath, JA (13 December 2005). "Edmonson's absence will be keenly felt". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  25. ^ Edmondson, Richard (29 August 2011). "Richard Edmondson: Nothing angers my wife more than sexists who question her career". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  26. ^ Tyzack, Anna (1 December 2011). "My Perfect Weekend: Alex Crawford". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
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