Graphics by Layla Baxman

Alec Russell, the Editor of the FT Weekend, formerly had an extraordinary career as a long-serving foreign correspondent: reporting from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the US and Eastern Europe. Whilst still only in his twenties, Russell covered the Siege of Dubrovnik (1 October 1991 – 31 May 1992) during the Croatian War of Independence. He also spent five years in South Africa as the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent.

Russell has written four books books: including Prejudice and Plum Brandy, about his time in the Balkans; Big Men, Little People, a reflection on his time in South Africa in the mid 90s; and After Mandela, about South Africa under Mbeki. In 2008 he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and for British foreign correspondent of the year.

In written Q&A form, Russell admits to his lack of student journalism, shares his worst career moments, and offers life advice.

What do you remember from student journalism?

‘Pitifully I did no student journalism at all. I was rather in awe of those who did. I suppose it does mean there are no pieces with my byline in the Isis or Cherwell archives that have not aged well…’

How has journalism changed in the time you’ve been involved in it?

‘Everything has changed. I filed my first pieces as a freelance foreign correspondent in Romania by telex machine and had to queue sometimes for six or seven hours to get a phone line. Now communications have of course been revolutionised and so too the ways we can tell stories. And yet equally… nothing has changed. Whatever the platform, journalism is still about uncovering awkward truths, corroborating what sources tell you and then writing or broadcasting your story in as compelling a way as possible.’

What’s it like writing for a national newspaper?

‘It’s the greatest privilege. I still pinch myself sometimes that I am paid to do what I do. One of the greatest challenges though for journalists is to remember amid the madness of meeting deadlines that what you do has impact. Words matter. Accuracy matters more than anything. ‘

What has been your biggest scoop?

‘The biggest story I covered was the siege of Dubrovnik in the Yugoslav wars of the early 90s. I was trapped in the coastal city for nearly a month when it was under bombardment. Apparently my front page stories were read out to the furious generals of the Yugoslav forces who were laying siege.

My biggest scoop at the FT was a story of how China was making a massive investment in South Africa. I stumbled on the story rather like the character William Boot in Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop. I was reminded that even when times are quiet you should keep talking to people.’

What’s been your worst journalism moment?

‘I have a first equal…..      

As a young foreign correspondent I was in the Johannesburg bureau of the Daily Telegraph one afternoon in early 1994 and the fax machine hummed into life. I received a fax from the editor which started with the words “your report from South Africa in this morning’s paper has caused me considerable embarrassment…”  I had made a factual mistake in a piece I had written on a subject which was close to the heart of the Telegraph’s owner Conrad Black. To be fair on my editor, all he wanted was for me to be accurate. He later told me that he would and could back me all the way against any complainant, however powerful, but as long as I was accurate… It was an important lesson. That night though I thought my career was over.

I still all but have nightmares about was when I was the FT’s news editor and we published an incorrect splash on the front page. It was utterly wrong and I realised just after we went to press…  ‘

What’s preoccupying you the most at the moment?

‘How to keep the focus on Ukraine. It’s so easy for us all to become inured to news that a town we had never heard of a few months ago is being bombarded. This is the most important story in Europe in decades, certainly since the end of the Cold War. We have to keep it in the headlines, however engrossing and distracting our own national politics and economics may be.’

What skill does journalism consistently demand of you?

‘Go with your instincts. You will always regret it when you don’t.’

One piece of advice: journalism-specific or generic-life.

‘The real test of a career in journalism is not just the stories you broke – but the stories you decided not to write.’