Paul Eedle

Paul Nicholas Eedle (born 25 September 1956) is a former Reuters reporter and co-founder of the independent television production company Out There News with John West. He is considered an expert on the Middle East region.

Career

From Out There News

Growing Up 1956-78

Born in Nigeria, grew up in West Africa, went to school in Britain. Inspired by the illuminated books of William Blake (father of multimedia!). Studied Arabic and Islamic history at Cambridge Uni. Why? Arab oil states held the West to ransom in 1973 and nobody understood why. Travelled to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan and Yemen learning Arabic. Decided to become a journalist after visiting Lebanon during civil war.

Middle East Reporting 1979-84

Joined Reuters, trained in London and Brussels. Married Sue, who studied Arabic and Farsi at Cambridge. Based in: Bahrain: travelled to Saudi Arabia and Gulf states. Reported Iraq-Iran war. Lebanon: Covered Israeli invasion, Sabra-Shatila massacre, kidnappings of Westerners. War reporting in Iraq. Iran: Reported maturing of Islamic revolution and war with Iraq. Sue lived wearing veil for nine months.

Editorial Management 1984-91

Joined Visnews TV agency after Reuters bought it. Set up UK bureaux for Sky News. Invented Reuters Financial Television. Reuters News Editor, Asia in Hong Kong. Ran text/pix coverage of Tiananmen Square protests. Reuters Editor, Japan. Ran 100-strong editorial operation. Relaunched Japanese financial news service. Had holiday in Syria as Iraq invaded Kuwait. Left Asia slowly on Trans-Siberian Railway from Beijing to Ulan Bator to Moscow.

Middle East Reporting 1992-93

Reuters bureau chief in Cairo. Reported Muslim militant violence and Arab-Israeli peace process. Interviewed militants in N. Africa, Syria, Jordan, Sudan.

Editorial Management 1994-95

Ran Reuters editorial operations in N. and S. America (650 staff in 40 bureaux). Rebuilt management team and created multimedia editorial centre in Washington. Resigned to develop Internet journalism.

Multimedia Journalism 1996-2001

Started Out There News with John West to create explorable multimedia documentaries - news as Myst. Site chosen as Yahoo Pick of the Year 1997. Developed seven further projects, including weekly audio show World from the Attic and children's site, Out There Reports. Built network of 40 correspondents in 30 countries but increasingly wanted to enable people to tell their own stories without journalists getting in the way.

Middle East Reporting & TV Production

2002 Reported al-Qaeda's mastery of Internet to maximise impact of its violence. 2003 Produced Channel 4 News's coverage of Iraq war, winner of International Emmy, BAFTA and Royal Television Society awards. Reported war for Financial Times. 2004 Filmed news feature in Saudi Arabia during height of al-Qaeda violence; made documentary about London-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih. 2005 Helped to start independent Iraqi news agency, Aswat al-Iraq (Voices of Iraq). Produced series of news features from Iraq for Channel 4 News and CNN.