https://arab.news/6bkah
- Author of “The Fixer” Amjad Tadros reflects on broadcast-journalism career spanning Saddam Hussein-era Iraq of 1990 and the pandemic of 2020
- Does not think there is “a conspiracy,” but says “being an Arab, if you report anything, you’ll be accused of being biased. ... Of course, there is bias”
RIYADH: What began as a chance entry into journalism for Amjad Tadros turned into a career lasting three decades and chronicling some of the Middle East’s most turbulent recent chapters — from Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq and the US-led invasion that toppled him, to the Syrian civil war and the COVID-19 pandemic.
After trading the fast-paced world of broadcast journalism for the quieter life of date farming, the former CBS News producer and four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist has reflected on the triumphs and trials of his career in a new book titled “The Fixer.”
Amjad Tadros survived a US missile strike in Baghdad, only to be visited by Saddam Hussein in his hospital bed. These and other interesting anecdotes are captured in his memoir of life as a CBS News producer, “The Fixer.” (Supplied)
Appearing on the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Tadros spoke of the challenges of working in some of the world’s toughest environments, shared his views on the Western media’s coverage of the Arab world and the region’s many conflicts, and recounted the start of his “accidental journey through the Middle East.”
He said: “I went and studied in the UK and I came back to Jordan in August 1990 with a mechanical engineering degree. But at that time Jordan had the financial crisis, so I finished my studies, and I did not actually graduate because Imperial College would not give me my certificate before I paid the fees.”
Tadros recalled how that setback led to an unexpected opportunity when a friend in Amman, Jordan’s capital, introduced him to CBS News in 1990.
“I just went there to try to get a job for a couple of days so I could get some money to buy a plane ticket and go back to the UK and find a job,” he told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen.
“They looked at me, … and said, ‘Do you speak English?’ I said, ‘I’m a British graduate from one of the top universities.’ So, they said, ‘OK, OK. Now, just go out and we’ll talk later.’ So, they hired me for a couple of days — and that was 33 years ago.”
From those early days as a “fixer,” organizing interviews and booking crews among other things, Tadros gradually moved to a lot more front and center. It was a transition that led to some extraordinary moments involving meeting different leaders, bringing him face to face with history.
One of his most vivid memories is from 1993, during Iraq’s commemoration of the Gulf War. While covering Saddam Hussein’s speech in Baghdad, Tadros fell asleep — only to be jolted awake by a US cruise missile strike that hit his hotel. “I was so lucky I was sleeping under the window. The window flew over me instead of (hitting me),” he said.
Injured in the leg and dressed only in a T-shirt and underwear, Tadros was taken to a hospital.
“Suddenly, the door opens and you see all these cameras and lights and guards, and Saddam walks in,” he said. “When he came, I pulled myself up and I leaned to kiss him. So, I had a kiss with Saddam, which was a defining moment in my career. Why? Because the Iraqi television took a picture of me and Saddam. And after that, every year I used to get a gift from Saddam. Every Jan. 17.”
Amjad Tadros, entrepreneur and award-winning investigative journalist, speaks with Katie Jensen on Frankly Speaking. (AN Photo)
That encounter became a turning point. “That picture of Saddam allowed me to work in Iraq uninterrupted for years because people always thought that this guy is somebody who knows the president, so leave him alone,” he said. “So, that allowed me to do all the best stories in Iraq.”
For more than a decade, Tadros covered Iraq for CBS News, witnessing its transformation from a secular Baathist regime to a society increasingly shaped by religion.
“In 1997-98, we were watching what was going on in Iraq and, at some point, the situation in Iraq became very, very difficult for ordinary people,” he said. “Saddam Hussein, at some point, realized that religion could be a good solution.”
He noted that, while perhaps unintentionally, that move may have planted the seeds of Daesh, which surfaced years later. He added: “In western Iraq … the government could see that picking up, but that (area) was the bedrock of the regime, so they did not fight it aggressively. They let it fester.”
From his ringside seat, Tadros witnessed the rise of the Iraqi insurgency and the outbreak of a sectarian war. “The Americans made every single possible mistake they could have done in Iraq. They did not realize the effect that would have,” he said.
“I could see them from day one after the American invasion. The Iranians moved into Baghdad and many other places, and they were giving money away and organizing things. And basically, and inadvertently probably, the Americans handed over Iraq to the Iranians, which was sad. And, of course, then they created their own power bases and militias and what have you. And here we have it now.”
Tadros has watched cycles of conflict and peace processes play out across the Middle East. Asked about today’s tense situations in Gaza, Israel, Iraq and Iran, he was cautious.
“I don’t see a quick solution or a solution that can be imposed from outside,” he said. “But I can see, hopefully, that at some point, some wise men will come to a realization that the only solution to what I called in the book ‘the elephant in the room,’ which is the Palestinian problem, is something that the late Jordanian King Hussein used to call a lasting peace that the future generation would accept.”
As for Iran’s influence in Iraq, Tadros believes it is waning. “I could see that it is diminishing,” he said. “The Iraqi people, at some point, want for their children the same thing as everybody else. They want good education, health, and traffic that works. They want a future, and they get fed up at some point with the politics of sectarianism and violence.”
Moving on to , Tadros recalled that “60 Minutes” provided the first Western television crew to interview Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2019. He said he was struck by the crown prince’s focus on youth and modernization.
Three years earlier, the crown prince had officially launched Vision 2030, a strategic reform plan aimed at diversifying ’s economy, reducing its dependence on oil revenues, and transforming its social and economic landscape.
Appearing on the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking,” Tadros spoke of the challenges of working in some of the world’s toughest environments. (AN Photo)
“Everybody wanted to see what this young man was up to,” Tadros said. “We were surprised about what he told us in the interview. He mentioned a few things that were groundbreaking. One of them was that the Saudi government was not responsible for the dress code of the Saudi people. He talked about the young people. The youth.
“When we were there, there was the first concert for Egyptian singer Tamer Hosny in . And the tickets were sold out in 15 minutes at the Virgin Megastore in Jeddah. So, we could see all these changes, and when women started to drive — you could see and you could see the enthusiasm with the youth.
“The young people could see that there was an opportunity coming. As I visited a few times after that, I could see the changes. Many of them are positive — the Saudis also wanted jobs. And you could see an Uber driver in who is Saudi.
“You could go to a hotel and the receptionist would be a Saudi woman, which is like you could see anywhere in the world.”
During the Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011, Tadros founded the Berlin-based news organization Syria Direct to help local reporters share their stories safely.
“At the beginning (of the conflict), foreign journalists did not go into Syria for a lot of reasons,” he said. “The regime was very picky about who was allowed in and out, and coming in through the opposition side was also very dangerous. Many journalists were kidnapped and killed.”
To cover the war, foreign news media relied on citizen journalists: ordinary people who reported news and information without formal training.
“People started reporting the story on their own,” he said. “What was lacking was that somebody had to collect all this information that was coming out through cyberspace and try to make sense of it all. And you still needed the real journalists.”
Tadros added: “We assembled a team in Amman of Syrians and foreign editors, and we started to teach them the ABCs of journalism. We collected all this information and we put it together in English, and then we translated it into Arabic.”
Over time, Syria Direct became a trusted news source. “We did not take sides,” Tadros said. “We ended up being hated by the regime and the opposition alike, which is good news.”
In Gaza, Israel has kept foreign journalists out since it launched its bombing campaign following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack. Coverage has relied heavily on Palestinian reporters, and the Western media’s reporting on the conflict has faced criticism and accusations of bias.
Palestinians move what is left of their belonging along a road near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on November 9. Tadros believes that Israel is “media savvy” and understands how to shape coverage of its war in the enclave. (AFP)
“Some of it is intentional,” Tadros said. “I don’t think there’s a conspiracy, but in the Western media, usually there’s a narrative, and usually it’s created by the big media organizations like the New York Times, the Washington Post.
“And that’s the narrative. And it is accepted, more or less, by the mainstream media.”
He added: “So, if you come and report a story that is within the narrative, you’re not going to be challenged. Nobody is going to stop you from doing a story that is out of the narrative, but then you have to expect a lot of skepticism.”
Tadros believes that Israel is “media savvy” and understands how to shape coverage.
To be certain, he said, “some of the Western journalists, they come with agendas and so on, but with time, people will see the truth. Especially now with social media.”
Regarding the Palestinian issue, Tadros said: “In my career, in 33 years I only did two stories there. Because, being an Arab, if you report anything, you’ll be accused of being biased. So, I tried to avoid getting there and that allowed me to keep my integrity intact, so to speak. Of course, there is bias.”
Asked if he felt CBS News ever censored his reporting, he said: “We were allowed to do whatever we wanted. But again, if you do a story that is not within the narrative, you have to push for it. If you do a story that’s within the narrative, it will be easy. It can just go on air no questions asked. You can do stories against the narrative, but you have to work harder.”
Turning to his memoir, “The Fixer,” Tadros said he “would love to make it into a movie at some point, or at least some parts of it, because one of the interesting stories in the book was about a guy called ‘Curveball’.”
“Curveball” was the pseudonym of an Iraqi informant whose false claims about weapons of mass destruction helped justify the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
“His story is very well documented. But what is not documented is how we found him,” Tadros said. “It took me four years, traveling to seven, eight countries to find this guy.”
Eventually, when Tadros’ team found “Curveball,” CBS News correspondent Bob Simon interviewed him in London.
Today, Tadros enjoys a slower pace back home in Jordan. “I retired after 33 years and that was like two or three years ago now,” he said.
“We have a date farm in the Jordan Valley. We produce Medjool dates. It was started by my late father. I ended up becoming a farmer, which is a much more interesting and more laid-back job, because farming is actually very fulfilling.”
Concluding the interview on a humorous note, Tadros said that since journalists nowadays often get accused of peddling fake news, “if you tell people ‘I’m a farmer,’ they respect you.”
He added: “So, now I call myself a farmer, and farming takes time for the trees to grow. There’s nothing urgent. You don’t have to keep your cellphone on at night.”