Risk and Redemption : Surviving the Network News Wars

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Arthur Kent developed a passion for news at an early age. After honing his skills at television stations in his native Canada, he shifted his attention to foreign stories, working as an independent reporter in conflict zones from Afghanistan to Tiananmen Square. Whatever the assignment -- the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the aftermath of the Armenian earthquake, the conflict in the Middle East -- Kent did what good foreign correspondents around the globe do: he took personal and professional risks to bring international news to viewers back home. For Kent, the risks paid off: he was named Rome correspondent for NBC in 1989, and won back-to-back Emmy Awards for his part in the network's coverage of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing and the anti-Ceausescu uprising in Bucharest.

It was pure chance that Kent was standing on a rooftop in Saudi Arabia during the opening hours of the Gulf War, enabling him to report the first-ever live news coverage of missile versus anti-missile warfare for NBC. But the intensive international exposure the so-called SCUD-Stud received in the Persian Gulf led him not only to a post with "Dateline NBC," but also to one of the most harrowing conflicts of his journalistic life.

Journalist Arthur Kent has made a specialty of solo filming expeditions to zones of conflict such as Afghanistan and Bosnia. He has also covered major breaking stories around the world as part of large network news teams. Kent gained worldwide attention in 1991 for his live satellite broadcasts during the Persian Gulf War, and was later host for two seasons of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's respected documentary series "Man Alive." His award-winning independent films, A View of Bosnia (1993) and Return to Afghanistan (1995), have been recognized by film festivals as well as human-rights groups in Canada and the United States. Kent now heads his own production company, Fast Forward Films Limited of London.