Londonstani

Founder of Valent Projects

Former Reuters and BBC journalist

The Whole Story

My career started with Reuters and the BBC, who had me covering wars and political upheavals in Africa and the Middle East. I got to work on some of the most important stories of the day, including; the war in Iraq, ethnic cleansing in Sudan and the political and economic crises that eventually led to the Arab Spring.

After 10 years, I decided I wanted to get involved in helping fix problems rather than just telling people about them. During the Arab Spring, I worked with activists trying to build democratic governments. I also helped the government in Iraqi Kurdistan deal with ISIS propaganda when the group captured swathes of the country in 2014. These experiences gave me a really close up view of how media and communications was being manipulated by malign actors. As the word "Disinformation", came to be used to describe this new phenomenon, I was asked to write one of first reports on the methods and tactics being used.

When I moved back to the UK, I noticed that the activities I had seen abroad were starting to be used in political and financial contexts at home.