Mark Hirst

Mark Hirst
Mark Hirst speaking outside the Scottish Parliament.
Born Scotland
Occupation Editor-in-Chief

Mark Hirst is Bureau Chief and Editor-in-Chief of Radio Sputnik/Sputnik News UK, formerly RIA Novosti, (Rossiya Segodnya/Russia Today), Russia's largest news organisation.[1][2][3] Hirst is a former broadcast journalist[4] with STV News.[5] He has also produced and appeared in a number of independently-made documentary films.

History and career

Hirst has a BA in Communication Studies from Queen Margaret University. In 2001 Hirst was a communications officer for Orkney Islands Council. In 2003 he was appointed as press officer for the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration.

In June 2002 Hirst attended a briefing by the British Security Service (MI5) in the North of Scotland. During that briefing an intelligence Officer addressing delegates said that the IRA "had fought a just cause" and "had won a successful campaign" Sunday Herald[6] and Irish Sunday Tribune Martin Ingram, a former intelligence officer in the army’s spying arm, the Force Research Unit said: "I think what this officer is saying is an honest appraisal."[7] The Home Office refused to comment. Subsequently, it issued a DA-Notice preventing UK media from publishing details of the officer’s identity. In August 2004 Hirst was a speaker at the Damien Walsh Memorial Lecture at Queens University Belfast as part of the Féile an Phobail. The event was organised by the Victims and Survivors Trust.[8][9] Former civil rights leader and journalist Eamonn McCann gave the second part of the lecture focused on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

In 2003, Hirst produced and appeared in Histoire d'un naufrage confidentiel (The Story of a Secret Sinking) in association with Atlantic Television and France 3. At the Toulon Film Festival in 2004, a three-day maritime festival in France, it won Best 'International Documentary'. The film subsequently screened in 85 countriess. In 2005 Hirst co-founded the Lancastria Association of Scotland. In 2008 he successfully petitioned the Scottish Parliament to commission a Commemorative Lancastria Medal, which he designed.[10][11][12] In 2012 Hirst was an Associate Producer for the documentary Maritime Mysteries, Case Closed which was broadcast on TV5 Monde.[13] In 2015 Hirst directed a one-hour documentary, The Ablyazov Syndicate, examining an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud of the BTA Bank by its former Chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov.[14][15]

Hirst has contributed articles to the Scottish Left Review magazine[16][17][18] and also the Scots Independent newspaper.[19] A former reporter for Orkney Farmer magazine.,[20] Hirst has written for every newspaper in Scotland.[21][22]

References

  1. ↑ Russian Embassy Mass media in UK, "Russian mass media", May 2018
  2. ↑ RIA Novosti article, "Scottish nuke ban could lead to annexation and US sanctions", April 2014
  3. ↑ RIA Novosti article, "Scottish independence forecasts uncertain", April 2014
  4. ↑ Journalisted.com, "Mark Hirst - journalisted.com", April 2012
  5. ↑ "Disabled girl in respite battle", July 2013
  6. ↑ Extract from Sunday Herald article, "Fury as MI5 describe IRA terror as ‘just”", June 2004
  7. ↑ Sunday Herald article, "MI5 describe IRA terror as ‘just’", June 2004
  8. ↑ VAST, "Victims and Survivors Trust", August 2004
  9. ↑ Féile an Phobail official website, "The people’s festival", November 2013
  10. ↑ Lancastria Wiki, "Lancastria", July 2013
  11. ↑ Scotsman story by Mark Hirst, "Wartime loss that has been ignored too long", August 2007
  12. ↑ Scotsman newspaper story by Mark Hirst, "Recognition remains sunk without trace", April 2012
  13. ↑ Grand Angle Productions, "Martyred Ships" Archived 2014-01-13 at the Wayback Machine., November 2012
  14. ↑ The Ablyazov Syndicate, "The Ablyazov Syndicate documentary" Archived 2016-04-23 at the Wayback Machine., January 2016
  15. ↑ IMDb profile "The Ablyazov Syndicate", "Trailer - Ablyazov Syndicate documentary", January 2016
  16. ↑ Scottish Left Review, "We don't need no thought control by Mark Hirst", August 2010
  17. ↑ Scottish Left Review, "Gassing the past by Mark Hirst", May 2010
  18. ↑ Scottish Left Review, "Are we targets by Mark Hirst", May 2011
  19. ↑ Scots Independent, "Flag in the wind" Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine., July 2008
  20. ↑ Orkney Farmer Magazine, "The Orkney Farmer magazine team" Archived 2013-07-29 at the Wayback Machine. July 2013
  21. ↑ The Scotsman,"Scots shipping boss linked to previous sinkings", August 2013
  22. ↑ The Sun "Disaster skipper deadly sinking number 2", August 2013
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