Stories from the Middle East with Journalist Jakub Szántó

The Embassy of the Czech Republic, in collaboration with Classrooms without Borders, invites you to the online talk Stories from the Middle East with Czech journalist Jakub Szántó, who spent years covering the region. He later published the book Behind the Curtain of War, which describes his eyewitness accounts from the front lines. In his talk, he will take viewers “behind the scenes” of wartime reporting. About the Journalist:

Jakub Szántó is a Czech journalist, television reporter, author and holder of several journalistic awards. From 1999, he worked as editor in the foreign newsroom of TV Nova and eventually as its director. Since 2006, he has worked for Czech Television, where he has held such positions as deputy head of the Foreign Editorial Board and editor. From 2013-2018, he was the Czech Republic’s permanent foreign correspondent for the Middle East and lived with his family in Tel Aviv. He has focused his career on the Middle East and Africa, covering much of the international crises, including the Second Palestinian Intifada, Hamas-Israel conflicts, US occupation of Iraq, Arab Spring, and Syrian civil war. He also covered the conflict in Chechnya, the Georgian-Russian war (2008), piracy in Somalia, the revolutions in Ukraine (2004 and 2014), the military coup attempt in Turkey (2016) and the civil war in Yemen (2018).

He is a laureate of the 2014 Journalist Award for the news coverage of the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the most prestigious journalist Peroutka Award in 2017. He received the Magnesia Litera Award in 2019 for his literary debut Behind the Curtain of War (Za oponou války, 2018), which describes experiences from wars, coups, and revolutions. His most recent work is From Israestina with Love: A Reporter between Two Countries (Z Izrastiny s láskou, 2020).

Szántó graduated from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Charles University and Modern History at the Central European University in Budapest. He completed his studies with a doctorate in modern history from Charles University.

CZECH EMBASSY SERIES: Through this series, the Embassy of the Czech Republic brings a broad selection of Czech artists, intellectuals and professionals connected to Jewish life, history, art and culture to engage, educate and inspire audiences in the United States and beyond. The series incorporates book talks, film screenings, lectures, musical performances, exhibitions, and more.
Photo credit: Petr Hladík