Malcolm Brabant

Brabant was born in 1955 in Willesden,{{cite web |url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=agfVjoPeQHphT1T7MjkPvg&scan=1 |title=FreeBMD Entry Info |publisher=FreeBMD |website=Freebmd.org.uk |accessdate=2 January 2012}} in the London borough of Brent, and raised in and around the large town of Ipswich in Suffolk in the East of England.

Brabant was educated at Northgate Grammar School for Boys (now part of Northgate High School), a former state grammar school in Ipswich, from 1966 to 1973.

Brabant started his journalistic career at the Ipswich Press Agency with Terry Lloyd. He began broadcasting at Radio Orwell in Ipswich, and moved on to Independent Radio News in London from 1978 to 1982. His first television job was at About Anglia. He subsequently worked for Central TV in Nottingham, Thames Television and BBC Radio Four's Today programme. In 1989 he went freelance as the BBC's Athens correspondent. Working as a "Stringer" – a journalist paid by the news organisations on a per-piece basis – for 22 years he reported from various overseas territories and on numerous news stories, including Sarajevo, Montserrat,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/despatches/americas/22837.stm |title=Despatches: Americas – Montserrat |last=Brabant |first=Malcolm |work=BBC News |date=5 November 1997 |accessdate=2 January 2012}} Denmark,{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7964494.stm |title=Danish cartoonist remains defiant |last=Brabant |first=Malcolm |work=BBC News |date=5 April 2009 |accessdate=2 January 2012}} Greece, the United States{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1102806.stm |last=Brabant |first=Malcolm |date=5 January 2001 |title=Bush's brother to face vote inquiry |work=BBC News |accessdate=2 January 2012}} and the Middle East.{{cite news |last=Brabant |first=Malcolm |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10615479.stm |title=Israel warships monitoring Gaza-bound Libyan aid ship |work=BBC News |date=14 July 2010 |accessdate=3 April 2011}}

In 2008 following a BBC corporation wide review led by Mark Byford, BBC News introduced new money-savings contracts. Previously, BBC News had bought all material from their contract freelance journalists, in whatever form: written; sound recorded; television media; editorial. Under the new contract, it was proposed that the BBC would only buy the required pieces, while restricting contracted freelancers solely to working for BBC News.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2008/sep/11/international |title=BBC freelances across the world protest at new contracts and pay cuts |author-link=Roy Greenslade |first=Roy |last=Greenslade |newspaper=The Guardian |date=11 September 2008 |accessdate=2 January 2012}} Brabant led the orchestrated opposition, which resulted in him and other freelance journalists being allowed to sell the non-required pieces to other news organisations. Hence in 2009, after BBC News bought Brabant's written follow-up piece on the Danish cartoon controversy for their website, Brabant sold the visual recording to other news organisations. Other freelance journalists later commented that Brabant had single-handedly saved British freelance journalism.{{cite web |url=http://roomyverse.com/?p=3809 |title=The King of the Stringers |website=roomyverse.com |date=15 April 2009 |accessdate=2 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227011935/http://roomyverse.com:80/?p=3809 |archive-date=2011-12-27}}

Brabant also worked for UNICEF, providing bespoke news reports on key issues which the organisation could use to highlight defined issues.{{cite web |url=https://www.unicef.org/pakistan_57621.html |title=Children and families face increasing challenges in aftermath of 2010 Pakistan floods |last=Brabant |first=Malcolm |publisher=UNICEF |website=www.unicef.org |date=7 February 2011 |accessdate=2 January 2012}}

Brabant can currently be seen regularly on PBS NewsHour, where, as a special correspondent, he reports from Europe on the Syrian refugee crisis and other events.

On 27 December 2016, PBS NewsHour broadcast a segment by Brabant titled "Water to Power", in which Brabant appeared to take seriously fantastic claims by Greek inventor Petros Zografos. Hari Sreenivasan introduced the segment by saying, "Imagine a mini power supply in your house or car that made it possible for you to be off the grid. What if that source of energy was totally clean and powered by simple tap water? Well, a Greek scientist claims to have created a machine that converts water into power. As part of our occasional innovation series, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant traveled to the inventor's island home."{{cite web |url=http://www.off-grid.net/power-tap-water/ |title=Power from Tap Water |date=28 December 2016 |access-date=2016-12-28}}

Quickly after the broadcast, at the PBS NewsHour page streaming the episode, scores of viewers left comments harshly critical of the segment's journalistic integrity and alleged lack of scientific sophistication.{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pbs-newshour-full-episode-dec-27-2016 |title=Full Program: PBS NewsHour full episode Dec. 27, 2016}} On December 28 2016, the segment was removed from the “Full Program” streaming page with the explanation, “NOTE: The story about a Greek inventor and clean energy has been removed temporarily while it is being further reviewed by our staff.”{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pbs-newshour-full-episode-dec-28-2016 |title=Full Program: PBS NewsHour full episode Dec 28, 2016}} A full transcript and full streaming segment{{cite web |url=http://www.hellagen.gr/2016/12/pbs-news-hour.html |title=Ο Πέτρος Ζωγράφος και η εφεύρεση στο PBS NewsHour |access-date=2016-12-28}}{{cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoiaQEnPQ9Y |title=Could this water molecule splitting gadget power the world? |access-date=2016-12-28}} could still be found elsewhere on the Web.

At the end of the 28 December 2016 episode, Sreenivasan made a statement on the situation, saying, “the NewsHour acknowledges that our reporting of this segment should have been more skeptical….We are examining each step in our process, and we apologize to our audience for the lapses in this report.” Further controversy ensued as some commenters accused NewsHour of "censoring" the segment and practicing "blackout tactics" to squelch "divergent science." PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler in a blog titled "How Do You Say 'Oy Vey' in Greek?" said the incident was "painful to describe," and that "what happened last night will undoubtedly provide fodder for those who use the term 'fake news' these days to tarnish a news program that does not engage in such things."{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/blogs/ombudsman/2016/12/28/how-do-you-say-oy-vey-in-greek/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102174846/http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/blogs/ombudsman/2016/12/28/how-do-you-say-oy-vey-in-greek |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 January 2017 |title=Michael Getler, "How Do You Say 'Oy Vey' in Greek? |website=PBS |access-date=Dec 28, 2016}} Malcolm Brabant has not commented on his role in the story and has neither defended nor disavowed its journalistic integrity.

In 2011, Brabant became seriously ill following a routine inoculation against yellow fever.{{cite news |first=Glenda |last=Cooper |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/10076221/Malcolm-Brabant-I-suffered-psychosis-after-a-routine-injection.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608033307/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/10076221/Malcolm-Brabant-I-suffered-psychosis-after-a-routine-injection.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 June 2013 |title=Malcolm Brabant: 'I suffered psychosis after a routine injection' |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=25 May 2013}} Asked to report from Ivory Coast by UNICEF, Brabant was administered the yellow fever vaccine Stamaril made by Sanofi Pasteur in April 2011, at the Vaccination Centre East Attica in Pallini, Athens.{{cite news |url=http://www.neoskosmos.com/news/en/veteran-bbc-journalist-takes-on-pharmacuetical-giant |title=Veteran BBC journalist's family takes on pharmaceutical titan |first=Joanne |last=Lock |newspaper=Neos Kosmos |date=3 December 2011 |accessdate=2 January 2012}} An adverse reaction led to three psychotic episodes, during which Brabant spent more than three months in the intensive care units of psychiatric hospitals in three countries.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2011/nov/16/bbc-greece |title=Why Brabant of the BBC has been off the air more than on |author-link=Roy Greenslade |first=Roy |last=Greenslade |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 November 2011 |accessdate=1 January 2012}} He was replaced for a time by the BBC's then-Balkans Correspondent, Mark Lowen, but eventually recovered and resumed his work for PBS.

In 2015 Brabant wrote a book entitled Malcolm is a Little Unwell about his illness and the profound effect it had on his career and family life.{{cite news |last1=Stanford |first1=Peter |title=How a jab plunged my life into madness |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/11439622/How-a-jab-plunged-my-life-into-madness.html |newspaper=The Telegraph |accessdate=22 October 2019 |date=28 February 2015}} The book was made into a documentary film in 2018 and included original footage shot by Brabant and his wife during his psychosis.{{cite news |last1=Macdonald |first1=Victoria |title=War correspondent Malcolm Brabant's mental health decline captured in new documentary |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/war-correspondent-malcolm-brabants-mental-health-decline-captured-in-new-documentary |work=Channel 4 |accessdate=22 October 2019 |date=27 October 2018}}

Brabant met the Danish journalist and author Trine Villemann in Sarajevo. The couple married, and have a son Lukas (Luki). The family were based in Athens for 16 years until mid-2011.

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Category:1955 births

Category:Living people

Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists

Category:British expatriates in Greece

Category:People from Willesden

Category:Mass media people from Ipswich

Category:British male journalists

Category:People educated at Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich

Category:PBS people