Robin Lloyd will present his talk “Covering Warfare; Witnessing Change: A news reporter looks back” at the Rockland Public Library on Thursday, October 5 at 6:30 pm. This event is free and open to all.

The talk will focus on what it was like to cover social upheaval and civil wars in the 80s and 90s. He will shed some light on how news is covered in difficult situations by referencing his past experiences around the world. In the 1980s and 1990s he was sent to many of the so-called hot spots of the world. Unlike a newspaper reporter, a television correspondent draws more attention and thus more scrutiny. And one of the first things he learned as a foreign reporter parachuting into a crisis zone is that the government probably views you as an enemy. In war situations, you are frequently fired on by both sides. Paradoxically at the same time you are viewed as someone important who can help sway foreign opinion. Because of that, you are always in danger of being manipulated. He will talk about those dangers as he experienced them in different crisis spots. He will also talk about how social upheaval can be a precursor to change. It can also lead to further repression. In either case, the foreign reporter has to measure the risks and find ways to tell the story.        

Robin Lloyd is a journalist/novelist currently working on his second book. A veteran correspondent for NBC News for nearly fifteen years, he filed reports from more than thirty countries, mostly in Latin America and Africa. He covered numerous wars and conflicts including the Iraq war, the Israeli intifada, the Falklands War, the guerrilla wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, the war in Northern Ireland, the Mozambican Civil War, and the struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Lloyd also covered the White House and the State Department during the Reagan and Bush administrations. Lloyd has been involved in television journalism for more than forty years, working on camera as both a news reporter on the local and national level as well as a producer and writer off camera. As an independent news producer, he created and produced news programs with foreign networks and has written documentaries and longer news segments for many outlets, including Maryland Public Television. Among his awards are four Emmys from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay region and an award from the Overseas Press Club.  He has a home in Camden, Maine and has been coming to Maine with his family since the early 80s.

This presentation is hosted by the Rockland Public Library and offered as a free community event in in anticipation of the 31st Annual Camden Conference –New World Disorder and America’s Future, February 16-18, 2018.