The old spies network
The worlds of spies and reporters have long mixed, as demonstrated by James Bond author Ian Fleming, shown here with a revolver:
- James Bond author Ian Fleming was a sub-editor and reporter for Reuters. He was sent on a special assignment for the Times to Moscow in 1939 – and was found in bed with a Russian woman (who turned out to be a spy)
- That year, the Director of Naval Intelligence recruited Fleming as his assistant.
- After the war, Fleming was taken on by the Sunday Times. In 1959, he wrote a ‘thrilling cities’ series – the 13 places all made appearances in Bond books.
Intelligence services manipulate the press
- Recruiting journalists to spy, or for spies to go under journalistic 'cover'.
- Farzad Bazoft of the Observer was killed by Saddam Hussein for espionage.
- Double agent Kim Philby was sent to Beirut by British intelligence as a correspondent for the Times, the Economist and the Observer
- Two 1994 Spectator articles under the byline 'Kenneth Roberts' were written by MI6 officer Keith Robert Craig.
- I/Ops (Information Operations) or ‘black propaganda’ stories given to journalists:
- 1976 News of the World splash, 'Russian Sub in IRA plot sensation'.
- In 1990, a Sunday Telegraph story about the son of Col Gadafy of Libya being linked to currency counterfeiting was given to the reporter by MI6
The next page explores the difference a scoop makes ...
