{"id":1912,"date":"2026-07-30T11:56:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/?post_type=museum_staff&p=1912"},"modified":"2026-07-30T12:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T12:01:38","slug":"vaughan-smith","status":"publish","type":"museum_staff","link":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/museum-staff\/vaughan-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaughan Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vaughan Smith is a freelance cameraman who was shot while filming the Prekaz massacre in 1998. The bullet struck his mobile phone and was lodged in the device, thereby saving his life. He organised and filmed the first unmasked interview with a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Fehmi Lladrovci. He filmed the Obria massacre and filmed British paratroopers arriving in Kosovo by helicopter during the NATO intervention after having snuck into Kosovo from Macedonia on foot. <\/span><\/p>\n

Vaughan was on his way to the airport with them to face the Russians when they were asked to turn back by British General Sir Mike Jackson. Vaughan is a pioneer in news reporting and founded the Frontline Club in London in 2003 as a social enterprise to support independent journalism and promote a better understanding of international news and reporting. <\/span><\/p>\n

During the 1990s, Vaughan worked as a freelance cameraman and video news journalist, covering wars and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo and elsewhere. During that time, he founded and ran Frontline News Television, an agency set up to represent the interests of young journalists who wanted to expand the boundaries of their profession. During those turbulent years, which began with the fall of Communism and lasted until the 9\/11 attacks, Frontline\u2019s freelancers captured some of the world\u2019s best footage of conflict. <\/span><\/p>\n

Vaughan himself filmed the only uncensored footage of the Gulf War in 1991, after sneaking into an active unit while disguised as a British Army officer. Frontline Television News captured the imagination of an entire generation of young independent journalists. This story was recently detailed in the book \u201cFrontline: The True Story of the British Rebels Who Changed the Face of War Journalism,\u201d by David Loyn, BBC. <\/span><\/p>\n

Frontline journalists took great risks, and eight members and former members were killed in the field. The Frontline Club is dedicated to their memory. Vaughan himself was shot twice but escaped with only minor injuries. As a freelance cameraman, Vaughan has won 28 news awards, both individually and as part of a team. Many of them for \u201cThe Valley,\u201d a film Vaughan produced about the Kosovo War, which remains one of the most highly regarded documentaries shown on Channel 4 in the\u00a0 United Kingdom. <\/span><\/p>\n

During Vaughan\u2019s time as a freelancer, he worked for many of the world\u2019s leading television stations and became a leading advocate for freelance journalists operating in war zones. Before founding Frontline, Vaughan was a Captain in the Grenadier Guards of the British Army, serving in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Germany. He was captain of the British Army rifle team and won the Army Rifle Championship. <\/span><\/p>\n

Vaughan is the elected Chair of the Frontline Freelancers Register, FFR, a unique body with over 1,500 registered members that promotes responsible and safe journalism and represents freelancers and local journalists worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vaughan Smith is a freelance cameraman who was shot while filming the Prekaz massacre in 1998. The bullet struck his mobile phone and was lodged in the device, thereby saving his life. He organised and filmed the first unmasked interview with a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Fehmi Lladrovci. He filmed the Obria massacre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1919,"template":"","staff_type":[69],"class_list":["post-1912","museum_staff","type-museum_staff","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","staff_type-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/museum_staff\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/museum_staff"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/museum_staff"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/museum_staff\/1912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1914,"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/museum_staff\/1912\/revisions\/1914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"staff_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reportinghouse.k-clients.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_type?post=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}