BBC foreign correspondent Jonathan Charles says the economic crisis is, without doubt, the biggest concern currently facing the world. Mr Charles, 44, has spent much of his career reporting from the frontline, notably in Beslan, Afghanistan and, more recently, from Mumbai. But it is financial turmoil that he says is particularly alarming.
“I think it’s very severe and we are in uncharted waters,” Mr Charles, a trained economist, tells People. “It is certainly the worst recession of my lifetime. When you talk to people, you realise that the global economy has fallen off a cliff.”
Having spent 20 years at the BBC, Mr Charles acknowledges that frontline journalists have a key role to play, despite the bad press they get — something he will be talking about on Sunday at an event to raise money for Action Duchenne, a national charity funding research into a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy — a life-limiting muscle-wasting disease that primarily affects boys. The fundraiser is being organised by North London’s Mark Silverman, whose four-year-old son, Thomas, suffers from the condition.
“Anything one can do to help raise money is worthwhile,” adds Mr Charles, who has covered many of the biggest events of the past two decades.
He says there have been times where he has feared for his life: “I was broadcasting from Beslan and had to end the broadcast very quickly because we were being fired at. We dived to the ground - live on the television lunchtime news.
“There are times when it can be very dangerous but journalists have a key role to play. We live in a world where, if you don’t witness something, it hasn’t happened. In a way, we are writing the first drafts of history.”
London-based, Mr Charles is originally from Nottingham, where he is a member of Nottingham Synagogue.
