Jake Hanrahan (born 23 January 1990) is a British

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

from the East Midlands. He reports on conflict, crime and politics. His work generally focuses on

irregular warfare Irregular warfare (IW) is defined in United States joint doctrine as "a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations" and in U.S. law as "Department of Defense activities not involvin ...

organised crime Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some ...

and counter culture. Hanrahan is known for his raw on-the-ground approach to reporting, gaining access to difficult stories and embedding into dangerous communities across the world.

Career

Hanrahan started his career as a self-taught freelance journalist. His work was published in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

and

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

. In 2014 Hanrahan was hired by

VICE News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's alternative current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice Ne ...

, and later

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

. He worked as an on-screen reporter and producer, working in places such as

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. At VICE News, Hanrahan built a reputation as a journalist focussed on commonly unreported stories. He covered paramilitary factions, criminal gangs, environmental militancy, civil unrest and

dark web The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets ( overlay networks) that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communica ...

networks. Hanrahan's best known work at VICE News is his embedded documentaries reporting o
Kurdish rebel groups
He also reported on the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

, embedding with both the

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

and the separatist forces in Donetsk. Hanrahan's work covering the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK), a

Kurd Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

ish militant group, in southeast

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, landed him in prison. He was arrested in September 2015 in Turkey with his colleagues Philip Pendlebury and Mohammed Rasool, after the three embedded with the PKK's youth wing, the YDG-H, who were actively fighting the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

. Hanrahan spent two weeks in several

maximum security prison Maximum security prisons and supermax prisons are grades of high security level used by prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility wher ...

s in Turkey, including

Diyarbakır Prison Diyarbakır Prison (; ) is a prison located in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey. It was established in 1980 as an E-type prison by the Ministry of Justice. After the September 12, 1980 Turkish coup d'état, the facility was transferred to milita ...

and

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

F-type prison F-Type-Prisons, officially called F-type High Security Closed Institutions for the Execution of Sentences (''F tipi cezaevi / F Tipi Yüksek Güvenlikli Kapalı Ceza İnfaz Kurumu''), are high-security closed prisons designated by Turkish Law 5275 ...

, before being deported back to the UK. Hanrahan called on Turkey to release translator Mohammed Rasool, who remained in detention for over 100 days after Hanrahan's release. In 2017, Hanraha
left VICE News
due to differences with the new management's editorial direction. He worked again as a freelance journalist, investigating the neo-Nazi militant group

Atomwaffen Division The Atomwaffen Division (''Atomwaffen'' meaning "atomic weapons" in GermanModern standard German prefers ''Kernwaffen'' () for the concept.), also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, was an international far-right extremist and ...

. His reporting on this, as part of '' Documenting Hate,'' went on to win a duPont Award in 2020 for Frontline PBS and

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

Popular Front

In 2018 Hanrahan founded the

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

independent media Independent media refers to any media (communication), media, such as television, newspapers, or Internet-based publications free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Independence stands as a corne ...

platform ''Popular Front'', which consists of a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

and a

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. Popular Front has so far rejected all corporate investment and advertising. The company is funded solely via Patreon and merchandise sales. Popular Front has a youth audience with millions of followers across social media. In a 2022

Complex magazine Complex Networks is an American media and entertainment company for youth culture, based in New York City. It was founded as a bi-monthly magazine, ''Complex'', by fashion designer Marc Eckō. Complex Networks reports on popular and emerging tr ...

profile on Popular Front, Hanrahan was named "one of the most important voices in war and conflict reporting". Popular Front is best known for its documentary work, showing under-reported war and conflict stories across the world. Their 2020 documentary
Plastic Defence
' has amassed more than 3.5 million views on YouTube and attracted much media attention. The film shows unique access to the man who invented secret 3D printed firearms in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 2022, Hanrahan made
documentary
embedded with anti-fascist Ukrainian

football hooligans Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviors perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism typically involves ...

who'd volunteered to fight against the Russian invasion as part of the Territorial Defense Forces. This film was screened across Europe and America via various different football ultras organisations.

Projects

Hanrahan regularly releases new creative projects developed under his production studio
H11
'' Hanrahan and his team produced the hit podcast series ''Q-Clearance: The Hunt for QAnon'' in 2020 for

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

. They aimed to clarify the origins and nature of the political conspiracy theory

QAnon QAnon ( ) is a far-right conspiracy theories in United States politics, American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals kno ...

. The following year Hanrahan launched
Megacorp
', an investigative series exposing the malpractices of

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. In 2021, Hanrahan's first book
Gargoyle
' was published. It's a compilation of his written work, "collecting his on-the-ground reporting from all the wrong crowds." It sold over 3000 copies in the first months it was on sale.

References

External links

Official website
*
BBC News report about Turkey arrest

Hanrahan's verified Twitter accountPopular Front website

Popular Front's profile
The Fix Media {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanrahan, Jake 1990 births Living people British journalists British filmmakers People deported from Turkey Journalists imprisoned in Turkey