Rory Peck (13 December 1956 – 3 October 1993) was a Northern-Irish

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

war

cameraman A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not necessarily imply that a male is performing the task. ...

who was killed while covering the events of the

1993 Russian constitutional crisis In September and October 1993, a constitutional crisis arose in the Russian Federation from a conflict between the then Russian president Boris Yeltsin and the country's parliament. Yeltsin performed a self-coup, dissolving parliament and insti ...

Work

Rory Peck covered the first

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

; the wars in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, the many armed conflicts that followed the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. He was one of the founders of the independent

Frontline Television News Frontline Television News is a cooperative of freelance cameramen formed during the chaos of the Romanian Revolution in 1989. Founded by Vaughan Smith, Peter Jouvenal, Rory Peck and Nicholas della Casa. During the next 15 years they went on to ...

agency. Rory was shot and killed outside the Ostankino TV Centre in Moscow by

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

's loyalists (the Internal Troops' special forces unit Vityaz) while covering the

Russian constitutional crisis of 1993 In September and October 1993, a constitutional crisis arose in the Russian Federation from a conflict between the then Russian president Boris Yeltsin and the country's parliament. Yeltsin performed a self-coup, dissolving parliament and ins ...

. He was posthumously awarded the Order for Personal Courage by Yeltsin.

Personal life

He was born in the United States in 1956, and grew up in

County Dublin, Ireland County Dublin ( or ) is a county in Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dublin (excluding the city) was a single local government area; in th ...

. He was educated mainly in Dublin, and also briefly in Monaco and the U.S. On his father's side, the Pecks were from Glasgow, Scotland; his mother's family, the Titcombes, were from Maine and New York City. His maternal grandmother was from a French-speaking family in New Orleans of French and Spanish descent. There were journalists and many writers in his late father Julian Peck's family including Rawle Knox (foreign correspondent for ''The Observer''), Father

Ronald Knox Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an English Catholic priest, theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an ...

, E.V. Knox (editor of ''Punch''), Winifred Peck, and

Penelope Fitzgerald Penelope Mary Fitzgerald (17 December 1916 – 28 April 2000) was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 ''The Times'' listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". ''The Ob ...

. After school his first interest was ocean engineering; he started at the Florida Institute of Technology, then transferred to Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh – leaving there for travel, then military training, and eventually journalism. He was gifted in mathematics and spoke Russian, French and Persian. He had one sister, Julia, a photographer, and one brother Colin Peck – also a TV journalist, known for his coverage of the first Chechen war and for locating the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq during the US-led invasion of Iraq. Both brothers worked and filmed together in Moscow. His first marriage, in 1981, was to Jane, daughter of

Denis Alexander, 6th Earl of Caledon Earl of Caledon, of Caledon in the County of Tyrone, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for James Alexander, 1st Viscount Caledon. He was a merchant who had made an enormous fortune in India. He also represented the ...

, and they had two sons, James and Alexander. The marriage was dissolved in 1987. His second marriage, in 1991, was to Juliet Elizabeth Crawley. They had a daughter, Lettice. Juliet Peck (died 2007), with John Gunston, helped establish the Rory Peck Trust after her husband's death.

Rory Peck Trust and Rory Peck Award

The

Rory Peck Trust The Rory Peck Trust is an international NGO that supports freelance journalists and their families in crisis. Based in London, UK, it provides practical assistance and support to freelance journalists worldwide, to raise their profile, promote t ...

is a charitable trust that was set up in 1995 to administer an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

named after Rory Peck.The Rory Peck Trust
The Trust supports freelance newsgatherers and their families in times of crisis, and offers bursaries to freelancers to help them undertake Hostile Environment Training.UK Kosovo film wins Peck award
,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

The

Rory Peck Award The Rory Peck Award is an award given to freelance camera operators who have risked their lives to report on newsworthy events.

Notes

References

* Ryzhij. V.Snegiryov. 2003. .

External links

Frontline: The True Story of the British Mavericks Who Changed the Face of War Reporting
by David Loyn
The Rory Peck Trust
offers discretionary grants to the families of freelance newsgatherers killed whilst on assignment, and crisis support to freelancers who are unable to continue their work due to severe injury, disablement or imprisonment

Д. Верхотуров. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peck, Rory 1956 births 1993 deaths Deaths by firearm in Russia Journalists from Northern Ireland Journalists killed in Russia People from County Londonderry 20th-century British journalists