William Howard Russell the first special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian John Black Atkins. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/the-special-correspondent/?_r=0' http://spartacus-educational.com/Jrussell.htm' William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell (28 March 1820, Tallaght, County Dublin, Ireland – 11 February 1907, London, England) was an Irish reporter with "The Times", and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Siege of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade. He later covered events during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the American Civil War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War. As a young reporter, Russell reported
War photography government at the start of the Crimean War. In March 1854 Gilbert Elliott was commissioned to photograph views of the Russian fortifications along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Roger Fenton was the first official war photographer and the first to attempt a systematic coverage of war for the benefit of the public. Hired by Thomas Agnew, he landed at Balaclava in 1854. His photographs were probably intended to offset the general aversion of the British people to the war's unpopularity, and to counteract the occasionally critical reporting of correspondent William Howard Russell of "The Times." The photos were converted