There is a mythology attached to war reporters to which war reporters themselves are not immune. Photograph: Ivor Prickett/The Sunday Times/HO/EPA

Marie Colvin covering the Egyptian uprising in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, in 2011. It seems to me that with this nexus of corrupt governments and organised crime that investigative journalists are under more threat now than at any time in my career. One in Malta, one in Slovakia and one in Bulgaria, and most recently Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist. I mean, three investigative reporters murdered within the European Union this year. If you look at what’s happening now, the people under greatest threat are investigative reporters.

I think Marie’s killing and the kidnap of James Foley marked a watershed when it became unacceptably dangerous for many editors to send reporters into those situations. Are reporters under greater threat now than ever before?ĭefinitely.

It seems Colvin was targeted by the Assad regime and recently we’ve seen a number of prominent journalists killed or imprisoned. I’m glad that I have a more stable personal life than she did, because it caused her so much pain. Then I also think I don’t envy her because, you know, the title In Extremis, is about how she lived her own life in extremis, as well as the people she reported on. And I’m very envious of her for being able to be that brave and be so determined. I always feel outclassed by her in the sense that she was much braver than I am. Marie took a lot more risks than I did and if one puts it crudely that’s why I’m alive and she isn’t. Well, it made me think that it was a very good thing that I destroyed my teenage diaries. Has writing the book made you rethink your own ideas about war reporting and being a reporter? But then there were other moments: I would read stuff in her diary from later on and I’d find myself wanting to ring her and say: “Marie, what really happened?” And then I’d remember: “Oh gosh, I can’t ring her.” The mother and the father no like.” In that moment I thought, I know the woman that girl became. For example, there was a great bit in the diary in which as a 13-year-old girl she writes about having to go to Mass with her family: “To church.

Marie colvin book in extremis