Talk:Patrick Cockburn

reevaluating criticism
That person Idrees Ahmad is basically an internet troll and i dont think criticism of cockburn should be based on shady claims of random internet trolls...

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KenWalker | Talk 08:32, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

This story is really biased. Patrick Cockburn is an important journalist and deserves an entry that is more balanced. I think the entire entry needs to be taken down so that we can start over.

Year of Birth
What's up with the year of birth being stated as 1950/1? Was he born in 1950 or in 1951? It must be possible for someone to find out. Please ... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.60.164.42 (talk) 20:29, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

Irrelevant material
How relevant is: "and a half-sister, mystery writer Sarah Caudwell. Journalists Laura Flanders and Stephanie Flanders are his half-nieces, daughters of his half-brother in law Michael Flanders, and actress Olivia Wilde, is his niece, daughter of his sister in law Leslie Cockburn.

Have we missed out the family dog? Cockburn's favourite colour? Jeez! --146.90.49.2 (talk) 23:16, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Moved from article to talk. -- Hillbillyholiday talk 23:21, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Languages spoken?
I came to this page to learn a bit more about Cockburn, specifically, whether he had lived abroad, or had studied foreign languages. From what I gather, he spent a lot of time in the Middle East, and many of his accounts are based on his interviews with locals. Did he have translators with him, or does he have command of Arabic and other local languages? If so, how did he acquire this knowledge? I'd like to know more about this aspect of his background.

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.173.153.218 (talk) 01:12, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

Adra massacre
There seems to be a discrepancy between the main article and the linked Adra massacre article.

The initial article on Patrick Cockburn states: "anybody turning to such an obvious source as Wikipedia […] will find a well-sourced article citing reports from the AP and Reuters news agencies on December 12, 2014 describing the massacre by Islamic militants and quoting local eyewitness on events."

The Adra massacre article ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adra_massacre ) states: "The Adra massacre was the killing of at least 32 Alawite, Christians, Druze and Ismailite civilians in the industrial town of Adra, Syria in December 2013 during the Syrian Civil War"

Therefore the article on Cockburn states the incident took place on December 12, 2014, whereas the Adra massacre article states it took place in December 2013.

Could anybody clarify this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jukampert (talk • contribs) 08:45, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
 * It will be a typo by someone. However, all that is needed is a mention that Cockburn's response said "reports from the AP and Reuters news agencies" exist about the event. The rest of the quote is not needed, so I have deleted it. Tiptoethrutheminefield (talk) 19:07, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Criticism
Should the criticism section be renamed something like 'dispute with Idrees Ahmad'? The current name gives a level of legitimacy and seriousness to the argument that I don't believe is befitting. What are the guidelines on this? Lazdona (talk) 12:50, 18 August 2021 (UTC)