Diane Foley, mother of the late freelance reporter James Foley, was guest of honor at a panel discussion to launch “A Call for Global Safety Principles and Practices,” the first industry code of conduct to include media companies and freelancers in an attempt to reduce the risks to those covering hazardous stories. The guidelines were introduced to an audience of journalists and students during two panel discussions held at Columbia J School’s Stabile Student Center and introduced by Dean Steve Coll.
The first panel – David Rohde of Reuters, Marcus Mabry representing the OPC, Vaughan Smith of the Frontline Freelance Register, John Daniszewiski from the AP and Charlie Sennott of the Ground Truth Project – introduced the guidelines and the thinking behind why they’re needed. In a world of increasing risk for journalists, including local reporters and the freelancers who are assuming an ever-greater burden in covering dangerous stories, the panelists see these principles as a first step toward greater responsibility and accountability by both reporters on the ground and their editors.
Sennott flagged the horrific murder of Jim Foley as a crucial moment in focusing all our minds on the need to improve safety standards, despite efforts over the past couple of decades to introduce hostile environment and medical training, as well as protective equipment and more affordable insurance cover. 2014 was particularly grim for the Associated Press, which had the deadliest year in its 169-year history, with the deaths of photographer Anja Niedringhaus in Afghanistan, and videojournalist Simone Camili and translator Ali Shehda Abu Afash in Gaza.
By the launch on Thursday almost 30 news and journalism organizations had signed on to the principles, including the OPC and OPC Foundation, AFP, the AP, the BBC, Global Post Guardian News and Media, PBS FRONTLINE and Thomson Reuters. New signers since then include the National Union of Journalists of The Philippines, notorious for its entrenched culture of impunity for the murder of journalists, and the organizers encourage other outlets and groups to add their names to the guidelines.
While the document is long on “should” rather than “will” or “must” – “Editors and news organizations should show the same concern for the welfare of local journalists and freelancers that they do for staffers,” for example, the panelists agreed that doesn’t diminish its value. By signing on to these principles, the media companies and freelancers are making a moral commitment to ensure that freelancers on assignment are properly trained, equipped and compensated.
Payment for freelancers was raised several times as a critical issue – Smith urged editors to pay freelancers at an acceptable level and on time, rather than two or three months late. And on the second panel, freelance photographer Nicole Tung pointed out that better pay translates into safer assignments – the ability to hire a dedicated driver, for example, rather than rely on a local taxi.
The second panel, chaired by host Bruce Shapiro of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, brought together Tung, Steven Adler of Thomson Reuters, Rob Mahoney of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Judith Matloff, a freelancer who teaches at Columbia J School.
Clearly journalist safety is in the air: Rohde said the guidelines came out of several meetings of news executives and press freedom advocates in the United States, noting that there are similar ongoing initiatives. Mahoney urged the audience to think not only of international freelancers covering conflict, but the local journalists who are most at risk, and on whom so many incoming correspondents depend.
Questions from the audience flagged some skepticism that the guidelines would make a real difference to those most at risk in the field. Ron Haviv of VII Photo Agency, which declined to sign, argued that the wording was tantamount to saying “we should wear seat belts in the car, not that we must wear seat belts.”
The organizers are working now on a compliance and governance mechanism to give teeth to the principles and ensure that media outlets and journalist organizations live up to the spirit and letter of the guidelines.
As Smith, founder of the 500-member Frontline Freelance Register, noted in the press release to launch the guidelines, “This is just the beginning, but we think it is a good start to a process of making sure freelancers are provided the respect, the dignity, the protections and ultimately the fair pay they deserve.”