By Patricia Kranz and Millicent Teasdale
The OPC traveled to London to participate in Part II of our series, co-sponsored with the Frontline Club, on how to freelance safely. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, OPC President Marcus Mabry joined panelists in a follow-up discussion that kicked off in New York at the end of October. The panel addressed standards of pay, training requirements, and how to clarify the responsibilities of freelancers and their clients.
As many major news organization close foreign bureaus, freelancers are called on more and more to cover global conflicts. They face risks often without the structure, training and resources that come with having a large media outlet behind you.
“There has been a lag by news organizations in protecting people in danger zones,” Mabry said. “We are working with organizations to create standards.”
Other panelists were Vaughan Smith, founder of The Frontline Club; Ben de Pear, editor of Channel 4 News (UK); Emma Beals, an independent multimedia journalist covering Syria and Iraq; and David Williams, deputy global news editor at Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Beals and freelance journalists in the audience complained about low pay rates and lengthy delays in getting paychecks. “You have to pay them more than $300 for 1,000 words from Syria,” said Beals. “It’s a professional work force with unprofessional wages. Low wages compromise safety.” For a recent story, she said she had to cover her expenses, which were twice the rate she was getting paid, with a promise of reimbursement months later.
The Syrian conflict spurred AFP to develop a new approach to working with freelancers. “We were somewhat taken aback by the risks people were willing to take,” said Williams. Now AFP treats freelancers like a member of the AFP team, with more financial backup and safety training. “We will not accept production from freelancers where we don’t dare to venture ourselves,” he said. “We don’t want to encourage freelancers to take risks that our own journalists won’t take.”
Britain’s Channel 4 requires freelancers to take a hostile environment awareness course. “It is absolutely a tragedy that we have got to the stage where freelancers get their heads cut off,” de Pear said. “In Bosnia, journalists became targets. Now they are prizes. It’s a different world.”
Smith said he is astounded by the number of freelancers he meets who have not been on a hostile environment training course. The Frontline Club did a survey of freelancers who are members of its Frontline Freelance Registry. “A third said they thought that the editors they dealt with didn’t give a fig about their safety,” he said.