In a series of live-streamed panel discussion, freelancers and experts delivered safety tips and guides for freelancers working in conflict zones on risk assessment, communications plans and digital security.

Photo: Emma Beals (@ejbeals)

You can watch each stream again and find links to all the resources discussed here on the Frontline Freelance Register website.

The first talk, chaired by Elisabet Cantenys, Head of Programmes at the Rory Peck Trust, was between freelance journalist and filmmaker James Brabazon and Steve Cook, Director of Media Support and Operations at TYR Solutions. They discussed the benefits of risk assessments, described as “your best way of helping yourself in advance of needing assistance”.

RESOURCES:

• Risk Assessment (RPT)

The second talk on communication plans was chaired by Max Riley-Gould, a researcher and writer at the Rory Peck Trust. He spoke to James Brabazon and Emma Beals, freelance journalist and interim board member of FFR. They covered the method of drawing up a plan, and when and what should be done if you fall out of contact in a crisis.

RESOURCES:

• Creating Your Communications Plan (RPT)

In the final talk, chaired by Andrew Lyons, Digital Producer/Project Manager at the Rory Peck Trust, Kim Pham, a digital security consultant, and Runa A. Sandvik, Developer, Security Researcher, and Translation Coordinator for the Tor Project, discussed digital and mobile security. They covered the importance of learning how the technology you will be using works and understanding when you will be vulnerable as well and the tools available to protect yourself.

RESOURCES:

• Top 14 tips for secure mobile communications (Frontline Club)
• Basic Internet security (FLOSS Manuals)
• Tactical Tech (Tactical Technology Collective)
• Digital Security (RPT)
• Tor Project
• Tails
• Journalist Security Guide

A year ago, we invited freelancers, editors, managers, trainers and safety advisors to come together and discuss the issues of safety in the field.

Since then, professionals from across the industry have been collaborating and sharing their experiences and insight to shape this paper, overseen by ex-Director of BBC World Service Richard Sambrook.

In this paper, we have tried to to address the problems facing today’s freelancers, whose efforts to inform and engage us are now more valuable than ever – coverage of the ongoing conflict in Syria is testament to this.

Our efforts do not end here. The findings on duty of care, safety training, digital security and insurance are foundations that we will continue to build upon to improve the lot of freelancers and, in so doing, encourage a wider view of the world around us.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE:

Mobile networks in even the most benign democracies are required by law to build monitoring systems into their infrastructure. The powers that be can then use this data in a number of ways, ranging from disclosure, where historical records are released under a government request, to real time interception of location, numbers called and when you called them.

The risk of being tracked through your mobile phone usage is clearly heightened in less stable states. There are a number of practical solutions which can be used to minimise your footprint on a network.

[The tips in this article were taken from a meeting that took place at the Frontline Club on 7 May, 2013. Please be advised there may have been developments in the technology and methods mentioned.]

1. Don’t turn on a phone until you are away from an airport or point of entry. Border control is where your phone and number can be most easily attributed to you and flagged for interception. Some border posts may also use an IMSI-Catcher which forces all mobile phones passing through to authenticate to a false network, which then attaches the mobile number in use to your identity.

2. Use a local SIM, or a SIM which is prevalent in the country in which you are operating in. A +44 SIM clearly stands out in a country where, for example, a +963 or +90 dialling code is standard.

3. Switching different SIM cards in and out of the same phone is ineffective, and merely associates both numbers together as being held by the same person, or in a worst case scenario attaches them both to your identity.

4. Many countries, including the UK, now require all pre paid SIM cards to be registered to an individual person at the point of sale. Try and avoid this, or use a false identity. Getting other people who may not arouse as much suspicion as you to purchase a SIM may put them in danger.

5. Do not have family and friends phone numbers stored on the SIM card, or in the phone memory itself. These can then be easily used to place threats in a situation such as a kidnap. Ideally, have no numbers stored in your phone at all.

6. Once considered to offer a safe Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) option, recently doubts have been raised about the security of Skype. [Updated on 24 October, 2013]

7. Set up an auto forwarding phone in a nearby country and forward all calls to your home or office through this. As with point number two, regular calls to a +44 dialling codes for example are easily noticeable.

8. Use a service such as MSN, or set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network). These can be more secure than using a regular mobile network.

9. Some VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) services such as Viber lift your mobile address book and send it back over their network to connect you to your contacts out of country. Use with caution.

10. In a congested network, such as near the scene of a mass protest or incident, using SMS instead of a voice call is your greatest chance of success as voice and text are sent over different channels.

11. Use satellite phones with extreme caution, or not at all. Signals are easy to intercept and track down in real time due to their low prevalence in even the most technologically advanced regions. Most satellite phones also send the current GPS coordinates up to the satellite itself, and with the ease of interception these can then be used for near ‘real time targeting’.

12. Take out your phone battery when not in use.

13. Remember that ‘the cloud’ is physically located on the ground across the world, and local laws apply to each separate data centre.

14. Always bear corruption in mind, whether it is within the local network itself or the local enforcement agency.

An additional resource on VPN can be found here.

Last night’s talk looked at the future of fixers in foreign reporting and at the relationships that develop when the ‘mad circus of the international press’ arrives to cover a news story, desperately needing to hide their ignorance of the country, culture and language.

The discussion was chaired by Charles Glass, broadcaster, journalist and writer, who was joined by Ilene Prusher, an independent journalist based in Jerusalem and author of the recently published book Baghdad Fixer; and Patrick Cockburn, senior Middle East correspondent since 1979 for the Financial Times and, presently, The Independent.

Lending some sense of reality to the discussion was Suliman Ali Zway, a Libya-based freelance journalist who switched from a career in construction to working as a fixer during the Libyan revolution. What started as translation work soon developed into ‘explaining the country, the culture and what led to such a revolution.’

Not only is a fixer’s local knowledge literally life-saving to foreign reporters, but Prusher also enjoys the camaraderie that comes through working with the often extraordinary characters who became her fixers. From Afghan poets to doctors who worked in hospitals at night and as fixers with journalists during the day, these people acted as a cultural membrane that inspired the story of Baghdad Fixer.

“I think there has been a steady progression towards recognising the important work that fixers do, that they are actually journalists in their own right. A few days ago, Lyse Doucet said to me: ‘I’m trying to ban this word.’ Part of the idea of this book is to expose it – some people really respect what they do but there are also journalists who put them in danger” said Prusher.

Glass agreed that the fixers always seem to suffer the worst fate, and are abandoned by the journalists and the news organisations that depend upon them so totally. Ali Zway was in agreement:

“Eventually the foreign journalist will leave and if they write something about someone they don’t like, you’re left behind. It’s not that the foreign journalist does not want to help you, but there is not a staff job for fixers within newspapers that would ensure your safety or ensure that your family is looked after when you’re gone. The problem is the relationship between the fixer and the organisation, not the fixer and the journalist.”

A BBC World Service producer in the audience asked what he could do in his role to try and make his fixers safer; Ali Zway’s answer was very straight forward – insure fixers the same way you would insure your staffers.

Other questions looked at the role of foreign correspondents and fixers in a future of diminishing budgets, of increasingly dangerous and scattered front lines, and of the demands of new media.

Cockburn agreed that the front lines had changed, adding that the fighters had changed too, no longer trying to cultivate the press but instead targeting the foreign reporters.

For Prusher, covering conflict was:

“…an extremely important thing to be doing with my life and that I got to be a witness through this small window in history – to see a society in the midst of conflict, in transition – is kind of a privilege …. Now, I feel overwhelmed by the pressures that new media have put on journalists. It used to be that you could go out into the field and focus on your story, and these days it seems there is a competition as to how much you can tweet whilst you’re in the field, updating all day long, this is one of the barometers by which we’re judging journalism. I wonder if that is really the recipe for great journalism.”

In 2007, following the murder of Ajmal Naqshbandi in Afghanistan, the Frontline Club set up the Fixers’ Fund, a special project to raise money for the families of fixers killed or injured around the world while working with the international media.

Watch the full event here:

Last night’s talk was a whistle stop tour through the history of the Frontline News Television agency, with its two surviving founding members, Vaughan Smith and Peter Jouvenal, in conversation with long-time cohort, BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson.

From FNTV’s origins over a Christmas dinner amid the chaos of the Romanian revolution in December 1989, to its eventual suspension in 2003, this outfit for freelance video reporters has spanned from the journalistic sublime to the ridiculous. The madcap ideas of flying into warzones by microlight or launching an extreme tourism business were balanced by such successes as getting the first images of Afghans fighting the Russians with Stinger missiles, proving that the Americans were supplying the mujahideen with modern equipment.

The spirit of FNTV was captured in the first image we saw of Rory Peck and Peter standing next to a shattered helicopter before a backdrop of the Afghan mountains. When asked if that was the helicopter that flew them in, Peter replied deadpan: “No, we actually walked across the border from Tajikistan.”

Such determination and innovation characterised the agency, which adapted to compete in an industry that often treated freelances as outsiders.

“We were the first group to start using these small cameras. We responded to the available technology, like the computer editing system and satellites. We were early adopters because that’s where the opportunity was to get into the news industry.” — Vaughan Smith

This resourcefulness resulted in one of FNTV’s central successes when Vaughan impersonated a British officer to circumvent the ‘grotesque news management’ of the reporter-embedding system during the Gulf War in 1991. This masquerade produced the only footage of rockets heading for Iraq, and in John Simpson’s words: “The best piece of combat footage I’ve ever seen.”

Peter’s recount of filming the civil war in Liberia touched on the humour of being chased down a street by gangs fresh from looting bridal and lighting shops – wearing full wedding gowns and lampshades on their heads – and the horror of witnessing the murder of a mother and child and the ethics of reporting in conflict.

“I tend to film things that sometimes are not very palatable, but I see it as my job to record these events…. It’s very important to stay neutral. My job it to witness it and film it…. It’s a very difficult position to be in and quite dangerous. The Afghans always kill for a purpose which you can figure out and avoid those situations, but in the case of Liberia, they would kill for no reason.” — Peter Jouvenal

Of course it’s a dangerous job. Vaughan maintains that he’s been shot more times than he’s been credited by the BBC, and not all of the FNTV cameramen survived – founding members Rory Peck and Nick della Casa both died in conflict – and absent friends were remembered last night.

“It’s not a safe job, but then, as Tira Shubart said to me, whoever said that journalism should be safe? Safe journalism is the kind of journalism you don’t want to be a part of.” — John Simpson

So, chaired by Richard Sambrook, we are pulling in many of the events attendees and other parties to properly think through the ideas that came up before re-presenting them. We will look for workable refinements on duty of care issues, consider how safety training might cover new threats, study how freelance insurance could deliver and think how best to launch a safety ‘Kitemark’ for freelances. We aim to report at the end of September.

It is clear that the Frontline Club can play a collaborative role in promoting workable ideas on news safety. Our relationship with practitioners, the club’s members, and our history in freelance journalism places us in a unique and complimentary position to other bodies that promote news safety, like INSI or the CPJ.

To inform the 8^th May meeting I sent out survey to freelance photojournalists, video journalists and newspaper stringers. Below are links publishing the results.

The Frontline Club Freelance Safety Survey is the first survey of its kind. Freelances play an ever-increasing role in gathering the news, their importance to journalism is unlikely to diminish but their voices are rarely heard on issues like news safety. It is clear that they need to be.

In 1989, when Peter Jouvenal, Rory Peck and Nick della Casa and I launched the Frontline News Television agency, we were completely dependent on the established news industry to purchase and publish our work. This is changing, particularly for photojournalists who increasingly fund their work elsewhere, viewing the established industry as a partner or outlet rather than an employer.

Personally, I believe that freelances have become journalism’s great hope. For as long as I have been in news they have complimented the mainstream output and with most overseas bureaux a thing of the past they help fill widening gaps.

At Frontline News Television we learned from the news industry. We weren’t welcomed by it, but we soon realised that to be accepted we had to subscribe to journalism’s ethics and did so fully. The survey tells us that today’s freelances will do the same thing now on safety and since freelances mentor each other good practice can be spread.

In the survey I ask freelances the question, “If the Frontline Club launched a representative body for independent journalists, cameramen and photographers would you support this and continue to contribute your opinions?”, 90.7% of respondents indicated “Yes, wholeheartedly”, 8.8% said that ‘It was a good thing but they wouldn’t participate” and only 0.5% that this “Was not interesting”.

While we consider it how to best deliver on this mandate, the Frontline Club will continue to gather freelance views and present them as helpfully as possible. I am personally convinced that an industry recognised ‘Kitemark’, won through demonstrating a professional approach to news safety and the promotion of the highest freelance reporting ethics will serve freelances and journalism well.

This link publishes Frontline Club Freelance Safety Survey 1, showing the comments by those who left them.

Freelance Safety Survey 1 – Full

The following three links illustrates where answers between photojournalists, video journalists and newspaper stringers are significantly different.

Freelance Safety Survey 1 – Photojournalists

Freelance Safety Survey 1 – Video Journalists

Freelance Safety Survey 1 – Newspaper Stringers

N.B. In the interests of openness I am happy to receive requests to audit this survey. Note that I have removed respondents where I was satisfied that they had no actual experience working in conflicts.

Frontline Club founder and former member of Frontline TV, Vaughan Smith, says the aim of the meeting – to be held on Tuesday 8 May – is to get different parts of the industry to come together and talk about safety in the field.

Such a meeting is timely and widely asked for, says Smith.

“An increasingly large number of news safety decision makers have never been in danger in the field before, and it’s important that practitioners in this industry speak to the decision makers and help with a difficult job.”

Aware of the possible tension between safety and good journalism in the field, Smith argues that safety policy should be seen as supporting journalism rather than obstructing it. Dead correspondents don’t report.

“During the 15 years that the Frontline TV agency operated half of us were killed during the course of our work. So news safety is very important to me but I still believe that it is worth taking risks for my journalism."

The system of ‘embedding’ journalists with army units has, in Libya and Syria, given way again to a riskier journalism that less often benefits from the protection of an army – and its medical services.

But there are opportunities Smith insists. Refining our understanding of what level of duty of care exercised by news organisations is best for journalism would improve morale and efficiency, helping news budgets.

“Why for example, do we not have an industry common set of safety standards for training? Could we consider a freelance Kitemark? The industry says it worries about freelance safety but it could show leadership and example at almost no cost."

Freelancers are an increasingly important part of newsgathering. The Frontline Club asked freelance practitioners to fill out a survey to better understand what they think about the risks they take.

They received a strong response, with 70 per cent saying they would be pro-active in obtaining industry-recognised qualifications ‘if reasonably priced’. For Smith, taking a close look at what can be done to make journalism safer is crucial, but it must not overshadow the work itself.

“What I’m really seeking is a further development of a sensible safety culture, but not one that castrates journalism… the end goal is to preserve news budgets, improve journalism and save lives. But news safety initiatives today should no longer be bogged down by blame and denial but must develop our capacity to do difficult stories more safely."

By Thomas Lowe

Spaces for the day are very limited but if you would like to attend or contribute to the initiative please contact Millicent Teasdale on millicent.teasdale@www.beta.frontlineclub.com.

Picture credit: Danfung Dennis

Foreign reporting is changing. With news outlets’ budgets tightening, and competition, pressure and risks on the rise, foreign journalists working in conflict countries are abandoning traditional methods of reporting in favour of using cheap, local hires to get the story:

“It used to be that you were a local journalist, and treated kind of like the Red Cross. That has completely changed,” said Callum Macrae, producer and director of Channel 4’s ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’.

“That is why we are using more and more local fixers and journalists. It’s not safe for us anymore. In the long run, maybe that’s a good thing.”

“When I saw the title of the debate, my heart skipped a beat,” argued Arun, who has worked closely with local journalists in Iraq as editor of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting.

“I didn’t want to see ‘ruining’ next to ‘local hires’ – you can’t have enough local journalists in the field.”

“I don’t think foreign correspondents can get as close to a story as a local journalist can.”

“In some cases we don’t know their [the stringer’s] real identity. He only [files] through a fake name he has provided. He’s a photographer, I’ve been told he’s legit,” she said.

“Local correspondents are paid a lot on local terms, so it’s worth the risk for them, but not a lot compared to the rest of the world. In terms of Hostile Environment courses and security, that is very new for stringers. Reuters in Afghanistan is making sure stringers are starting to get training,” she added.

“We [foreign correspondents] are doing the same job – turning it in to a narrative, getting it to a wider audience. You have to make stories into a narrative that people understand,” said Marcae.

“The slow death of the foreign correspondent is the rise of the local journalist,” said Arun.

“Just as insurgency has evolved very fast, reporting has evolved very fast. It is this new beast… It is this strange animal.”