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

We are joining forces with the Frontline Freelance Register and Rory Peck Trust to bring you a live online stream of safety tips and risk assessment. Three succinct online panel discussions will address the issues and answer questions about preparing freelancers for working in hostile environments.

The discussions will take place at the Frontline Club and will be streamed on the Frontline Freelance Register site, here. You can check out some of the Rory Peck Trust resources for freelancers that will be discussed during the streams here.

It will kick off at 2:00PM on Tuesday 22 October. You can pose questions and start your own conversations during each segment by posting to #safetystream on Twitter.

We’ll be covering:

• 2:00PM: Doing a risk assessment. We’ll get into the vital task of assessing the risks you may encounter on assignment. The Rory Peck Trust’s Risk Assessment resource can get you started.
• 2:30PM: Creating a communications plan. A rapid response is critical in a crisis situation, yet it’s often a weak spot in a freelancer’s preparations. This segment goes over what’s at stake. The Rory Peck Trust have produced a Communications Plan template that you can access now.
• 3:00PM: Digital security preparation. How you’re going to communicate securely on the ground and protect yourself digitally wraps up our sessions. We’ll be touching on topics that you can find in the Rory Peck Trust Digital Security resource.

Panelists to be confirmed.

The Syrian conflict is in its third year, and it is largely freelancers who assume the great risks in covering the events. The Frontline Club has recently launched the report Newsgathering Safety and the Welfare of Freelancers to consider how these risks can be mitigated.

Independent filmmakers, Olly Lambert and Mani, both made award winning films in Syria receiving wide acclaim for their powerful storytelling and unprecedented access. Head of High Risk for the BBC Simon Marr will also join the panel, which will be chaired by veteran journalist and filmmaker Inigo Gilmore.

This session will address the extremely treacherous challenges of filmmaking and reporting in one of the world’s deadliest places. What does the Syrian war tell us about the future of freelance journalism and independent filmmaking? How do we take necessary safety precautions – whilst managing to produce a great film?

Watch last year’s session ‘Dying to tell the Story’ with Founding Director of the Frontline Club Vaughan Smith, photographer Giles Duley and Siobhan Sinnerton, Commissioning Editor at Channel 4. Last year journalist Inigo Gilmore also chaired the debate.

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:

Camera skills, interview techniques and essential safety tips – this one day workshop will cover what you need to know before setting off as a one-man- or one-woman-band video journalist.

The session will focus on cross-platform camera skills to help you get the best picture and sound quality for your story, and to make sure you get the most out of your equipment.

Setting off on assignment can leave you with a daunting to do list and there will invariable be challenges and obstacles once you are in the field. This workshop will help you to plan ahead, think about what you’ll need to take with you, and teach you to create time for your story rather than your logistics.

Find out all that you need in your video journalist’s toolkit from veteran freelance cameraman and Frontline Club founder, Vaughan Smith.

What you’ll learn:

• Getting to grips with your video camera: setting, composition and framing
• Shooting sequences: how to tell stories and follow the action
• Lighting, audio and interview techniques
• What to pack
• Finding the stories
• Safety and digital security tips

Watch Smith’s report Blood and Dust, documenting 10 days of life and death on a US Medevac helicopter in Afghanistan, for which he won the 2011 Prix Bayeux in the grand format television category.

Calls to support the next generation of independent journalists working in conflict zones were made just days after French freelance photographer Olivier Voisin was killed by shrapnel in Syria.

Shrinking budgets, mounting pressure and increased accessibility to war torn areas were hot topics at On the Media: Unprepared, Inexperienced and in a War Zone debate at the Frontline Club on 27 February, an institution which itself was founded on a cooperative of freelance cameramen who specialised in frontline reporting for television. According to Vaughan Smith, the founder of the club, half of the cooperative were killed in the 1990s.

Journalists, news executives and media support groups attended. Over the course of the evening, the failings of the news industry to support fledgling freelancers were laid bare.

“The pressure comes from people in the industry… who say, ‘we need more action, otherwise we can’t buy it’” said Aris Roussinos, a freelance filmmaker who had just returned from covering the conflict in Mali.

“So on the one hand you’ll have articles in the BBC College of Journalism [website] saying look at these people taking wild reckless risks, look at these crazy freelancers… when perhaps there will be others in the organisation saying there’s not enough bang bang, go back and get some.”

He said that some combat footage he had recently shot in Gao had earned him more than all of his other projects in the past year combined.

Julia Macfarlane, a journalist who recently worked on an independent documentary in Beirut, said that she was also told when her previous pitches weren’t action packed enough.

“I tried hard to pitch stories in Indonesia…. and it wasn’t sexy enough. It’s not our fault [that we take risks] as freelancers,” she said.

With increasingly cheap equipment and flights, and expanding social media, more inexperienced journalists are able to reach hotspots to try to cut their teeth in the industry. But these freelancers are competing with journalists working for large media organisations in already saturated war zones.

The discussion quickly moved on to preparedness and support, the lack of which some freelancers face in comparison to larger news organisations puts them at a disadvantage.

“We want to take risks but we won’t do it unless it’s calculated,” said Colin Pereira, head of safety and security at ITN.

“The machines the broadcasters have in place take over when there are problems.”

“The freelance community does not have that machine – that machine costs a lot of money. They have to work together to get that machine. But [currently] it’s not coherent and it’s not enough.”

Hannah Storm, director of the International News Safety Institute, said that more emphasis needed to be put on planning and preparation before heading to a war zone. She said that this support could be brought by NGOs who could prepare journalists for the realities of war.

“You wouldn’t go out to a war zone without a camera, so why would you go without a flak jacket?” she said.

“It’s great if we can get more of the footage out there, of the good stuff, without taking too much risk and putting lives at risk.”

“There is a need for mentoring. There is a massive amount of stuff out there, information, organisations, insurance possibilities.”

A chartered association of freelancers was one of the suggestions to consolidate freelancers and the increasingly competitive news industry. It would work, Roussinos said, when big organisations pay to train freelancers and provide insurance and equipment, and in return the freelancers could provide content.

“Both sides get something out of the bargain – freelancers get a degree of security, and the news organisations don’t get the moral qualms. I think that would be the most efficient way of mentoring,” he said. “It’s not a new thing that young freelance journalists go off and push themselves further… that’s the economic imperative of being a freelance.”

“No one asks freelancers to do this. We do it because we want to do it.”

What should the Frontline Club be doing to ensure that his death isn’t yet another example of a freelance journalist who was killed, or more accurately murdered, on assignment and nothing was ever done to pursue his murderers? After all, a known gunman came out of a Mogadishu crowd celebrating what was supposed to be a “peace celebration” and shot Martin Adler in the back. There had to be witnesses. But who will lead the investigation? Who will help when Martin appeared to working alone and wasn’t on assignment for a broadcaster or a film company?

As Richard Sambrook reminded us in his From the Frontline piece last month, “murder accounts for 70% of all the deaths of journalists, and 90% of the killers get away with it” . Sambrook is chairing the international inquiry conducted by the International News Safety Institute into the alarming increase in deaths of journalists around the world. 

Should the Frontline Club itself back an independent investigation into Martin Adler’s murder? Should it try and emulate Project Klebnikov, the “global alliance” of investigative journalists who are independently investigating the murder of Paul Klebnikov, the American editor of the Russian version of Forbes magazine? Two years ago this month, Klebnikov, became the 12th victim of organised attacks on investigative journalists in Russia.

The courage and commitment of the family and friends of James Miller is testimony to what can be accomplished if there is a sustained media and human rights campaign. In April of this year, an inquest jury in London found unanimously that an Israeli soldier had deliberately targeted and murdered him. But until now the Israelis have done nothing and held to their view that there isn’t enough evidence to justify prosecuting the soldier. 

What else can be learned from the death of Martin Adler? Should he have taken this dangerous assignment? Were there any safety practices that he failed to heed? Andrew Kain, the managing director of AKE, said that Martin was among the best trained and most responsible journalists he ever worked with. He also said that he was the most idealistic journalist he’d ever encountered.