20 NEWS FOCUS Journalists at Risk
Words by Phil Rhodes ALONE ON THE FRONT LINE Freelancers and user-generated content are now common sources for covering dangerous events around the world. What responsibilities do news outlets have to preserve their safety? When you’re risking your life for a story, who do you call?
s the TV series Jackass showed back in 2000, danger sells. Online media enthusiasts have clearly realised danger still sells:
man came running toward us. When we went round the corner, there were shots hitting the floor. We were the only white faces. Everyone else was Egyptian. The guy said ‘Run, they’re going to shoot you!’ “People have got to be looking at why they are doing this,” Parkinson says. “Are they heading toward a career doing this stuff? You can’t really deter people from trying to advance their career, but if it’s just for a social media boost, that’s not a good enough reason.” He proposes three rules to preserve life and limb: “Number one is whether you really need to be there. If the answer is no, you shouldn’t be going. Number two is that, if you’re going out to cover something, make sure you research the subject as much as you can, so you know what you’re walking into. Number three is to make sure you have a very carefully prepared exit strategy for whatever happens at any time.”
a study from the US National Library of Medicine recently identified 259 deaths between 2011 and 2017 caused by people trying to take spectacular selfies in risky locations. War reporters have been feted at least since the combat cameramen of the second world war, but the respectability of journalism might make it easy to downplay or minimise that danger. Jason Parkinson is a freelance news and documentary video journalist with 15 years’ experience. He was nominated for the Rory Peck Award for News for his work during the Egyptian revolution in 2011, which was his riskiest job. “I was there three times in 2011 at the beginning of the uprising,” he remembers. “We walked into sniper alley by accident. We were following all these other people and this
THEWAR IN LIBYAWAS EASY TO GET TO. YOU COULD JUMP ON A TRAWLER, PAY A FISHERMAN AND LAND IN BENGHAZI
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