University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2015 Freelancers on the Frontline: Influences on Conflict vCo erage Denae Lynn D'Arcy University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation D'Arcy, Denae Lynn, "Freelancers on the Frontline: Influences on Conflict Coverage. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2015. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3330 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Denae Lynn D'Arcy entitled "Freelancers on the Frontline: Influences on Conflict Coverage." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Catherine, A. Luther, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Michael T. Martinez, Patricia M. Freeland, James G. Stovall Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Freelancers on the Frontline: Influences on Conflict Coverage A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Denae Lynn D’Arcy May 2015 ii Copyright © 2015 by Denae Lynn D’Arcy All rights reserved iii This dissertation is dedicated to freelance journalists who have lost their lives while covering conflict. Specifically, Tim Hetherington. Your sacrifice and passion for combat zone coverage sparked this research. The researcher would also like to dedicate this work to the late Dr. Dwight Teeter. His encouragement, wit, knowledge, and ideas for this dissertation were invaluable. He is greatly missed. iv Acknowledgements: The researcher would like to acknowledge her family for their unending support and encouragement. Her successful parents, Deborah and David, always inspire her to seek, learn, and achieve. Her brother Dannen, an Army veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, teaches her about bravery, and perseverance. The researcher’s grandparents, Stanley and Jacqueline Crawford remind her that she is intelligent enough to pursue higher knowledge, and her late grandparents, Charles and Ruth D’Arcy, provided a joyful example of compassion towards those who are less fortunate. The researcher would also like to thank her fiancé, James Kobacker for his patient, wise advice on how to jump life’s hurdles and for supporting her every step of the way. The researcher would especially like to acknowledge the time and assistance that she received from her dissertation committee chair, Dr. Catherine A. Luther. Dr. Luther provided encouragement, structure, wisdom, and a passion for high quality research. The researcher would not have been able to complete a dissertation of this caliber without the direction of Dr. Luther. She will forever be grateful for Dr. Luther’s support, candor, and endless recommendation letters. The researcher’s dissertation committee was tireless in encouraging and assisting the candidate. She would like to thank committee members: Dr. Patricia Freeland, Dr. James G. Stovall, and Dr. Michael T. Martinez. The service, knowledge, and advice presented by the committee members was not only necessary to achieve the lofty goal of a dissertation, it was highly appreciated. v Abstract: Some journalists who cover conflict in countries like Syria, Ukraine, and Egypt work as freelancers. As opposed to full-time staff members of media organizations, freelancers pay for their own travel, security, drivers, and insurance. While this model of conflict coverage is financially beneficial for media organizations, freelancers indicate that they work for themselves in order to have “freedom” to make their own decisions about conflict coverage. The researcher studied the phenomena of freelance journalism in conflict scenarios through an exploratory study utilizing long interviews, an interpretative, textual analysis of war correspondents’ autobiographies, an online, open-ended questionnaire, and follow-up in-depth interviews with freelancers. This data was examined through the lenses of the Hierarchy of Influences model as well as Gatekeeping Theory. Findings show that media worker influences, media routine influences, as well as extra-media influences are perceived by freelancers to have strong influences on their coverage of conflict. These levels of the Hierarchy of Influences model are manifested through financial and safety. Freelancers also perceived that their gender influences conflict coverage because of cultural norms that dictate their access to sources. Finally, freelancers see the gatekeeping process as control that overlaps between the media worker, media organizations, and extra-media influences. vi Preface: I worked as a broadcast and online journalist for more than 10 years before deciding to pursue my PhD. Because of my background as a reporter, I have always been passionate about the conditions that journalists work in and the factors that influence their work. With a Master’s Degree from the University of Westminster in London, I applied to the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at University of Tennessee. In the second year of my doctoral studies, I leaned of a non-profit organization in New York City started by internationally known, award-winning journalist, Sebastian Junger. After Junger’s good friend and colleague Tim Hetherington was killed while covering conflict, he decided to do something about the safety of freelancers. Hetherington was hit in a femoral artery by shrapnel. This is not a typically fatal wound but unfortunately, Hetherington and his colleagues did not know how to apply a tourniquet. He died on the way to the hospital. As an answer to the need for first aid training for freelance journalists, Junger started the organization Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues (RISC) in 2011. The program operates on grants and donations and is free to freelancers. There is a waiting list for the program and at the time of publication, more than 200 freelancers have graduated from the training. In 2012, I was fortunate enough to be granted access to one of the RISC sessions as an observer. Freelancers took the training seriously and practiced how to react to a bomb, how to apply a tourniquet, how to stop the bleeding from various wounds, and how to notice signs of dehydration and shock. Upon graduation, each freelancer receives a combat first aid kit as well. Freelancers feel they have an obligation to society to share news from conflict zones. My hope is that this research effort adds to academic literature about the perceived reality and concerns of freelancers in conflict zones and presents information that could be useful to the industry about the dangers they face. vii Table of Contents: Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2 Conflict and Freelance Journalism………………………………………………………………6 Chapter 3 Theoretical Lenses………………………………………………………………………………15 Chapter 4 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………31 Chapter 5 Words on Conflict………………………………………………………………………………43 Chapter 6 Exploratory Study………………………………………………………………………………52 Chapter 7 Demographics and Freelancer Jargon…………………………………………………………..63 Chapter 8 Main Findings: Influences on Coverage.……………………………………………………….66 Chapter 9 Main Findings: Gatekeeping in Conflict……………………………………………………….84 Chapter 10 Main Findings: Differences Between Male and Female Conflict Coverage………..………….89 Chapter 11 Freelancer Follow-up……………………………………………………………………………94 Chapter 12 Discussion and Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..105 References..................................................................................................................................123 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………….136 Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………….140 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION In August 2014, news of the beheading of journalist James Foley flashed across headlines worldwide. Even though Foley was an established journalist, at the time of his capture, he did not have the endorsement of a media company. He was working as a freelancer. After his death was reported, friends and family made formal statements saying that Foley was determined to report the truth about what was happening in Syria (Chulov, 2014). Foley was not new to conflict reporting. His career began as a reporter for a military newspaper: Stars and Stripes. He also knew about imprisonment. Foley was captured while covering conflict with two other freelancers in Libya in 2011. One of his friends, South African photographer Anton Hammerl, was killed. The prisoners were held for 44 days and when Foley was released, he decided to continue covering conflict, despite the danger to freelance journalists. This narrative begins to show the obstacles and dangers freelancers face while covering conflict. Journalists who work for themselves typically work in groups with