Reporter Power: Take His Work, Nor That of Any Other Interna- News Organisations, Tional Freelances (Telephone Interview, 5 Sep- Tember 2013)

Home , Press Gazette

Richard Pendry and reflects a hierarchy of power within the foreign news gathering system. As we shall see, there is a separate system for hiring local freelances, that is not subject to the same scrutiny as their international colleagues.

In early 2013 several UK news organisations stated that they would not hire international freelances to work for them in Syria. After the veteran Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin was killed in Homs in February 2012, her newspaper told UK-based freelance photographer Rick Findler that, though he had previously worked for them in Syria, they would no longer Reporter power: take his work, nor that of any other interna- News organisations, tional freelances (telephone interview, 5 Sep- tember 2013). Later, an executive at the same duty of care and the newspaper told a reporter from Press Gazette that neither The Sunday Times nor its sister use of locally-hired paper The Times would be accepting contribu- news gatherers in tions from international freelances working in Syria (Rodgers 2013). The Sunday Times, accord- Syria ing to the executive quoted, did not want to encourage freelances to take risks: Risk has drastically reshaped the reporting ecosystem in the Syrian conflict. This paper After submitting pictures from Aleppo this analyses the roles played by commissioning week Rick Findler was told by the foreign editors, staff reporters and international and desk that ‘it looks like you have done some locally hired freelance journalists who report exceptional work’ but ‘we have a policy of the war in Syria. It gathers data from case stud- not taking copy from Syria as we believe the ies of the reporting of the Sarin gas attacks in dangers of operating there are too great’. the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta in August Findler, 28, has been published before in The 2013 and other examples of reporting in Syria Sunday Times and has been to Iraq, twice, which appear to raise ethical questions. The Libya and this is his third trip to Syria. He current lack of reporters in Syria has serious said: ‘Surely it is that photographer’s deci- ethical implications for news organisations and sion to choose whether or not they take the their ability to inform the public sphere. risks. I thought part of photography was the fact that some people in this world do Keywords: Syria; duty of care; outsourcing; take exceptional risks to show the rest of the sub-contracting; freelances; news gathering world what is happening. I just don’t know what else to do any more. I really feel dis- Introduction: Reluctance of UK newspapers to heartened and extremely let down’ (Rodgers hire freelances 2013). The starting point of this research was to exam- ine whether news organisations, citing safety Four other British newspapers, the Guardian, concerns, were increasingly refusing to commis- the Independent, The Times and the Observer, sion work from independent journalists while then also went on the record to Press Gazette located in an area of conflict, and particularly to say that they too would not be taking the those who were uninsured. These are the inter- work of independent journalists (Turvill 2013). national freelances who travel to areas of con- A producer for CNN agreed that the rules of flict and form an increasingly important part engagement between international freelances of the news gathering ecosystem, as we will and their clients, the news organisations, had explore below. For the avoidance of doubt, this changed. He put it down to the death of Sun- paper will distinguish between international day Times correspondent Marie Colvin: ‘When freelances and local journalists: the latter being Marie Colvin was killed, it scared the s**t out the Syrian fixers, activists and other news gath- of a lot of [news] executives’ (anonymous CNN erers whose work finds its way into the output producer, telephone interview, 24 October of news organisations. They will be referred to 2012). as local freelances. The distinction is significant

4 Copyright 2015-2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 PAPER Why a ban on international freelances report- 1. Whether the rules of engagement for inter- ing from Syria matters national freelances have, indeed, changed. Freelances of all kinds have become an increas- 2. If true, why this had happened. ingly important part of the news gathering community, a trend noted in the mid-1990s by 3. Finally, whether any such change in the Pedelty (1995). The traditional model of for- working relationship between international eign reporting has largely disappeared. Other freelances and their employers, the news researchers, such as Richard Sambrook (2010), organisations, had wider implications for have noted a trend away from own-staff or conflict reporting and the audience that own-country correspondents in conflict zones consumes news. that is part of a wider change in the idea of foreign correspondence. Syria fits into a lon- Approach to the research ger-term picture in this respect. Because the The way news organisations, international old business models of the news organisations freelance reporters and other news profession- are broken, there is less cash around to pay for als, including locally-hired reporters, work with PAPER staff reporters (Picard 2014; Franklin 2014). The news sources on news stories from war zones problem is particularly acute in foreign news is complex (see, for example, Venter 2005). I (Otto and Meyer 2012). This matters because do not come to this subject as a strictly neutral in major conflicts – such as Afghanistan, Iraq observer. As a UK-based freelance news gath- and now Syria – because of risk, ever fewer erer myself I am part of the international free- staff reporters cover quite major developments lance ‘tribe’. This research is my critical reading (Cockburn 2013). of the material gathered from a series of inter- viewees representing international freelances, The aim of this research was to test evidence news executives and staff journalists. It is dif- that news organisations had become increas- ficult to disentangle how all the parties really ingly reluctant to take responsibility for inter- interact, and the public conversations of all national freelances working in Syria. The results sides in respect of the terms of engagement are indicated that this may be so, though it must be often somewhat different to those they have acknowledged that the conclusions are highly in private. provisional. My research points, however, to a finding that is possibly more significant – Goffman (1959 and 1969) would have called that news gathering in the Syrian conflict has this the ‘dramaturgical dimension’. Goffman been outsourced to local people. These Syr- is best known for his study of symbolic inter- ian nationals either work directly for the news action, which took the form of a dramaturgi- organisations or supply user-generated con- cal analysis of the performances that occur in tent on social media to them. The data show face-to-face interactions. The insight he offered it is far from clear that news gathered in such was that in theatrical performances there is the a way accords with the core journalistic norms obvious aspect actors present to the audience. of impartiality, detachment and balance and But there is also the hidden, backstage area, this current research suggests a mechanism by where actors can drop the identities they pres- which this outsourcing has happened. It could ent publicly and be themselves. This is the area also be part of a longer-term trend away from I am investigating. verification and gatekeeping noted by Rosen. The latter’s work suggested that in multime- For example, there were certain power strug- dia reporting some of these traditional norms gles below the surface which affected how peo- have been discarded. The result has been fierce ple answered me. Freelances are generally wary debate over what journalism is ‘for’ (Rosen of complaining about the behaviour of their 1999). employers. Editors, news executives and staff reporters who commission international free- Methodology lances are wary of making public pronounce- The central hypothesis that I wanted to test ments that may imply legal responsibility for with this research was: Do such changes – if people who are not under their control and they have occurred – serve to restrict indepen- whose behaviour may land their organisation dent news gathering? And, if news organisa- in trouble. The result is that many individuals tions will not hire international freelances to I talked to were reluctant to go on the record. report conflict, then is there a hole in the model Other researchers (Venter 2005; Pedelty 1995) for contemporary war reporting? Above all, is have found the same thing. I examined three the public sphere still being properly served? case studies: Specifically, what I wanted to understand is as follows:

PAPER Copyright 2015 2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 5 Richard Pendry 1. The reporting of the Sarin gas attacks in ists, BBC producer Stuart Hughes, conducted an Damascus in September 2013. At least one investigation into the death of Molhem Bara- news organisation that had previously said kat (Hughes 2013) which yielded useful data. it would not hire international freelances in Syria appeared to change its mind when a Interviews were conducted by telephone, email major news story broke and there were few and using social media. Facebook was by far independent ways of verifying the truth. the most useful social media site for conduct- ing interviews. Facebook interviews are avail- 2. A report by Hannah Lucinda Smith for BBC able to download later, which is convenient for Radio’s From Our Own Correspondent pro- a researcher. But the use of Facebook goes far gramme. beyond that in contemporary conflict report- 3. The death of a young Syrian photographer ing. Murrell (2014) found war reporters and who freelanced for the Reuters news agency, their collaborators use this social media plat- named Molhem Barakat in December 2013. form to conduct their reporting and discuss The case highlighted that reporting in Syria aspects of their work. So it is a convenient way had been to a significant extent devolved to conduct research in this area. from international journalists, whether staff or freelance, to local people. An investiga- Two of the interviews with international free- tion by the National Press Photographers lances and one with a staff reporter led to face- Association gathered evidence that Syrian to-face interviews in London. I conducted one freelances, again, working for Reuters, had face-to-face interview in Turkey with a free- staged photographs. If true, this would be lance cameraman/director, named Mani, who evidence that Syrian news gatherers on works for Channel 4. I also questioned a news whom the news organisations rely – as do executive from The Sunday Times, Sean Ryan, their audience – are in some cases insuffi- at an event at the Frontline Club in London in ciently supported to do their job truthfully order to follow up an earlier phone interview. and ethically. The face-to-face interviews tended to be more wide-ranging than the interviews on Facebook. Gathering data Asking a question at a public event was the I conducted semi-structured interviews with least useful way of gathering data. international freelances who report on the Syr- ian conflict and the staff journalists and news The most ‘offstage’ (Goffman 1959 and 1969) executives who commission them. I interviewed: data came from a series of posts on a closed Facebook site made by staff reporters and • 19 international (i.e., non-Syrian) freelance commissioning editors trying to solicit inter- journalists working in print, online, radio national freelances to report on the previously and television. These freelances work for a mentioned Sarin gas attack in the hours after range of news outlets, including the interna- it occurred. At the time of writing this Face- tional news agencies (Associated Press [AP], book group is used by 932 journalists, workers AFP, Reuters), the BBC, Die Zeit, a range of in non-governmental organisations and other Austrian news outlets (Wiener Zeitung, Pro- specialists, such as chemical weapons experts, file magazine and the Austrian broadcasting who research, report on and visit Syria. Most of corporation [ORF]), VICE News, Channel 4 the site’s members are journalists. Like the larg- News, CNN, Sky, al Jazeera, the Los Angeles er, related Facebook group, the Vulture Club Times, the International Herald Tribune, the (see Murrell 2014 for more on these Facebook Guardian, Rolling Stone, Le Monde Diploma- groups), it is administered by Human Rights tique, VICE magazine, the New Zealand Her- Watch. I have not named it because it is sup- ald on Sunday, and Swiss radio SRF. posedly a secret group and contains logistical • Seven staff reporters based in Beirut, Lon- information useful to those wishing to do its don and Cairo. (These individuals work for members harm. the BBC, the Daily Telegraph, Channel 4 News and Reuters.) Results • Six desk editors and news executives (work- Kidnap threat in Syria ing for CNN, the BBC, AP, AFP, Reuters, The At the time of writing (March 2015) the New Sunday Times and the Guardian). York-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates about 20 journalists who have been Some of the staff reporters have commissioned abducted by kidnap gangs remain in Syria (CPJ both international and local freelances to work 2014). The journalists who emerge from Syria for them in Syria. One of these staff journal- tell terrifying tales of mistreatment (see Chivers

6 Copyright 2015-2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 PAPER 2013 and Loyd 2014). Two kidnapped interna- they are not ready to admit that they knew tional freelances, James Foley and Steven Sotl- in advance I would be going … This was off, have been murdered on camera by Islamic strange, since I have been writing from Syria State, a self-proclaimed Caliphate aiming to for them for two years (international free- unite Sunni Muslims worldwide. Kidnapping lance journalist Petra Ramsauer, interview is an effective way of intimidating journalists via social media, 13 September 2013). (Beals 2013). Yet for the first two years of the Syrian conflict, from approximately 2011 to Another international freelance was unhappy 2013, it was on international freelances that that news organisations were refusing to take the news organisations relied to gather news. the work of all his international freelance colleagues, even the responsible ones. He consid- Freelances in Syria ers himself one of the latter group. He also At the beginning of the conflict Syria was large- complains of the ‘hypocrisy’ of the news organ- ly a freelance’s war. The number of journalists isations in still using freelances (both interna- killed bears this out. According to the Commit- tional and local) who work for the news agen- PAPER tee to Protect Journalists (2015a), nearly half – cies – of which more later. 46 per cent – of the 80 journalists killed in the Syrian conflict were freelance. This compares I think it is a bad habit to ban [international] to a global figure of 17 per cent over the same freelance work altogether, like The Sunday period (CPJ 2015b). The greatest risks in Syria, Times did (and others). As these newspa- however (as in most ‘new’ wars) are to local pers still buy photos from the wire – which news gatherers. Locals make up 85 per cent of is often delivered anyway by [international] the journalist deaths in Syria. They also make freelances. So such steps seem to me hypo- up the overwhelming majority of the freelance critical and in the end only minimise the deaths (CPJ 2015a). money a[n international] freelance can earn. [This is because] via the wire you often get I first heard of new restrictions news organ- less money than if you sell it directly to a isations were imposing on international free- newspaper – and the newspaper itself pays lances from photographer and video journalist less money to get wire images (interview via Robert King, who had previously worked for AP email, 23 May 2013). Television News (APTV) and CNN while in Syria (interview via social media, 10 October 2012). International freelance journalist Petra Ramsau- He told me that Channel 4 News wanted him er says the traditional rivalry between staff and to leave Syria before looking at material he had freelances also plays a part. She says that a for- shot in Aleppo. This was later confirmed by a eign desk (staff) reporter who commissions her source on the foreign desk at Channel 4 News conceded as such: (interview via social media, 16 October 2012). It became apparent that other international He did admit that he would use each and freelances also felt they had to jump through every opportunity to ‘kick [international] more hoops than formerly in order to work freelances’ out of an assignment. And point- with news organisations: ing out the security risk is such an opportunity. So the safety issue will also be raised and In a phone conversation, Sky told me no possibly ‘used’ by people like him against before they even knew who I was, and said hiring freelances (Ramsauer, interview via we need people to have done hostile envi- social media, 20 September 2013). ronment training. I said I had done such a course in 2007 and they said it needs to Richard Spencer, Middle East correspondent have been done within last three years. Al for the Daily Telegraph, says Telegraph news Jazeera said no as well – I can’t remember if executives are as concerned as those from rival it was a blanket ban on freelance stuff, but I news organisations about the consequences if remember the message being: ‘Don’t bother things go wrong: ‘From a corporate perspec- approaching us with your stuff’ (internation- tive the management of the Telegraph are al freelance journalist, interview via e-mail, concerned about the costs of getting people 23 May 2013). out of kidnap situations,’ he says (telephone interview via Skype, 23 August 2013). This is not Die Zeit Online, the leading German news to ascribe solely negative motivations on the site for whom I work, sent me a … formal part of news organisations to their decisions mail the other day. They say they are not about international freelance use. Undoubt- ready to endorse my trip to Syria. That edly, news executives really do want to protect

PAPER Copyright 2015 2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 7 Richard Pendry inexperienced, naive and untrained individuals and taking (British freelance journalist and who unwittingly put themselves in harm’s way. photographer Benjamin Hiller, interview via Yet news providers who take responsibility for email, 29 May 2013). international freelances also face extremely large bills. Online news company Global Post International freelance journalists say that commissioned American freelance James Foley restrictions on hiring them are designed to pro- to do the reporting from Syria which resulted in tect the news organisation from having to take him being kidnapped and beheaded. The firm responsibility for freelances if they get into later spent millions of dollars trying to secure trouble, rather than any other reason. Accord- his release (Nye 2014). ing to another international freelance, the way it works is as follows: Nor is there much agreement among international freelances about how much support If you ask someone before they go in you can they should demand from their clients, the influence their safety and planning arrange- news organisations. Independent news gather- ments but you can potentially be considered ers compete intensely with each other, and an liable for their safety. If someone is already exceptional piece might win an award. So free- inside it is: lances do not speak with a single voice when • convenient; it comes to their terms of employment. The • they have not yet come to harm; Frontline Club, a body that represents largely international freelance news gatherers who • you have no control or influence of their work in areas of conflict, asked its members safety; what they thought of the restrictions that news • are not liable for them as they went of their organisations place on hiring them. Two thirds own volition; of those who responded to a survey (Frontline • it’s cheaper as you can commission a piece Club 2012) said they would forgo the support without discussing covering costs as, well, of news organisations if it was the only way they are there anyway (international free- they could sell their work. Freelances with few- lance, interview via social media, 2 Septem- er skills and less experience were more likely to ber 2013). agree with the proposition. Such people were less likely to have done hostile environment Most of the international freelances voiced training or be able to afford insurance. These cynicism about the motives behind any ban are precisely the individuals whom news organ- by the news organisations on accepting their isations are likely to be reluctant to employ. work. They surmised that the motive for the One international freelance acknowledged news organisations to – as one put it – ‘come up that they were obliged to work responsibly with increasingly bigger hurdles’ in the way of with the news organisations: employment was for their employers to avoid proper responsibility for looking after them. I think it should be natural that if you work According to this view, the motive was largely on assignment for a special newspaper or legalistic and had to do with concerns over the magazine to cover an event inside Syria that legal duty of care which may make an employer both sides respect each other’s demands. If liable for an employee. a newspaper or magazine hires a[n international] freelance on the ground or wants to Duty of care buy their stuff I think they should for sure The impact of concerns over duty of care on put in some of their resources to advance news gathering has been little discussed. A the security of the freelance, like giving him briefing paper by BBC reporter David Loyn the same protection level like staff members. (2013) remains the best analysis on the subject. That means including him in their security But what is duty of care, and how have expec- assessments … probably providing him with tations over what care needs to be provided a satellite device (often too expensive for a changed? Duty of care is a longstanding legal single freelance), keeping in regular contact obligation under English and United States civil with him and try to help him out if there are law that governs the responsibility owed by, for problems – and working on a risk plan in the example, employer to employee. Such debate case he gets abducted. On the same issue over the application of duty of care to conflict it should be natural for the [international] journalism as has occurred has coincided with freelance to listen to the newspaper or mag- the professionalism of risk management within azine and agree to the terms they have, like news organisations described by Loyn (ibid). the security approach etc. It is mutual giving

8 Copyright 2015-2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 PAPER Such debates happen at all levels of the news As they themselves say it’s obviously not industry and money does not have to change really true – they’ll send Don McCullin (as hands to prompt concerns that one is taking they did) and likewise if they get a killer pic responsibility for someone if they supply goods whose provenance can be quickly identified and services. Nor are legal professionals usu- they’ll use it – what it really means is that the ally involved in such discussions. Few freelances likely need for an offered story or pic and the ever sue news organisations over their failure quality of the person offering is not worth to provide a reasonable duty of care – photog- the time and effort that will be required to rapher Tim Page won a case brought against discuss all the issues involved and take a view Time magazine in 1981 (King 1981). There has on the product. But perhaps, try again when been no recent test in court of how far duty we really need you (Richard Spencer, Daily of care extends to international freelances Telegraph Middle East correspondent, inter- and locally-hired journalists. But as reporters view via social media, 29 August 2013). become targets, the question has become more pressing for news executives (CPJ 2014). In fact, says Spencer, he is not sure the policy on PAPER hiring international freelances is so different in Did The Sunday Times really ban international Syria now: freelances from working in Syria? After speaking to all parties (Press Gazette, the Actually British broadsheets would have that newspaper and British freelance Rick Findler), it policy re. war zones all the time - we ‘gener- is still unclear whether The Sunday Times really ally’ only send staffers and retained string- did stop working with international freelancers who have been through our HET [hostile es. Sean Ryan, Associate Editor of The Sunday environment training] programmes and are Times, told the author that the ban was ‘all a on our insurance … though we will make bit of a misunderstanding’ (telephone inter- exceptions in special circumstances. I’m not view, 29 August 2013). Ryan said that, in fact, sure for most of us that has changed in any the newspaper had been open for business all way (ibid). along with ‘responsible freelances’. However, he conceded that no work from international The freelance photographer, Rick Findler, freelances in Syria had been published since accepts there may be a security reason not the Press Gazette piece. Ryan also said that the to accept work from international freelances colleague who made the statement to Press while they are in Syria. There had been suspi- Gazette was misquoted. When that was put cions that Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin to the Press Gazette, the latter said the quote died because her live broadcasts made her easy came in an email from the paper (telephone to locate: interview, 30 August 2014). I think Marie may have been killed by tar- The contradictory statements made by differ- geting her electronic transmissions when she ent news executives at The Sunday Times per- was filing. So if the pictures will wait and the haps point to concerns over duty of care. But publication I am working for insists I leave it was difficult to get a clear answer. When before I file and I think there may be a risk, asked at a Frontline Club event what The Sun- I will file when I am out of Syria … I don’t day Times lawyers had told him about how have a problem with that (Findler, tele- far their legal responsibility for duty of care phone interview, 5 September 2013). extended to international freelances, Ryan said he personally had never been given any such Finally, it may be that a loose or non-existent advice (Frontline Club 2013). While this may ‘ban’ on international freelances is a useful way be strictly true, he declined to elaborate what of filtering out non-staff journalists that a news the other executives at the paper might have organisation is unsure about working with – for been told. Another broadsheet correspondent, a range of reasons including but not limited to whose newspaper had not ‘banned’ interna- safety. tional freelances, pointed out that any such ban by The Sunday Times, its sister paper The Times Desk editors have a stockpile of useful phras- and the rest was never absolute. The Times had es for fobbing off freelances while trying not sent the most famous war photographer of all to discourage them and this is a quite use- to Syria during the period of the supposed ban ful one for this situation. (See also, ‘sounds (Loyd 2012). really interesting but we’ve just got no space what with Syria/royal baby/Miley Cyrus etc.’) Saying, ‘we generally don’t accept freelance

PAPER Copyright 2015 2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 9 Richard Pendry copy’ to the photographer is what any edi- ish freelance reporter Hannah Lucinda Smith tor’s going to do on any subject, meaning, scripted and performed a voice piece for the if you’re going to take up my time, make it Radio 4 programme From Our Own Correspon- bloody good (Spencer, interview via social dent about snipers in Aleppo (2013a) after she media, 29 August 2013). had left the country. Smith had been commissioned by an executive in BBC radio at a time Case study: Sarin gas attacks in August 2013 when BBC staff reporters had been ordered out Some data that reveal how staff reporters and of the area. However, I had previously been editors actually work with independent jour- told by a BBC news executive that there was nalists – as opposed to how they say they do – a ban within the Corporation on using inter- came from the reporting of the Sarin gas attack national freelances: ‘The principle is that we on the people of the Damascus suburb of Ghou- don’t want to create a market which encour- ta on 21 August 2013. The gas attack was sig- ages people to take risks. It’s not fair to encour- nificant because it was a major news story that age people to do that’ (telephone interview, 27 quickly became a test of whether the United June 2013). It then became apparent that my States and its allies should intervene in the Syr- source had had a row with the BBC Radio editor ian conflict. If it could be proven that chemical who had commissioned the freelance, because weapons had been used, that would appear to he believed all departments at the BBC should cross what US President Obama had said was a have the same policy. I was referred to the BBC ‘red line’ that would trigger intervention. Very press office: ‘We use our own staff on deploy- few international journalists – either staff or ments,’ they said (via email, 4 September 2013). freelance – were in the area at the time of the attack so it was difficult to find out who was So if international staff and freelances are responsible. Again, the data appear to show notably absent from large parts of Syria, who how ambivalent news organisations are about is doing the reporting? It turns out to be the using international freelances in the most dan- locally-hired freelances. gerous areas of conflict. The news agencies step in Within hours of the August 2013 Sarin gas What is remarkable and significant about the attacks, one British newspaper which had pre- reporting of the Syrian conflict is that locally viously said it was not going to commission hired news gatherers have almost entirely international freelances, but was now desper- replaced a large part of the international press ate for copy and pictures, ended up soliciting corps. And it is international news agencies them on the closed Facebook group mentioned (‘the wires’) that have largely enabled this above. Phoebe Greenwood, Assistant Foreign change. After foreign reporters largely had Editor of the Guardian, was one of several stopped going to Syria (by the summer of 2013), editors who went looking for (international) news organisations began to rely on the wire freelances. Others news organisations included services to fill the gap. Why did that happen? the Mail on Sunday, Channel 4 News and the News organisations pay a flat fee to use as much Daily Telegraph. Of those outlets, the Guard- material from the wires as they want and con- ian had previously stated they would not use tractual arrangements for staff are handled by (international) freelances working in Syria (Tur- the wires. In this way, the news organisations vill 2013). On 22 August 2013, the day after the are not responsible for the safety of the people gas attacks, Greenwood said that her newspa- who provide pictures, words and video that fill per was looking for ‘any freelances currently the foreign pages of their newspapers and their working in Damascus’. Greenwood later said news websites day after day. Loyn says this is by that she was only looking for ‘corroboration’ far the safest option for news executives who for the gas story, not to actually hire a journal- are concerned about duty of care: ist (telephone interview, 5 September 2013). Quite how she was hoping to convince a fellow Few organisations want to ask questions of professional journalist to report for her with- whether international news agencies were out the individual insisting on either a byline or operating with the same ethical standards payment was not made clear. that newsrooms adopt for material they buy directly. News organisations take risks up to Case study: Use of international freelancers by a certain level, and then pull back to rely on the BBC the agencies (Loyn 2013: 6). Another case appeared to show how ambivalent news organisations are about working The outsourcing of news gathering to local with international freelances in Syria. Brit- stringers in dangerous reporting environments

10 Copyright 2015-2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 PAPER is not new (see Pedelty 1995 for a discussion But it soon also became apparent that Barakat of the practice in Salvador). Murrell has noted was no neutral bystander and that had implica- that the same thing happened during the insur- tions for his ability to be impartial. Like many gency in Iraq some years earlier. In her analysis, other locals working for international news locally-hired news gatherers working for the organisations in Syria, Barakat was deeply wires had become a kind of reporting back- involved in the conflict. He was killed alongside stop: ‘When a news editor doesn’t feel able to his brother Mustafa who was a rebel fighter send their own staff person, there will usually for the Tawhid militia. According to a New be something available on the wires’ (Murrell York Times investigation (Estrin and Shoumali 2010: 126). But in Iraq the news organisations 2014), Barakat would accompany his brother to had international staff in bureaux in Baghdad battles, taking pictures of his brother and his to supervise the locally-hired news gatherers – comrades-in-arms. Sometimes Barakat carried a and there were coalition troops to guarantee gun. A journalist who befriended Barakat says the safety of the bureau staff. In Syria interna- the latter had considered becoming a suicide tional journalists are operating in unfriendly bomber for al Qa’eda: PAPER terrain: no major news organisation has an office in Damascus with international staff to In the end he didn’t join al Qa’eda; he started give locally-hired news gatherers daily support. working as a photographer, hoping to emu- There is also a large number of other Syrians late some of the journalists he was hanging who gather news, including ‘activists’ and oth- around with. He often asked me if he could er sources. This raises questions about whether work with me and I refused, because I didn’t news gathered in this war accords with the core want the responsibility of an eager seven- journalistic norms of objectivity and impartial- teen-year-old with no war-zone training ity (see Rodgers 2012: 47 for a discussion of and little experience on my shoulders. Soon these related areas). There is nothing new in afterwards I saw that he was filing photos such concerns. Accordingly, organisations such for Reuters. I hope that they took responsi- as the BBC have rules warning of the dangers of bility for him in a way that I couldn’t, and I using news gatherers with a personal involve- hope that if he was taking photographs as ment in the story: ‘Our audiences need to be he died in the hope of selling them to that confident that the BBC’s editorial decisions are agency, they also take responsibility for him not influenced by the outside activities or per- now (Smith 2013b). sonal or commercial interests of programme makers or those who appear on air’ (BBC Edi- Reuters, the news agency that hires the most torial Guidelines). The way locally-hired Syrian Syrian photographers in Syria, paid Barakat a staff were contracted by the news agencies day rate of $150 to file for them, and provided caused something like a moral panic in the his cameras and a flak jacket and helmet. Four news industry at the end of 2013. other Syrian photographers who worked for Reuters said they were not given the medi- Case study: Use of locally-hired photographers cal, safety or ethics training which would be by Reuters provided for staff photographers and interna- It is surely asking a lot of Syrians to expect tional freelances who regularly worked for the them to be impartial when reporting their own agency. It was claimed that Barakat and other civil war. Yet the death of 18-year-old Reuters Syrian news gatherers were largely left to work photographer Molhem Barakat in Aleppo in by themselves. There were no foreign photog- December 2013 shone a light on the difficulties raphers in town on the day Barakat was killed facing news agencies relying on local hires to (Estrin and Shoumali 2014). BBC News producer gather news. Reuters faced accusations that the Stuart Hughes asked Reuters whether they had ethical practice of its news gathering had been checked Barakat’s age, and what was Reuters’ undermined by the constraints of operating policy on purchasing freelance material — in as a news gatherer of last resort. Initially, the this case from locally hired news gatherers — in focus was on Barakat’s youth; Barakat’s age was Syria. The head of PR at Reuters responded: variously reported as 17, 18 or 19. News insiders were scathing: ‘We’re entering uncharted terri- We are deeply saddened by the death tory in terms of the “reportability” of Syria and of Molhem Barakat, who sold photos to I fear this is the inevitable result. There’s no way Reuters on a freelance basis. To best pro- Reuters would have put a staffer into Aleppo – tect the many journalists on the ground in a but they’re prepared to give a teenager camera dangerous and volatile war zone, we think it kit and send him on his way’ (BBC News pro- is inappropriate to comment any further at ducer Stuart Hughes, interview via social media, this time (Hughes 2013). 24 December 2013).

PAPER Copyright 2015 2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 11 Richard Pendry Hughes is concerned that the death of Barakat In the end, this study is really about reporter indicates a wider problem. He says locally-hired power. International staff reporters are located news gatherers working in other areas of con- at the top of the reporting hierarchy and have flict are normally supervised far more closely the most power. International freelancers are than they currently are in Syria: located lower down the hierarchy than staff reporters and have less power. Local report- When Reuters put out statements like the ers have least status and the least power. This one they gave me I do despair. Big news is in line with Pedelty’s (1995) findings about organisations (mine included) are looking the relative status of the staff, freelancers and to social media and citizen journalism etc. as stringers or locally hired journalists. a way of telling stories in a different way, increasing access to places like Syria etc., but Does the data from this research project have when they feel threatened they think they broader implications for journalism and conflict can pull the shutters down and say nothing. reporting? Syria fits Kaldor’s (2006) description Hopefully this case will help show that’s not of ‘new wars’ in which control of information an option anymore – they’ve got to be more spaces became part of the war, to the extent transparent (Hughes, interview via social that aspects of the conflict become near invis- media, 24 December 2013). ible. The Islamic State group has successfully closed down the information space by killing The New York Times’s investigation also freelance international journalists, at the same claimed that Syrian photographers had pro- time as it calls attention to its own radical pub- vided Reuters with staged photographs that lic relations strategy. It is tempting to connect were in some cases improperly credited (Estrin these two elements. If that connection could be and Shoumali 2014). Finally, a separate inves- proven that would be an interesting develop- tigation suggested another example where ment in the debate about the mediatisation of a Reuters stringer had faked pictures, such as military forces (see Cottle 2006, Maltby 2012). those of a ten-year-old boy supposedly work- The long-term trend may be away from robust, ing in a munitions factory (Winslow 2014). In independent reporting on the ground. Former all these cases, Reuters denied their photogra- BBC reporter Martin Bell, for example, paints a phers had been working unethically. bleak future for conflict journalism. Talking to John Simpson, World Affairs editor at the BBC, Discussion and conclusion Bell said: ‘I do not believe that war reporting To sum up, the current study looked for evi- as we used to do it, from among the people, dence that news organisations had become is any longer possible’ (Simpson 2012). Indeed, reluctant to take responsibility for internation- the number of countries where reporting by al and locally hired freelances working in Syria. international journalists on the ground is little It initially investigated news production and practised now includes Afghanistan, the tribal hiring processes relating to two specific stories, areas of Pakistan, North Caucasus and Somalia the gas attacks of August 2013 and a BBC radio and certain areas in the Middle East. In none piece through interviews with a broad range of these places are international reporters pro- of freelances, staff reporters and news indus- tected by friendly forces. Before the current try executives. It found that news organisations war in Syria, a generation of war reporters had are sorely challenged by the current situation grown up with the embedding system in Iraq in Syria. The result is that they are struggling and Afghanistan (Tumber and Palmer 2004). to perform their core duty to inform the pub- It has been a shock for many reporters work- lic sphere. The focus of the final part of the ing in Syria to discover how exposed they are research shifted away from international free- when not protected by Nato troops. Cockburn lances, and on to the people who have ended (2013) makes the case traditionally made by up doing most of the news gathering – locally- war reporters – that there is no substitute for hired news gatherers. But it is unclear whether on-the-ground reporting. But journalists and the increased use of the latter is a change of their audience are getting used to the idea that principle rather than simply a change of scale increasingly it just isn’t possible. of use in previous conflicts. The conclusion that news organisations find it difficult to find a way Acknowledgements through the resulting contradictions concern- • This work was supported with a small grant from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Kent. ing ethics and impartiality is supported by the • No conflicts of interest have come to light during its prepara- data gathered from all three case studies. tion. • Disclosure statement: the author has no income to disclose in relation to the research conducted.

12 Copyright 2015-2. Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. All rights reserved. Vol 12, No 2 2015 PAPER References Nye, James (2014) ISIS tortured James Foley’s family with emails BBC Editorial Guidelines (2015) Conflicts of Interest: Introduction. warning they were planning to execute him last week, Daily Mail, Available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/ 20 August. Available online at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ guidance-conflicts-introduction/, accessed on 4 November 2013 article-2730260/James-Foleys-former-boss-claims-White-House- Beals, Emma (2013) More and more journalists are being kidnapped knew-journalist-held-captors-showed-no-mercy.html, accessed on in Syria, Vice. Available online at http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/ 1 September 2014 its-getting-much-harder-to-report-on-the-war-in-syria, accessed on Otto, Florian and Meyer, Christoph O. (2012) Missing the story? 4 November 2013 Changes in foreign news reporting and their implications for con- Chivers, Christopher (2013) American tells of odyssey as prisoner flict prevention, Media, War & Conflict, Vol. 5, No. 3 pp 205-221 of Syrian rebels, New York Times, 23 August. Available online at Pedelty, Mark (1995) War stories: The culture of foreign correspon- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/world/middleeast/american- dents, New York and London, Routledge tells-of-odyssey-as-prisoner-of-syrian-rebels.html?_r=0, accessed on Picard, Robert (2014) Twilight or new dawn of journalism, Journal- 4 November 2013 ism Practice, Vol. 8, No. 5 pp 488-498 Cockburn, Patrick (2013) Diary, London Review of Books. Avail- Rodgers, Gavin (2013) Sunday Times tells freelances not to submit able online at http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n19/patrick-cockburn/diary, photographs from Syria, Press Gazette, 5 February. Available online accessed on 4 November 2013 at http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/sunday-times-tells-freelances- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) (2014) In Syria, fewer jour- not-submit-photographs-syria, accessed on 1 May 2013 nalist deaths but danger has never been greater. Available online Rodgers, James (2012) Reporting conflict, Basingstoke, Palgrave at https://cpj.org/blog/2014/12/in-syria-fewer-journalist-deaths-but- MacMillan PAPER danger-has-never-been-gr.php, accessed on 1 May 2014 Rosen, Jay (1999) What are journalists for? New Haven, CT, Yale Committee to Protect Journalists (2015a) 80 journalists killed in University Press Syria since 1992. Available online at https://www.cpj.org/killed/mid- Sambrook, Richard (2010) Are foreign correspondents redundant? east/syria/, accessed on 13 April 2015 The changing face of international news, Oxford, Reuters Institute Committee to Protect Journalists (2015b) 746 journalists murdered for the Study of Journalism since 1992. Available online at https://cpj.org/killed/murdered.php, Simpson, John (2012) Life and death on the frontline. Radio broad- accessed on 9 February 2015 cast, 4 May, 20.00hrs, London, BBC Radio 4 Cottle, Simon (2006) Mediatized conflict, Open University Press, Smith, Hannah Lucinda (2013a) Aleppo: A city where snipers shoot Maidenhead children. Radio broadcast, 18 August, London, BBC Radio 4 Estrin, James and Karam Shoumali (2014) Questions about news Smith, Hannah Lucinda. (2013b) On the death of another Syrian: photographers in Syria arise after freelancer’s death, New York Stuff from my notebook blog. Available online at http://hannah- Times Lens blog, 13 March. Available online at http://lens.blogs. luci.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/on-the-death-of-another-syrian/, nytimes.com/2014/03/13/questions-about-news-photographers-in- accessed on 1 May 2014 syria-arise-after-freelancers-death/, accessed on 1 May 2014 Tumber, Howard and Palmer, Jerry (2004) Media at war: The Iraq Franklin, Bob (2014) The future of journalism, Journalism Practice, crisis, London, Sage Publications Vol. 8, No. 5 pp 469-487 Tumber, Howard and Webster, Frank (2006) Journalists under fire: Frontline Club (2012) The first freelance news safety survey, Front- Information war and journalistic practices, London, Sage Publica- line Club News, 29 May. Available online at http://www.frontline- tions club.com/freelance_safety_survey/, accessed on 1 May 2013 Turvill, William (2013) Broadsheets back Sunday Times decision to Frontline Club (2013) The changing state of reporting on Syria, decline Syria freelance pics, Press Gazette, 19 February. Available Frontline Club News, 20 November. Available online at http:// online at http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/broadsheets-back-sunday- www.frontlineclub.com/the-changing-state-of-reporting-on-syria/, times-decision-decline-freelance-submissions-syria, accessed on 1 accessed on 21 November 2013 May 2013 Goffman, Erving (1959) The presentation of self in everyday life, Venter, Sahm (2005) The safety of journalists: An assessment of per- Garden City, New York, Doubleday ceptions of the origins and implementation of policy at two inter- Goffman, Erving (1969) Strategic interaction, Philadelphia, Univer- national television news agencies. Unpublished MA thesis, Rhodes sity of Pennsylvania Press University, February Hughes, Stuart (2013) Available online at http://www.twitlonger. Winslow, Donald R (2014) Reuters denies ethical allegations, while com/show/n_1rudf4i, accessed on 1 May 2013 some Syria photographs still questioned, National Press Photogra- Kaldor, Mary (2006) New & old wars, Cambridge, Polity, second phers Association Blog, 18 March. Available online at https://nppa. edition org/news/reuters-denies-ethical-allegations-while-some-syria-pho- King, Wayne (1981) Combat photographer wins $125,000 in a suit tographs-still-questioned, accessed on 1 May 2014 against Time, New York Times, 15 December. Available online at http://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/15/us/combat-photographer- Note on the Contributor wins-125000-in-a-suit-against-time.html?smid=fb-share, accessed Richard Pendry is a Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism at the Univer- on 1 May 2013 sity of Kent. He was formerly a member of Frontline News Tele- Loyd, Anthony (2012) Don McCullin’s last war, Times, 29 Decem- vision, an news agency which specialised in reporting conflict. He ber. Available online at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/magazine/ makes documentary films, most recently A Poisoned Legacy, for article3638191.ece, accessed on 1 May 2013 al Jazeera. His publications include ‘In Syria, freelancer demand Loyd, Anthony (2014) ‘I thought of Hakim as a friend. Then he shot amidst increasing restrictions’ (Columbia Journalism Review) and me’. Times, 17 May. Available online at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/ two films on reporting practices in Iraq for the Daily Beast (A tto/news/world/middleeast/article4092553.ece, accessed on 1 June Strange Animal and Raid in Kirkuk). These films relate to his article 2014 for Ethical Space, ‘Sub-contracting newsgathering in Iraq’. He chairs Loyn, David (2013) Newsgathering safety and the welfare of free- debates at the Frontline Club in London on current foreign report- lancers. Available online at https://frontlinefreelance.org/sites/ ing practices and is currently a part-time PhD candidate, research- default/files/Safety%20Report_WEB.pdf, accessed on 1 June 2014 ing how contemporary war reporters work with their rivals and Maltby, Sarah (2012) Military media management, London and collaborators. New York, Routledge Murrell, Colleen (2010) Baghdad Bureaux: An exploration of the interconnected world of fixers and correspondents at the BBC and CNN, Media, War & Conflict, Vol. 3, No. 2 pp 125-137 Murrell, Colleen (2014) The Vulture Club: International newsgathering via Facebook, Australian Journalism Review, Vol. 36, No. 1 pp 15-27