FREELANCERS DESERVE MORE
Vaughan Smith

Roddy Scott, a freelance video producer, was killed in Ingushetia on 26 September 2002 in a battle between Russian forces and a group of Chechen rebels he had accompanied from Georgia. Roddy was part of a small community of "real" freelances who often fund their own assignments by selling footage and news stories to broadcasters. Subsequent press coverage showed that many in the media still feel uncomfortable with real freelances. One report quoted an unnamed western reporter saying that it was 'practically suicidal and really crazy' for a journalist to 'join those rebels'. Some hold the view that supporting people like Roddy is tantamount to encouraging them to get themselves killed as they chase ever more dangerous stories.

Anybody who has had to tell parents that their son has just been killed will understand that questioning the value of Roddy's work erodes the one thing his bereaved family still have. Absolutely aware of the dangers, Roddy, a single man, went to Chechnya because he thought that the risks involved had deterred the media from covering an important news story.

Of course, no self-respecting broadcaster could ever be comfortable with the idea that freelances are there to take the risks that they won't. Yet, when they won't, a freelance sometimes will, and journalism is surely better for it. Increasingly, freelances present our industry with an ethical problem that comes to the fore when one of them is killed. There is well meaning talk of not buying footage from uninsured freelances or those that haven't done the industry's safety courses. Since most real freelances cannot afford these, it would restrict their ability to work.

The root of their problems is the real freelances' inability to realise the true commercial value of their royalties and skills. Roddy's trip to Chechnya was delayed for three months while he waited for a broadcaster to pay for two minutes of his Afghan footage sold for £250 per minute earlier this year. That £500 was all Roddy had to pay for his whole trip. Ten years ago he could have expected to raise more than twice that. Of the 12 minutes of Roddy's footage which the BBC kindly retrieved from the Russian FSB, exactly half the broadcasters who expressed interest in the footage said they would only use it if it were free. The BBC was prepared to pay.

In British television news only Channel 4 Television, with its Independents' Fund, has seriously tried to harness freelance journalism. Freelances now sell to markets that will pay well for only the most dangerously acquired footage, but are becoming
uncomfortable about the danger. The very people who most promote safety within our industry have been quickest to respond to this unsatisfactory situation. Some media organisations now support The Rory Peck Training Fund, providing bursaries to help subsidise freelance safety courses. Roddy's course was part-funded by one. The Trust continues to strive to make insurance more affordable.

The best way for freelances to continue covering dangerous stories independently is to demonstrate that we are doing them as safely and responsibly as possible. In some cases, freelances are as experienced as the industry's safety advisors but there is too often freelance disinterest in efforts designed to support them. While freelances must appreciate the new realities in regard to safety, shouldn't our industry make more effort to understand and support people like Roddy? Is it not part of the responsibility that goes with having the means to broadcast or publish journalism?

Vaughan Smith is the director of the freelance agency Frontline Television News Limited, a Trustee of The Rory Peck Trust and an award-winning freelance video
producer.

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