What will you do without us?

From Vaughan Smith's speech at the 1999 Rory Peck Awards Ceremony

Vaughan Smith (right) congratulates Jan Van Benthem, winner of the Freelancers' Choice

I cannot help wondering if Rory Peck, whom I knew well, would have thrived in today's freelance market? I don't mean in terms of ability - Rory was exceptional then and would have been exceptional today. I mean would he have earned a living, as he did so successfully then?

Let me explain. We are celebrating two types of freelancer tonight. Those that five years ago would have been employed and those that would not have been! The first category contains camera people who, to differing degrees, are available for hire by more than one broadcaster. The second is inhabited by journalists who operate their own cameras and normally go to far-flung places at their own expense and on their own initiative hoping to sell the results. It is this second category that Rory fitted into, that I am referring to tonight when I say freelancer. The struggle we faced together with Rory was for recognition within the industry. Because we used consumer Video 8 cameras people thought we couldn't be serious. Then those that felt threatened by us began to suggest that our journalism must be suspect. In the field some used to question why we were given press accreditation at all. We have come a long way since then but now we face a more serious difficulty.

The worldwide distribution of freelance material has collapsed. In the past we have survived by distributing our material worldwide. But now Reuters and APTN are providing such full services that when News programmes have money left over they choose to send their own reporters to do stories instead of buying in ours. Add that to the general move towards domestic news in Europe and the USA and one can see why freelance distribution has all but closed down.

Please don't confuse what I am saying for a gripe about the commercial realities of the Television News industry. As freelancers, we accept that we are not the only victims of the market and that any solution to our plight will have to stand up to commercial reality. Yet I am confused as to why an industry under financial pressure shouldn't turn to its multi-skilled pioneers. We provide excellent value for money.

I have tried to contact all the Rory Peck Award finalists from previous years. 12 out of 13 of them are alive, (Farhad Kerimov won the award posthumously) and 8 fit into the freelance category that I am talking about. I was able to get a response in time from 6 of them. I asked them, chosen by you as the cream of the freelance community, some questions -

Do you consider that you make a satisfactory living from Television News?
The answer was no from all 6. 3 of them subsidise their freelancing from other jobs.

Do you think that broadcasters treat you with respect?
All 6 said that they did not feel that they were treated with respect within the industry except by a few of the people that they had developed strong personal relationships with.

Do you expect that you will be doing this in 5 years time?
4 said no. 2 said yes if they could support it through working part-time doing other things.

Would you advise anybody else starting off to do what you do?
5 said no. 1 said yes. (He didn't elaborate)

The truth is that freelancers are staring at the wall. Commissions are difficult to get and on-spec trips have become a road to bankruptcy. Of course none of this should be of any consequence to the industry or society if our work were not valuable. But it is - and this is why I am speaking out tonight. We are the freest part of the free press. Our absence will be felt within Television News and our societies will be poorer for it.

I could take East Timor to illustrate my point. You will remember the pictures of the graveyard massacre in Dili in 1991. Like so many of the most memorable images in Television News today they were shot by a freelancer. This time it was Max Stahl. This year he was one of the few journalists who stayed when broadcasters pulled out. His was the only video to emerge until the press went back in again with the UN force. He is still there going places that others won't.

The current trend towards safety in Television News means that broadcasters will not let their staff go anywhere dangerous without a hostile environment course and an array of safety equipment. I don't want anybody to think that I am critical of that. But the fact that we have safety equipment should not prevent us from doing a dangerous job in the first place.

During the bombing campaign in Kosovo many broadcasters felt that the evidence provided by refugees only allowed them to report of "alleged" massacres. Yet for most, sending their reporters in to find out the truth was too dangerous despite the importance such a report would have had in keeping the worlds greatest military alliance together. I know of only 3 cameramen who crept through Serb positions to get to Kosovo's hinterland during the bombing. All of them are freelance.

Who will fill the vacuum that we leave? Freelance Television journalism looks set to almost disappear unless it can find an outlet on the internet. Only then might it get the recognition in society that it deserves.

We have paid a high price for our place in Television News. From Frontline Television alone two of our founding members, Rory Peck and Nick della Casa have been killed.

Yet the industry risks losing one of its most far-reaching and cost-effective assets through neglect. What will you do without us?

Issue 4
December 1999

• Letter from Paddington
• The 1999 Rory Peck Awards
• Pictures from the 1999 Rory Peck Awards
• Freelance Realities: Internet Rights
• What will you do Without us?
• Obituaries
• Global Billboard
• Letters

• Issue 9
• Issue 8
• Issue 7
• Issue 6
• Issue 5
• Issue 3
• Issue 2
• Issue 1

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