The Rory Peck Training Fund 2000

Keynote Speech by Chris Cramer, President of CNN International

"Responsible organisations should draw no distinction between staff and freelance when it comes to training (and life and injury insurance) we shouldn't even be debating it."

Thanks for the invitation to join you this evening. Some of you will know that I now reside in the land of the free - (away from bank holidays and warm beer) so it's a treat to be here.

Actually my trip back here this week coincides with a particularly important date for me and a few others.

Last Monday, May Day, was the 20th anniversary of the ending of the Iranian Embassy Siege in London. For those of you here far too young to remember (or care) about it, it marked probably the only highlight - or lowlight - of my career here in Britain. If ever I needed an epiphany (a defining moment) on the issue of safety or that our profession was capable of being in harms way, then it was 20 years ago.

I'm a lot wiser these days - and as you can see, a lot older. If we look around the world today we can see an array of circumstances where journalists and other newsgatherers are seriously at risk of injury or worse: Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Colombia, and the old favourites Algeria and Chechnya.

I believe the media industry - both print and broadcast - has come a long way in this country in recognising the need for safety training at all levels for the practitioners of our craft. A lot of the spadework in the early 90's was done by people like Peter Hunter, BBC News Safety Officer, who beat BBC Managers - beat me - into submission on the issue of adequate training and equipment for our staff.

Frankly I should have been listening a lot earlier (given my own experiences).

People like Peter Hunter and Tony Loughran and others from the BBC should take all our praise for the time and the energy they have spent in bringing the issue of safety and practical training to the fore.

We should also take the opportunity to thank John Owen and the Freedom Forum for their efforts in raising the issue of the safety of journalists. John's own passion on the subject has done a lot to further the cause. Much of the industry here in Britain is light years ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to a proper recognition of what needs to be done.

The issue of freelances of course has been more of an uphill struggle. Which is why organisations like CNN and others here tonight are thrilled to be able to lend our support - and our money - to the establishment of the Rory Peck Training Fund.

Rory Peck himself of course, was not able to benefit from the types of training and practical exercise that we are able to offer. (Not I suspect that Rory would have had much truck with the courses anyway. (He was fully trained in the military and would have probably told me and most of you where to stick our training manuals)

It is a fact that until recently the industry here and elsewhere has been almost totally remiss when it comes to providing adequate training - and until fairly recently - proper insurance for our freelance colleagues.

Many organisations have adopted the disgusting principle that freelances are not their problem, that somehow they are "on their own". I still remember the anguish that Rory Peck's family went through after his death. Months spent pursuing those organisations that he was working for on the day he died. (That this happened within our own profession is a disgrace).

Responsible organisations should draw no distinction between staff and freelance when it comes to training (and life and injury insurance) we shouldn't even be debating it. Another issue we should stop the debate on is whether it is right and proper for all media organisations to provide proper safety training and proper safety guidelines for their newsgatherers.

We know that newspapers and print were slower off the mark when it came to appreciating this responsibility. We have representatives here this evening from more enlightened print employers. But there are still those out there who figure it's only a problem for the broadcasters and for the noisy gaggle of radio and TV packs who descend on a warzone. That somehow the lone newspaper hack is immune from any form of danger, doesn't need the training, doesn't need the protective equipment. That he or she lives on their wits - or maybe dies. It's a dangerous myth and we need to change it.

Let me leave you with another myth.

That members of our profession are so devoid of emotion - so professionally detached from what they witness that somehow they never get affected by it. There are a good few people in this room who know that not to be the case. And a good few of them - us - who have resorted to the good old-fashioned ways of relieving stress and trauma.

I, of course, refused any BBC or Home Office offers of counselling or debriefing 20 years ago. In fact my BBC boss then - God bless him - was probably the very first grief counsellor. He told me to go home, get drunk, get laid, and smoke something funny. And then get my fat arse back to work in the morning. Sensitive soul.

I was very foolish to refuse the counselling and in a very short period of time developed acute feelings of paranoia - which is why I went into BBC Senior Management (where I flourished)

The next big challenge for us in this profession is to at least accept - that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - acute trauma - does affect some of us.

It's OK to talk about it.

My personal ambition is that sometime very soon it becomes a normal part of all the training we are here to launch for freelances today.

Thanks again for the invitation.

For the stressed among you - and those without it - I gather the bar is still open - see you there.

Chris Cramer
President of CNN International

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