Protecting the messenger

On the 23rd of November, 2009, in the Philippines, a convoy of women associated to a political party and journalists was stopped in the middle of the road. The group that included at least 32 media professionals was on its way to register a candidacy in the upcoming elections. The journalists were going to tell the story, but they didn’t. They were stopped by 100 armed men, and they were all murdered. That terrible day was “the bloodiest single attack on the news media on record anywhere in the world” according to the International News Safety Institute.

But although there were a reported 133 deaths of media professionals in 2009, it was not the worst year, “there have been worst”, said Rodney Pinder, head of the institute that has its goal to create a culture of safety in the media, adding that “although the general reduction of violence in Iraq lead to less deaths, the numbers of journalists being killed in other countries continues to be unacceptably high.”

Rodney Pinder is the head of the International News Safety Institute, the first organization of its kind devoted exclusively to promote journalist safety, they offer security training for journalists and watch the world for essentially bad news, when journalists die or are injured in the exercise of their trade. The institute’s study Killing the Messenger points out that the Daniel Pearl death and the Tim Lopes deaths in Brazil are two watershed events that put the focus on violence against journalists in peace time.

Pointing out that close to 9 out 10 killings of journalists are never prosecuted, Pinder is a strong advocate of safety training. In his view, journalists must be able to tell if they are being followed, know how to check their cars for bombs, and create variable routines that lessens their vulnerability. It is in their interest that they band together in professional organizations. “Journalists can look out for each other, but their best defense”, said Pinder, “is that their reporting is always truthful and unbiased,” that and a legal system that prosecutes those who attack media professionals. More on that exclusive interview below.

133 journalists and media staff died in 2009, was it a record bad year for journalists and media professionals?

It was not a record bad year, there have been worse years, it wasn’t a good year at all, and the main reduction in casualties was because not too many journalists were being killed in Iraq, in line with the general reduction of violence in Iraq. But the numbers of journalists being killed in other countries continues to be unacceptably high; the massacre of 32 journalists in the Philippines was the worst single event of its kind ever in the history of journalism.

Can you detect an overall trend with respect to violence against journalists?

The situation is not improving, it continues to be bad, in spite of a lot of attention being focused on the killing of journalists by the United Nations resolution... we cannot see much improvement. The majority of journalists killed are still murdered because of their work, and the countries where the journalists are most at risk have not changed very much. For example, the Philippines was the worst, but if we took out the single event of the massacre, Mexico would have been the worst country in the world. So really in any country, the problem about the killing of journalists is a domestic issue, and very few of the killings of journalists are ever brought to justice, something like 9 out of 10 of the murderers are never prosecuted. This simply encourages more people to attack journalists… why not?

On the whole, are journalist killings political acts?

The most common cause of journalist deaths is criminals and corrupt politicians who are trying to cover up their ‘dirty deeds’ if you like. We are a safety organization so we count causes of death, we also count accidents as causes of death, far too many journalists also die in road accidents.

Do you provide statistics?

As much as we can, we examine the causes the circumstances. We are about to create a database that will allow us to track deaths and kidnappings, that sort of thing. And then we will be able with the new database to analyze the causes of attack, impunity, much more efficiently. We hope to have it in operation by the middle of the year. It is very big and ambitious project, we don’t know if it will work, but it will be comprehensive.

Based on media reports?

Partly on media reports, partly on a network of informants, if we see for example if a journalist was killed, we will need to know whether it was because of their job or was there another reason, if he or she was murdered was anybody prosecuted or convicted? We need to know all these details.

We will also provide information for research projects and other purposes which we hope will help reduce alter the safety training we do so that we can better target our safety training and the circumstances in which it is necessary…

Will the information be made available to the public?

The information would be made available in the form of reports or requests by researchers. Absolutely, that is the main purpose of it; we will make the information freely available to everybody, in the news community.

Are you interested more in peace time violence or war situations?

Our main interest in fact is with violence against journalist in non war situations, some of our work covers war, but most of our training in fact is for journalist in peace time, crime, corruption, investigative reporting, that sort of thing.

Are there statistics available on current situation of journalists in the world?

The last comprehensive world survey that we did was for the years 1996 to 2006 and this was the first ever survey of journalist casualties around the world, available on our website, the full report is called Killing the Messenger.

We have not done regional surveys; we want to do that in the future. One project we are working on is a survey in Mexico of the effect of trauma, traumatic stress on journalists working in the local context. There has been a good work in international surveys covering conflict but this has never been done on local journalists covering their own countries, this is coming up this year at the institute.

What do you teach journalists so they are less vulnerable to violence in their own cities and countries?

We try to teach them how to tell, for example, if they are under surveillance, if someone is watching them, show them how to arrange an escape route if we think they have to get away quickly, defensive driving, how to check their vehicle for a bomb, how to vary their routines so attackers cant tell where they are going to be at any time of day …

Do you think journalists are appropriately trained in journalism schools?

No they are not trained for safety that is one of our issues; we believe that all schools and training should include journalist safety training. Otherwise we train them to be good journalists and then they go out to find the truth and get themselves killed.

Do journalists look out for each other?

They should but they don’t, they should keep track of one another, know what each of them are doing, where they are, where they are going, offer advice about where it is safe to travel, exchange information about local circumstances. Particularly in a local context, they ought to form federations; formal organizations that will help them help themselves.

Overall do you think the media agencies are taking responsibility for the work of staff and freelance journalists?

Not enough, a problem now is lot of large organizations are cutting back on the numbers of staff and are hiring local people but are not giving them the same level of protection they used to give their staff,

What does this change mean?

They should give them full hostile violence training and full insurance coverage for a start. They should not be sent into dangerous situations without proper training.

Does the new digital media put journalists more at risk than before?

Yes, a lot of journalists are not prepared for this situation, and this is very dangerous for them and everybody around them. Citizen journalists for example, may add to the vulnerability of the profession; if you are going to do this job, you have to be professional, and professionally prepared and trained for it. 

How do you see the earthquake coverage in Haiti?

It was obvious that it took a terrible toll on Haitian journalists; the preparation of some of the journalists that were sent in could have been done a bit better. They were sent in without proper sleeping bags, medical kits, proper water supplies, tents, accommodation…

Did you receive complaints?

One or two, not a huge number. Most journalists don’t complain, they are eager to go and cover their story, and that is their consideration. The responsibility with their safety is with whoever is commissioning them to write the story.

How does the content of news stories affect journalist safety?

I think one of the best protections journalists can have in any situation is to report truthfully, and to be able to show any kidnapper or potential attacker or any hostile party that their reporting has always been truthful and correct and not biased or twisted in any way, and that has been proven to be helpful particularly in the case of a kidnapping.

Does your organization look into legal mechanisms to follow up on crimes against journalists?

We are a proactive organization to prepare journalists for dangerous situations they are likely to go into, not on what happens afterwards, we are the only organization that is solely focused on safety. 

Read Further:

The International News Safety Institute