-Reporting-War 7wrw Finalreport

7/27/2019 -Reporting-War 7wrw Finalreport

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Women Reporting War

Summary of preliminary survey on safety issues faced by females in the

news media who work in areas of conflict

Sponsored by the Swedish International Development Co-operation

Agency (Sida)

As part of the Global Safety Training project of the

International News Safety Institute

In response to requests, the International News Safety Institute has conducted

a preliminary survey on safety issues that may affect female journalists who

work in areas of conflict.

The aim of the survey, which was conducted by a questionnaire sent out by

email, was to determine what safety considerations or specific safety

requirements female journalists may have in terms of equipment and/or

operational methods and procedures.

Over 150 questionnaires were sent to employees and freelance female

journalists who work internationally and locally within news media.

The questionnaire was broken into sections with tick boxes covering personal

and professional safety issues, and well as providing space for written

comments and recommendations.

31 responses were returned by the deadline of 1stOctober. 1 response was in

the form of an email. 1 questionnaire missed the deadline for data analysis.

Therefore, the following findings are based on 29 returned questionnaires and

analysed by The School of Social Sciences, City University, London.

However, since this is a preliminary survey involving a small group of

journalist, the results should be viewed as early indications of issues and

concerns rather than a full scale scientific study.

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

Demographic data pointed towards just over 55% of the journalists beingsingle, and around 13% being divorced or separated. Most had worked in

areas of conflict for at least three years, and several had between 12 and 16

years experience. 13 were travelling journalists, 11 were based in foreign

bureaux and 5 were line producers or managers. None worked in their native

country.


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The majority (65.5%) reported they worked in small teams of up to 4 members,

although a few worked in teams of more than 4. Only 24% worked in pairs. 34.5%

reported working alone. Most have not worked with military units, nor have they

been embed with troops.

Physical well-being

Disturbingly, over 82% reported physical attack or intimidation whilst covering

conflict. 55.2% reported sexual harassment, 6.9% said they had experienced sexual

abuse (this also included rape, although since this was not a separate question it is

unclear how many have experienced rape or the threat of it). 34.5% reported

physical abuse, and 41.4% said they experienced mental abuse. 7.4% reported being

taken hostage.

Safety Awareness Training

Approximately 86.2% had received some kind of safety awareness training. Out of

these, 86.2 % had received hostile environment (HE) training and 62.1% had First Aid

training.

At the conclusion of this section, further written comment was invited concerning

safety training issues.

1 reported that HE was invaluable. (She believes a combination of HE training and

self defence training saved her life during an attack, although she subsequently

suffered PTSD). 2 reported sexually inappropriate behaviour from HE instructor. 1

requested female HE instructors because of attitude of HE instructors. 1 reported

sexual harassment from HE advisor in field. 1 thought that providing extra training for

women would be disastrous. She believed there was a need to get away from clich

notion that women are more at risk.

Safety equipment: These responses are based on those who took part in this section

of the survey, which differs in number from the whole questionnaire, therefore the

finding are broadly presented.

Female Flak jackets: 88.9% had never used a female flak jacket. However, in

written comments, 7 requested a custom-made flak jacket to fit women. 1 reported

feeling ashamed to wear a flak jacket around local people who do not have them.

Protective Clothing: Most television journalists reported excellent experience of

protective clothing, and about a quarter of freelancers agreed, but very few newspaper

journalists concurred.

Chemical clothing: The majority of television journalists had excellent experience.

Less than a quarter of newspaper journalists and none of the freelance journalists

agreed. 70% of freelance journalists who responded to this section reported poor

experiences.


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Armoured vehicles: Most freelancers and newspaper journalists had poor

experiences of armoured vehicles. 100% of television journalists responding to this

section reported very good experiences.

Personal Attack alarms: Most television journalists responding to this section

reported an excellent experience of personal alarms. Over half of freelance journalists

had poor experiences.

Intruder alarms: Half of the television and freelance journalists who took part in this

section reported poor experiences.

However, the following list of recommendations for necessary safety equipment was

drawn up from written responses:

Rape alarm, or similar protection such as mace/pepper spray

Door Lock

Good medical kit

Satellite phone

Proper headscarf and appropriate chador

Wedding ringBetter helmets

Small knife for protection

Cigarettes for bribing way out of difficult situations

Good working clothes and boots

Armoured trucks that work!

Flashlight

Battery powered short wave radio

Chargers for cell and sat phone, which work on car battery

Stress and safety - early indications.

Evidence suggests that heavy workloads are not particularly stressful to journalists.

Freelancers report that difficult work conditions are a source of stress. Poor editorial

management is regarded as moderately to very stressful.

The majority of television journalists do not regard lack of appropriate safety

equipment as stressful, although freelancers and newspaper journalists experience this

between slightly stressful to moderately stressful.

The majority of television journalists did not find working as a female journalist in a

repressive regime particularly stressful. But most freelance journalists and

newspaper journalists reported this between moderately stressful and very stressful.

The majority of journalists reported working on traumatic stories as slightly stressful

to moderately stressful. Most reported witnessing a colleague being wounded or

killed as highly stressful.

Most reported sexual harassment as slightly stressful to moderately stressful, although

a number of television and freelancers reported the experience as being very stressful.


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Humiliation and ridicule were not regarded as particularly stressful. However, the

majority of freelance journalists considered threat of physical attack as very stressful.

Personal health issues ranged from an insignificant source of stress to moderately

stressful.

Journalists made the following written comments regarding safety and stress:

1 reported feeling very emotional when reporting on dying children and womenfacing extreme hardship due to being a parent herself. 1 reported that management

considered stress induced reactions in female journalists as a sign of weakness, but

this was excused in male reporters.

1 journalist considered that people are loathed to voluntarily undergo counseling, even

when offered by company.

3 reported feeling safer working in a Moslem country because of being female. (1

believed her presence saved colleagues from being shot). 1 reported verbal abuse

from male colleague. 1 reported sexual harassment from male colleagues. 1

experienced sexual harassment from local fixer. 1 experienced bullying from

colleague and editor

Alcohol and drug use:

Most television and freelance journalists reported using alcohol to help deal with

fearful and stressful situations. However,most had not used drugs.

Leaving assignments early:

Most television journalists had not left an assignment early due to fear of personal

safety, but a significant proportion of freelancers had done so. Most journalists had

not left an assignment due to ill health.

Written responses provided the following observations:

6 reported that drinking was a natural part of unwinding. 1 reported drinking once

assignment was over, but never during it. 1 reported drinking too much as a means of

handling stress, and found this rampant with colleagues. 1 reported taking hash as a

way of relaxing. 1 found re-entry difficult and suffered from nightmares and

sleeping problems.

Managerial responses early indications

The majority of journalists did not agree that managerial responses to safety issues

were particularly weak. Most did not believe that expressing concerns about safety

issues would adversely affect their career prospects, although there was concern

indicated by newspaper journalists.

Most erred on the side of disbelief that they would be less likely to deploy in the field

by expressing their concerns. The majority of television journalist believed that

management would be sympathetic and action taken on hearing their concerns.

Freelancers or newspaper journalists did not necessarily share this view.

Most agreed that colleagues were supportive to personal safety concerns, and most

were not inhibited by peer pressure in raising safety issues.


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Written responses produced the following comments:

3 reported their bosses had little or no experience of working in areas of conflict, and

this reflected in their attitude towards safety issues. 1 newspaper journalist reported

the stiff upper lip attitude is still alive and well. 2 reported that management think

more about safety issues since Iraq. 1 reported sometimes being pulled in further than

is comfortable due to pressure from producer and cameramen. This makes her angry

particularly as she is a mother of 2 young children. 1 reported not being takenseriously by management until a male colleague had a near miss. 1 reported feeling

uncomfortable talking to male boss about health issues. 1 asked for use of armoured

vehicles to be taken more seriously by employees and deployed earlier.

3 reported feeler safer working in Muslim country because of being female. (1

believed her presence saved colleagues from being shot)

1 reported verbal abuse from male colleague

1 reported sexual harassment from male colleagues.

1 experienced sexual harassment from local fixer.

1 experienced bullying from colleague and editor

Most journalists agreed that expressing a need for specific safety equipment shouldnot influence suitability for deployment. Most believed that all journalists should be

treated the same way irrespective of gender. However, most disagreed or were

neutral that female journalists requiring specific safety requirements was a sexist

issue. Most strongly agreed that all journalists should be sent abroad on merit and

not gender. Yet most were neutral or disagreed that female journalists should be

provided with specialist safety equipment. Even so, a proportion of freelancers

strongly agreed with this.

On the issue whether female journalists should receive further training to deal with

sexual harassment or intimidation, most remained neutral or agreed with it. There

was a mixed response to the question of whether HE training courses should provide

extra training for female journalists.

Comments and recommendations

Further written comments and recommendations were made on safety issues,

summarised in the following points:

If you work in a team, stick together.

Find a responsible and respectful local driver and/or fixer.

Thorough knowledge of cultural expectations of a woman in whatever

country/area of deployment

Put helmet on first as shrapnel often flies upwards and the head is the most

vulnerable.

Listen to instinct dont go into areas if you feel uneasy, or feel a mistrusttowards someone

Good head on shoulders

Supportive editors and friends

Good local knowledge

Safety issues reported by freelancers

a company did not pay for HE training although always referred to her as

their correspondent. This angered her.


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major concern is lack of funds which means inadequate insurance

felt pushed harder by editors because of freelance status

management more willing to put freelancers in risky situations than staff

management would not provide safety equipment or HE training because of

status.

armoured cars were not available to freelancers or smaller organisations.

freelancer asked for counselling support after difficult time, but this was

turned down because of status.

management need to pay more attention to the working conditions of

freelancers in conflict areas.

REQUESTS FOR FURTHER TRAINING

Additional self-defence training

Refresher HE courses every year, including first aid

Specific courses for dealing with physical and sexual threats including open

discussions with male colleagues to raise awareness of this issue

Training for male and females on how to cope/diffuse difficult situations

Stress awareness training, including information on PTSD More training on local customs and language

Summary

Early indications show that the majority of female journalists do not believe they

should be treated differently from their male colleagues. However, responses from

freelancers show that employees need to be more supportive and understanding about

safety issues and safety training, although this is also an issue that male freelancers

face.

Several freelancers and staff journalists recommended self defence training as an

intrinsic part of safety training. Requests were also made for female trainers to bepresent during HE training courses.

Further information please contact:

Rodney Pinder

Director INSI

[email protected]

+44 20 7737 7628

Or

Sue Brayne

Researcher

[email protected]

+44 77294 68289

Documents

-Reporting-War 7wrw Finalreport