ABU broadcasters endorse journalist safety code
Source : ABU 03.07.2009
The ABU News Group today endorsed a wide-ranging safety code for journalists who work in hostile environments. The code, drawn up by the International News Safety Institute (INSI), calls for appropriate safety training and the provision of safety equipment for staff sent to hazardous locations.
It urges news organisations to consider safety first, before competitive advantage, for journalists in hostile environments.
The code says assignments to war and other danger zones must be voluntary and only involve experienced news gatherers and those under their direct supervision.
At its annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the News Group also endorsed the Jakarta Declaration on the Safety of Journalists in the Asia-Pacific, drawn up at a news safety conference in the Indonesian capital in December 2008.
Among other things, the declaration says freedom of expression and a free press are critical to the sustained development of nations, to the end of corruption and to the alleviation of poverty.
It deplores the killings, attacks on, and unwarranted detentions of journalists and other news professionals in the region.
INSI's Director, Rodney Pinder, told the News Group meeting that some news organisations were cutting back on their foreign bureaus and instead relying on stringers and contract workers for foreign news coverage.
"They are often little more than cannon fodder. It's an outrageous situation and has to be addressed by the industry."
