Covid-19 and its impact on the safety and welfare of Freelance Journalists
The Frontline Freelance Register represents freelance journalists who work internationally and who are exposed to risk because of their work. Its sister organisation, Frontline Freelance Mexico represents local journalists in Mexico. Both organisations advocate for the safety and welfare of its members and for the wider freelance community.
We have received several reports from our members raising concerns about the treatment they have experienced from their clients since the outbreak of Covid-19. These reports include freelance journalists being offered significantly lower rates for assignments than usual or being forced to accept half of the rate they agreed before the crisis took hold.
Further reports indicate that freelancers are not being offered kill fees or repayment of their expenses for work where they have already incurred costs for, such as prep and travel. In one case an assignment was cancelled after one of our members had already travelled to another country to start his reporting trip. He was not offered any support or compensation for work already undertaken.
Fair and timely pay is one of our central campaigning issues. Now more than ever we urge news and media organisations to act ethically and fairly towards their freelance colleagues — to ensure that they are paid properly for their work, that their expenses are covered and kill fees are offered. We appeal to news and media organisations, whether they are signatories or not, to meet the standards set by the ACOS Alliance’s Freelance Journalist Safety Principles.
We are also aware of reports of freelancers being asked to cover Covid-19-related stories but not being offered any support to ensure that they do so safely. We urge news and media organisations to ensure that any freelance colleagues they are working with are supplied with the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), safety advice and are included in their newsrooms safety protocols. We encourage the freelance community to sign up to the Committee to Protect Journalists Safety Advisories for up-to-date information on how to cover Covid-19 safely.
We have always advocated the importance of obtaining insurance coverage before assignments. However, we have learnt that since the Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, travel and accidental insurance policies taken out after 15 March will not cover a freelance journalist who falls ill with the virus. Freelance journalists will be more adversely affected as many do not have the medical or health insurance enjoyed by staff journalists; if they are sick and unable to work, they cannot earn a living to support themselves. We urge news and media organisations to ensure that they provide full support and assistance to any freelance journalists they have commissioned if they fall ill with the Covid-19 virus and work with us in advocating within the insurance industry to provide more extensive and relevant coverage for the freelance journalism community.
The main concern raised by our members, which is affecting the freelance and self-employed sector as a whole, is the cancellation and loss of future work opportunities as a result of the strict restrictions imposed by governments across the world. FFR is working with its partners in the not-for-profit media advocacy sector to look for short-term, but urgent, solutions to provide financial support to those freelance and local journalists who will face hardships by the loss of income. But we also urge news and media organisations who rely on the critical role freelance and local journalists play in the news gathering industry to find solutions to support their colleagues such as hiring them to do research, proof-reading, editing.
We applaud the example being set by Radio France who are paying their freelancers at least equal to the average of the total gross amount paid during the last six months and are not cancelling any current contracts. We implore other news and media organisations to follow their example.
As well as looking to the news and media industry to treat freelance journalists fairly and provide them with financial support during these unprecedented times, we also support initiatives being led by journalism and employment unions, such as the British Photography Council, to ensure that freelance journalists are part of any income rescue measures that are being implemented to protect the workforce. However, for local freelance journalists, like members of FFM in Mexico, the situation is even more precarious and dangerous with few legal protections to help freelance workers and unemployment compensation is not even a possibility.
The news and media industry, and the public, rely on freelance journalists to keep them informed about news events across the globe. We appeal to the news and media industry and governments, to take action to support these journalists who play a critical role in bringing us the news, so that they can continue to do so during and after the crisis.
