Resources for Independents Reporting in Conflict Zones

Important info for freelancers working in war zones. Thanks to Lu Olkowski for posting this on the AIR listserv.

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As news organizations increasingly rely on freelance staff, a new effort in London as launched to help represent independent war journalists and photographers. You can read about it through this link at the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma: http://dartcenter.org/blog/frontline-freelance-register-launched#.UbtMj-uE5gV

Another resource for freelance conflict reporters is Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues. http://risctraining.org/ RISC was founded by Sebastian Junger after his colleague and friend, photographer Tim Hetherington, died while covering the conflict in Libya. At the time he was with a group of freelancers, none of whom had the training to save him from bleeding to death. Junger realized that the wave of journalists heading to conflict zones without institutional backing would need safety training to prevent more deaths like Hetherington's. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 40% of all journalists killed in Syria in 2012 were freelancers.

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