Richard Pendry







Reporter power: News organisations, duty of care and the use of locally-hired news gatherers in Syria

Risk has drastically reshaped the reporting ecosystem in the Syrian conflict. This paper analyses the roles played by commissioning editors, staff reporters and international and locally hired freelance journalists who report the war in Syria. It gathers data from case studies of the reporting of the Sarin gas attacks in the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta in August 2013 and other examples of reporting in Syria which appear to raise ethical questions. The current lack of reporters in Syria has serious ethical implications for news organisations and their ability to inform the public sphere.

Keywords: Syria,duty of care,outsourcing,sub-contracting,freelances,news gathering


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Note on the contributor

Richard Pendry is a Lecturer in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Kent. He was formerly a member of Frontline News Television, an news agency which specialised in reporting conflict. He makes documentary films, most recently A Poisoned Legacy, for al Jazeera. His publications include 'In Syria, freelancer demand amidst increasing restrictions' (Columbia Journalism Review) and two films on reporting practices in Iraq for the Daily Beast (A Strange Animal and Raid in Kirkuk). These films relate to his article for Ethical Space, 'Sub-contracting newsgathering in Iraq'. He chairs debates at the Frontline Club in London on current foreign reporting practices and is currently a part-time PhD candidate, researching how contemporary war reporters work with their rivals and collaborators.