PREPARING JOURNALISTS FOR HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS

By: Shaun Gowland Preparing Journalists for Hostile Environments

Back in 2019, I found myself in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on a Military Special Forces camp delivering a Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) course for a diverse and experienced cross-section of professionals, the majority being journalists and documentary filmmakers.

Two attendees in particular on that course I knew quite well, even though we hadn’t met until that point. The Weinert Brothers— Dennis, and Patrick Weinert—are based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are German independent filmmakers, photographers, and authors.

Doing my research months in advance, I’d seen their work, watched their films and documentaries, read their books and articles, (some in German I may add which was challenging at best for a language challenged Geordie who can “hardly speak English” some might say). Research and planning were to become something the brothers would be introduced to quite quickly, it was in essence the very things they were both missing and in search

for without really knowing it.

The Weinert’s are typical of the reason I created what many say, is the training the media need whilst visiting or operating in hostile and austere environments. For that, I thank them and still hold them as friends to this day.

Before the course, the Weinert brothers had worked in places such as; The Democratic Republic of Congo, SE Asia, India, and Afghanistan. Why were they now looking for specific training that really, they should have sourced years before their jaunts around some of the most dangerous places and situations on Earth?

That very question was posed to them during our first meeting. This was in a busy café inside Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport: a Burger King! My last-ditch attempt at eating something westernised before our two-hour-long trip deep into the jungle to end off eating local food, I’m still not sure

which meal was worse. For some that might sound strange, but believe me, changing diets without slowly introducing foods and a new diet has its issues, and that’s made one hundred-fold worse when you’re stuck in the jungle with zero options. It became very apparent early on that this type of training was something that was missing. Or, dare I say it, not even thought about or maybe even brushed over by the media, in general, due to cost, and naivety. Hostile Environment Awareness Training, or HEAT as it’s known in the business, is not nearly delivered to the media as much as it should be. What is currently delivered is, I and many would argue, not fit for purpose.

Patrick and Dennis are no strangers to conflict and danger. The pair were kidnapped, tortured, and beaten badly during a documentary filmmaking trip to the DRC. It is a place where radical Islamist groups such as the ADF massacre whole villages for things like an Ebola breakout (what happened in the village of Oicha, situated in the East of the DRC) and where dozens of other armed groups roam free killing and maiming at will. After decades of problems in the DRC, healthcare workers and the media are normally transported by the UN or armed governmental groups for safety. The Weinert brothers chose to travel alone, which on that occasion was a costly and dangerous mistake. Those incidents and the aforementioned kidnap were the catalysts to sourcing appropriate training and advice for the future by the brothers.

Whilst mainstream media outlets such as the BBC have dedicated departments, such as their HighRisk Team and other branches of its safety department, freelancers and smaller entities have very little in the way of anything remotely useful when it comes to the safety of staff going into hostile or austere environments. Most are going on a wing and a prayer into some very dangerous places and situations. Shockingly not many know there are dedicated companies and individuals out there more than willing to cover advice and training before, during, and after deployment to such areas.

What I found even more interesting during my research phase was that the advice and training given by the mainstream outlet departments were very generic, and not specific to the area, country, or problem the journalist was going into. The only caveat to this was the risk assessments, prior planning

Most are going on a wing and a prayer into some very dangerous places and situations. Shockingly not many know there are dedicated companies and individuals out there more than willing to cover advice and training before, during, and after deployment to such areas.

if any, and basic on the ground intelligence available to them before deployment. This, of course, is not covered by the majority of freelancers and smaller entities. It is the individual’s problem should they choose to ignore it, which they inevitably do.

The BBC for instance doesn’t offer their BBC training courses to those on short or fixed-term contracts. As freelancers, they are expected to arrange and pay for themselves any training and up-skilling required of them to perform the job/jobs competently. Unless of course if that freelancer holds a position of responsibility for the safety of others. In short, it’s a bit of a minefield and a legal nightmare for insurance purposes.

What is even more dangerous is often the journalist’s blasé approach to taking the Safety Department’s advice. They didn’t do any of their own planning, research, or very little if any at all, only basic risk assessments were completed. This was the case when it came to the Weinert Brothers. “We only plan what we are wanting to film, where we are going to film it and how we get there and back,” Dennis told me. Dennis was, from what I could gather the leading hand of the brothers, being the older of the two and more

experienced I guess gave him the daunting task of being spokesman from time to time, including when it came to talking their way out of being killed at the hands of a rebel leader, or armed Islamic extremist intent on removing a head or two. Good negotiation, and luck, had become their only weapons— weapons which backfired regularly.

The brothers were left feeling inadequate when it came to their safety and due to the workload, they had planned, they needed someone to lean on for advice. “We can’t go through that again; I just don’t think we will be as lucky,” Patrick told me over an open-air, high humidity ant covered dinner later that night. Patrick would talk much more openly when alone and not with his brother. To me, he didn’t like to voice his opinion often, and when he did, he looked towards his brother for acceptance. I can remember thinking this was something that I must work on,

albeit in secret so neither of them would realise I was manipulating the circumstances for Patrick’s personal growth. It had to be the way forward: he needed to be able to take the lead should things go wrong and do it with conviction and without the need for his brother’s approval. If the leader goes down, someone must take the reins and take them adequately.

Go back six months before the training week, when I first got the call and inquiry to ask if I would be interested in the job. “Hi Shaun, are you available to run some training for us?” was the straight to the point question. No specification, no duration, just can you run this type of training, we have been let down again? It was a little short, but normal for the industry I’d spent 11 years in at that point. I was coming to the end of a contract in Northern Iraq, it had been a long final rotation of four months and I was looking forward to returning home for a rest and that familiar feeling you got whilst on the final leg of a return trip, sitting in Dubai thinking ‘my God, I’ve survived another one’. It also held a bitter taste in my mouth as I’d decided not to return to the role after my month off and downtime having nearly been killed the year previous. It was the end of an era and possibly the end of my career at that time. It was refreshing to know when I received that call, other companies were headhunting me to deliver training on behalf of them. Little did I know, the complexity and requirement that was ahead of me.

I accepted the job and also another in the following weeks with the same company, agreed on a fee for both, and tentatively had the conversation that I would consider coming on board with them full time should both parties like the

way the other work.

I must add, it rarely works out that way, mainly due to my approach. I’m very open and honest about that. I’m not easy to work with. I expect the best of everything and 100% commitment to what will be delivered. I do not cut corners in any way. I think when you deliver training that saves lives, cutting corners, chasing huge profits at the expense of the training outcome kills. Inevitably this costs money, and most companies are only there to make money, it’s all they want. They care very little about the end product. Due to this many see me as a “bit of an arsehole” and arrogant. I never apologise for that. I know what I deliver is the best I can, and it works. I don’t cut corners in pursuit of profit, nor do I bend on this. I do this because I care, the money always comes as an indirect benefit and result of delivering a good product and experience somewhere down the line. I chase saving lives not cash.

This the very thing that took the life of a former student on 17th May 2015. Michael Hampshire, or Mic as myself and my wife knew him, was killed when traveling in a European Union Police vehicle convoy when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed car near Kabul International Airport. In some ways I still hold myself a little responsible for his death and have at times found it hard to come to terms with it. It has also driven me too. You see, Mic had come to us after leaving the Royal Military Police’s Close Protection Unit.

Companies that put financials above anything else, should have zero input in things that concern the preservation of human life. I have my own thoughts on why Mic was killed and have had various conversations with friends who were around at that time, and I have received further information from other sources since. One friend in particular was given the task of collecting his body as part of the QRF (Quick Reaction Force) from the destroyed wreckage. He left that life in the rear-view mirror as many do after things of that nature. In some ways I still hold myself a little responsible for his death and have at times found it hard to come to terms with it. It has also driven me too. You see, Mic had come to us after leaving the Royal Military Police’s Close Protection Unit, the best of the best when it comes to that line of work and transitioning to the private sector. Through his position he was automatically eligible for, what at the time was called an RPL/ APL (Recognition of Prior Learning/ Accreditation of Prior Learning.) That meant the minimum 140 hours contact time of training was cut down to around 3 days due to his past position in the RMP CPU (Close Protection Unit) It’s stupid really as the licence needed by overseas companies and that required Mic to do this sort of transition training is only really needed for work within the UK. The overseas companies just use it as a ‘standard’ of training and sell that to the client during the tender process, ridiculous when you took into account his past experience. What I couldn’t do at that time was give Mic my overall experience of the private sector, something he didn’t have, nor could I give him my own personal perspective on how I work or think. There’s just not the time to fit all that into such a short space of time. Given the way Mic lost his life, maybe just maybe what I normally say to others on the longer duration courses could have saved his life that day. In short, I have never run an RPL/APL course since and I never will, but I still know, and still tell others when to say ‘NO’ to companies that don’t act on good intelligence. It’s just more pronounced now should we say, let’s leave it at that. I have lost friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and nearly my own life in the past, so I do not bend when it comes to training and delivering what is required to save lives.

I had six months to come up with something special, so I set out to find out who exactly the training was for. Where were they going? What do they do? Why do they need it? What had they done in

the past? Was I able to deliver a product that covered the diverse needs of each individual? It was a task that became an obsession. I remembered a statement from a paper I had read back in 2010, it read;

What should be considered 'adequate' preparation and support for journalists and media workers in difficult, remote, and hostile environments? One would assume there would be numerous sources of feedback and contributions measuring the suitability of the training, as well as providing information regarding what improvements are necessary to ensure journalists are provided the best possible pre-deployment preparation.

However, after working and observing developments in this area over several years, three main issues have presented themselves.

First, little investigation or analysis is conducted into training programs. Secondly, few independent organisations are working to standardise the training and support provided to journalists. Finally, the extent of training and support to the local correspondents, fixers, and stringers in developing countries, that most international media organisation depend on in these locations, has become an unfortunate casualty of shrinking international news budgets.

But providers of training such as myself do exist. And the training is required. It is something I am driven to rectify. To date, the relevant training is something many still don’t think is available.

It became apparent due to the nature of what each candidate required that a very similar training package was already being delivered to EU staff. It required some work to extract what was needed and discard what was not, then make it work for the private sector and location.

The current training on offer is over either one or two days maximum. How they fit anything into that, given the training day and contact hours are normally between four to six hours give or take, including lunch and breaks. It’s at best a money-making effort and not fit for purpose.

The EU staff training is very indepth. I wanted to make it better in every way so after contemplation and setting out, I settled on seven days. The finalised course covered in short, the following subjects, tasks, and tests.

• Course Introduction • Remote Medical • Remote Medical Test 1 & 2 • Security • Information Security • Threat & Risk • Kidnap • Attacks • Firearms • Orientation • Communication • 4x4 Vehicles • IEDs Mines UXO • Weapons • Final Exercise • Conduct Under Capture • Training Conclusion

This was way beyond anything ever delivered in the private sector and was more akin to a Military style course. It was also costly due to time, equipment needed, and staffing. It was highly successful in its first guise and until the plug was pulled on it in early 2020, due to the Corona Virus and associated travel restrictions.

It was the first course of its type to address the needs of the media, journalists in particular. The first to ever bring realistic scenariobased training to the market. The final exercise was an epic two days covering everything they had been taught in the classroom. Route planning, Land Navigation, Vehicle convoy applications, Counter IED procedures, Coms procedures, Dealing with tactical situations such as attacks, medical issues, etc. The following day they were subjected to a forced kidnap by local rebels in a mountainous jungle area. Nothing of this level had ever been tried before. It was an intense week and even more intense the six months prior. The end product spoke for itself and the course was given rave reviews by all that attended.

It answered the statement of Shaun Fullers Responsible Media piece and opened up a new type of training for the media world to only be shut down by Covid 19. The course is still there, waiting to be delivered in the future, although I now feel it needs additions. If anything, the current pandemic has opened my eyes to new possibilities and new avenues for it.

In conclusion, the need for specific Journalist safety training in Hostile Environments is still and will always be needed. What is changing is how and why that’s delivered. No longer can the media sit back on classroom-based training power points and lessons. They need to get their hands dirty. What became very apparent over the courses I have ran, was that the actual job wasn’t for everyone. They would

simply fail should they get into the same or a similar scenario for real. Most just couldn’t cope under stress and the majority would have been killed in some circumstances. This begs the question going forward, should the media have allocated professionals to assist and escort them in such places? At the end of the day, it will always come down to budget, and very rarely is that spent on adequate training these days. It’s very much a reactive and not proactive world when it comes to the lives of journalists in most cases.

Shaun is contactable via shaungowland@icloud.com for security based training and advisory.