Recently, I attended The Media Safety Adviser’s Course run by Cosain Consultancy, held in a well situated, spacious facility in London. This course is specifically designed for individuals who want to work with news crews and journalists, both in front line or hostile environments, or within more stable settings.
Of course, for journalists, risks and potential threat can be an issue even in modern cities or unassuming areas. Cosain Consultancy also provides training for journalists and it deploys trained Media Safety Advisers to work with news teams and major media platforms.
New teams will often go to great lengths to cover a story. It’s a profession that requires resourcefulness, decisiveness and courage, particularly when heading into war zones or areas where there’s unrest, volatility or some kind of disaster has taken place.
Over the years, there’s been numerous cases where journalists or other members of news teams have been attacked, kidnapped or killed when trying to report on a story.
The role of the Media Safety Adviser (MSA) is therefore a vital one in helping to avoid exposure to various threats and how to navigate through complex situations or hazardous terrain.
Prior to the course, I was invited for breakfast by the head of Cosain Consultancy and the main course facilitator, Ken Perry. Ken who is from Belfast, served in the British army, in the elite 1 Para of the Parachute Regiment.
A mutual friend of ours, described him as a seasoned professional but also very personable.
Upon meeting Ken, I noticed immediately that whilst this is someone who has come from a hardened paratrooper background and operated in various hostile environments that there’s actually a welcoming , put you at ease, almost surfer like disposition to the man.
No doubt a quality that comes in useful when working with different personalities within the media world and having to engage with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures in foreign lands.
There’s also a heightened level of situational awareness, though again displayed in a low key way as he scans the cafe where we eat and the surrounding area.
We get on well and are soon exchanging colourful travel stories and jokes. Humour can be a useful tool in security, especially when working in high stress environments. Then, when the course begins, attendees are given a fascinating, in depth look into the world of news teams on the ground and risks they may face.
Ken deliver a rapid fire flow of insights and advice on working with the media. This can be quite a different role to that carried out in more traditional security areas.
As Ken points out, the news teams are there to get a story which sometimes means they have to go into the trouble spots. There may be public disorder, demonstrations or full scale conflict taking place.
With 14 years of experience working with new teams from key media outlets, including Sky News, CNN and NBC, Ken has encountered all manner of scenarios and many of his insights have come out of actual situations and encounters he has had to adapt to.
The Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe or are all familiar environments where Ken has spent time with news teams.
The Media Safety Adviser role is clearly one which requires a great deal of planning and preparation and like the news teams themselves, the MSA has to be agile on the ground and ready to deploy on short notice.
My own focus with Tri-Tier Training is more on self-protection and awareness training, but actually many of the anecdotes that Ken shares are of value, to anyone working in some travel safety capacity.
He talks about situations where the actions of either a member of the news team, be it the driver, fixer, or camera operator can suddenly cause a situation to escalate or can provoke aggression and violence from locals within an environment.
It could be that a person or crowd gets angry when they spot they’re being filmed, or it may that the locals have some animosity to a particular country or the new channel itself. The levels to which people will unleash their emotional rage on journalists can be intense and extreme.
Ken makes a point of discussing ways of reading the atmospherics of an environment, being acutely sensitive to sudden changes in behaviour and observing body language.
He talks about reading the posturing of protesters and riot police. Projectiles, tear gas and large scale crowd violence being some of the threats that can suddenly erupt.
The role of the MSA is to enable the News teams to get the story as safely as possible, whilst accepting that there will still be risks that need to be handled, mitigated and negotiated.
One of the challenges that the MSA will sometimes face lies in trying to get a corespondent who is head strong and intensely focused on obtaining the story, to listen to the safety advice. This can sometimes be a balancing act; both have a job to do.
In observing Ken, whilst he has this relaxed, calm demeanour; it’s also apparent that he can be assertive when needed. This could be vital perhaps when working with a driver who is pushing speed limits and the driving is exposing the team to danger.
In other situations, it may be that a member of the public is being disruptive whilst a corespondent is reporting live.
There will also be interactions with police, military and other security groups that need to be handled carefully.
In various regions, around the world journalists can easily get arrested so the MSA also has to be mindful of local laws, cultures, and actions that cause problems for the news team.
This is a role therefore that requires dynamic and proactive risk management, adapting to what can be fast changing events.
Ken also conveys that one has to be sensitive to pressures that the news teams are under. Time management is critical and the MSA should be very much part of the team, both advising and assisting, where relevant. It’s also very much about understanding different personalities and team dynamics.
From the personal safety angle, I have to say one of the especially interesting elements to the course was when Ken covered the subject of avoiding kidnap and ransom situations.
New teams and journalists can get kidnapped due to various motivations from political to monetary reasons. Ken discusses certain cases where journalists were kidnapped and held hostage in Somalia, Iraq and other regions.
Often, it’s the free lance journalists who can be more vulnerable, especially as they don’t have the resources and security support that the new teams from the leading news stations enjoy.
Over the years, I can recall various clients, who were journalists and high profile figures, who I trained to detect and disengage from various street scenarios, from attempted muggings to street level set ups and what to do if being followed.
They would share about harrowing situations they sometimes found themselves in, within various parts of the world. Some of these encounters can stay with the person, even long after the event. Having an MSA with them might therefore be a potentially life saving option that more companies, even in wider media circles, should really provide.
In 2008, journalist Amanda Lindhout, was kidnapped along with members of her group in Somalia. Her traumatic experience involved 15 months as a hostage under savage conditions. Since her release Lindhout has gone on to do various forms of humanitarian work.
Ken pointed out how it was teenage insurgents who carried out the initial kidnapping. He also talked but other ways of reducing exposure to kidnappings and the hostage phase. Then, there’s the handling of the ransom and the release stage if events unfold in this way.
Like in other areas of personal safety, for new teams and especially their MSA, it’s important to maintain a high level of awareness of surveillance that might be carried out by hostile groups, criminals or even security forces. Route variation and being aware of parties who may leak information is also crucial.
Having spent much time working as an MSA with news teams, Ken conveys an empathy and a genuine understanding of the dangers and challenges facing new teams and lone journalists.
He does provide training to journalists and recommends various resources that can be helpful to them, including the website of the American non profit organisation Committee to Protect Journalists, (CPJ).
The organisation which supports journalists with safety news and other measures, conveys how every year hundreds of journalists around the world are attacked, imprisoned or killed.
In June of 2004, experienced British journalist Frank Gardener OBE TD VR FRGS, who was covering stories relating to The War on Terror, was hit by multiple bullets, in a shooting carried out by al-Qaida gunmen, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
His injuries were severe and resulted in him being partially paralysed and needing to use a wheelchair. His camera operator Simon Cumber was shot dead.
Despite these serious injuries and requiring the use of a wheel chair, unperturbed Gardner still continues to work as a corespondent and presenter. He has reported for the BBC and is also a successful author.
Sometimes, it can be quite unusual incidents or situations that draws in hostility from local inhabitants, particularly in more volatile environments.
Ken mentions how it was the running over of a chicken that caused quite significant disruption and outbursts during a reporting trip in South Sudan…
Then, he mentions an incident in DRC where he saw a young boy get hit by a vehicle, and he made the instinctive and understandable decision to carry out first aid on the badly injured youth.
However, some locals started to attack him, as if he’d caused the injury when he was simply trying to help. It was one of the incidents where he thought he may lose his life.
This is similar to something I will also discuss when carrying out personal safety and awareness training, where a person can expose themselves and those around them to risk, when trying to diffuse or help someone caught in a confrontation.
One also has to be aware of hostile third parties who may take sides. Ultimately, the individual must decide for themselves what they will do in terms of helping, based on their capabilities, experience and training.
Of course, today with modern hybrid warfare involving more advanced attacks using drones and more sophisticated forms of missile strikes, the risks have intensified.
In the evenings, socialising after the course, Ken would share about other scenarios and incidents that have taken place. He knew Fox News camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski who, along with producer Oleksandra Kuvshinova, was killed in Ukraine, in the outskirts of Kyiv when incoming fire struck their vehicle.
The Media Safety Adviser training course covered many other areas from kit selection, vehicle equipment and the safeguarding of news equipment.
MSAs have to blend in and support the news team in various ways. Ken, who has worked with some well known names in media, explains that this is why he will only deploy MSAs as part of Cosain’s teams on the ground, who’ve been well vetted and have successfully completed the MSA course. In this way, they are better equipped when working in what will be a demanding work environment.
Anyone wanting to go into a security position complete with ear piece, sunglasses, dark John Wick style suit and square jawed disposition may be surprised by the nuances and layers to what can be, as an MSA, a high intensity but low profile role.
Nonetheless, I’d certainly recommend this course to people working in security, especially if interested in working with news teams.
Also, many journalists could garner valuable insights from Ken Perry and would enjoy his steady way of conveying potentially life saving insights.
Journalists heading to front line places carry out a dangerous and vital role in sharing what’s happening around the world, especially now, as the global landscape’s friction plates seem to be colliding with jarring intensity. Therefore, it’s vital that the protective measures around them continue to increase.
Stay safe…
About Aran
Based in London, Aran Dharmeratnam is the founder of Tri-Tier. He specialises in personal safety and self-protection training, often working with high profile figures and their families, young people with travel plans and various organisations.
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