End casual working arrangements for danger zone journalists, says Peyton's family
Brother and sister of murdered journalist call for reform in employment law
– 2 min read
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The family of Kate Peyton, the journalist murdered in Somalia in 2005 , has called for a change in employment law to aid journalists making the decision to travel to high-risk areas of the world.
Speaking to Journalism.co.uk in an interview in which they criticised the BBC's handling of their sister's case , Kate Peyton's siblings - Charles and Rebecca Peyton - said they wanted to work with media organisations to reform working arrangements for journalists in dangerous places.
They believe their sister felt pressure to travel to Mogadishu to preserve her career and ensure the renewal of her contract with the BBC.
A system which only asks staff on permanent and secure contracts to travel to dangerous parts of the world is needed, the pair told Journalism.co.uk.
"There needs to be a bias in favour of people who are in permanent jobs. There is a tendency of employers that if you can have people on short-term contracts, it's going to keep them on their toes," said Charles Peyton, who added that it is not just the BBC which is at fault as an employer.
"That's fine for most kinds of journalism, but if part of the job is regular trips to dangerous places, that's an unfair tool to be using."
A 'quasi-independent' BBC service - separate from human resources and newsrooms - should be established, he suggested, 'as a devil's advocate department' through which staff would be able to raise concerns and seek impartial advice about potentially dangerous decisions, without jeopardising their careers.
Rebecca Peyton told Journalism.co.uk her sister had travelled to Somalia to 'prove her commitment' after turning down an assigment in Iraq the previous year.
Kate Peyton's siblings said their sister felt enormous pressure to seek career security to support her partner and his daughter and this was part of her decision to take up the assignment in Somalia, despite knowing it was a high-risk destination.
Jeremy Dear, president of the National Union of Journalists, supported their ideas in a comment piece for Guardian.co.uk published on Thursday and called for an end to the 'casualisation of war reporting'.
