“Publishers should give contracts to freelancers and insure them”.

The secretary of the Lazio trade union of journalists ASR launches a proposal to increase the security of war correspondents. “I don’t want to go to their funerals”

OSSIGENO June 9^th, 2022 – “I ask publishers to give fixed term contracts to freelancers who are sent to war-torn countries in order to guarantee them insurance, and hence to be able to work safely”.

This is the proposal addressed to publishers that Lazzaro Pappagallo, Secretary of the Rome Press Association (the Lazio trade union of journalists) launches to increase the security of war correspondents. “I don’t want to go to their funerals”, launched during the Ossigeno conference entitled “War, peace and information. The risks of journalists. The case of Ukraine ” held in Rome on June 9th, 2022.

“I do not believe in Gabriele D’Annunzio’s lofty rhetoric regarding the front line – he continued – I do not want to go to the funerals of my colleagues, the only thing that matters are the readers, not the gestures of courage. It’s not only our problem, but here our publishers only act according to predatory business logic. We want, as a union, that the journalist works safely and comes home “.

“Our country is a democratic country that must guarantee dignified work – he added – for this reason our proposal is valid, because those who work in war zones are in most cases freelancers”.

In conclusion, Lazzaro Pappagallo cited the example of an Italian freelance colleague, sent to Ukraine, who was hired by a Spanish newspaper, demonstrating that it is possible and that it can be done.

COA