7D Channel 4 : Check List for Security Protocol for Filming in Potentially Hostile Countries
Check List for Security Protocol for Filming in Potentially Hostile Countries
The following points are not exhaustive and some may not be applicable to your project. However, please consider all the points carefully when drawing up your protocol and liaise with your Commissioning Editor and the Lawyer advising on your project from the Legal and Compliance Department in addressing all the necessary issues. If there are any points relevant to your project which you feel are not on this list then please bring them to our attention. You must tell us if you feel you do not have adequate time to research properly in order to assess and respond to any potential risks.
Personnel
Who will be travelling to the country in question and engaged in the filming? Please include names and details of the entire crew, including camera and sound operatives.
- What experience does each member of the team have filming in hostile regimes generally and of this regime or ones like it in particular? The team should be appropriately experienced.
- Has every member of the team attended a hostile environment training course?
- If not, are they nonetheless adequately experienced?
- Who will be the fixer or fixers on the ground? Are they adequately experienced for their likely role? Do you have translators who are competent and can be trusted? Might fixers or translators be at risk either during the filming or once the programme is transmitted?
- What are the personal circumstances of each member of the crew? Do they have spouses, partners, children? Have they made their immediate family aware of any potential risks involved in this trip? Please provide contact numbers on the protocol for the next of kin.
Passports and Visas
- If production team members have more than one passport which one is it most sensible for them to travel on? We suggest you leave a copy of all passports with the production company in case of loss.
- Are there any stamps in the passport showing that any team member has visited countries which might give rise to suspicions by the authorities in the country they are now visiting? Does your passport say you are a journalist, if you are not filming as a journalist?
- If the team are posing as non-journalists then please discuss with Channel 4 at the earliest opportunity your application for a visa. If you are filming openly as programme makers but you are not revealing the true or full nature of your programme then, again, please discuss with Channel 4 how to frame your visa application. Any deception must be justifiable.
- Would the published work of any team member, especially work with by-line/credits attached, give rise to suspicion and so compromise the team?
- We advise that the personnel travelling provide the production team with up to date photographs to leave in the office in the UK for clear identification purposes should this become necessary.
Cover Story
- If you are purporting to be non-journalists then you will need to think carefully about your cover story. Are you ordinary tourists? Are you, for example, bird watchers, interested in local flora or fauna, interested in local art? Whatever story you choose you will need to be adequately versed in the area in which you are purporting to have an interest.
- Clearly, a cover story which enables you to film the sorts of things and in the kinds of areas necessary for the programme is the most sensible option.
- Would your cover story implicate a local fixer, making them an unwitting accomplice to a "subversive" film?
- Any cover story should be discussed with the Commissioning Editor and, if necessary, the lawyer assigned to the project.
Equipment
- What sort of cameras will you be taking with you? Will they look like the kind of cameras which a tourist would have, if indeed that is your cover story? Is there the possibility of filming covertly? This would include filming with hidden camera equipment or any filming of which the subject is unaware. If you are taking covert filming and/or recording equipment what do you think would be the consequences if you were caught filming or recording in this way? If you envisage you might need to film covertly then please let us know in advance and as early as possible so that formal permission can be sought and obtained from the relevant senior editorial person at Channel 4.
- Make sure you know how your camera equipment could help you, e.g. many small digital cameras also operate as stills cameras and one flick of a switch could turn potentially damaging moving footage into a series of innocent tourist stills.
- Might you need any other specialist equipment, e.g. body armour, for personal safety? Take appropriate advice.
Previous Experience of other Journalists
- Please research what has happened to other journalists in this regime if they have been caught filming by the authorities. Please look into whether this filming was open, covert or involved matters or places that the authorities did not want to be filmed. We may be able to put you in touch with journalists who have had experience of such areas
- Is there a significant risk of kidnap to journalists, have they been specifically targeted in the country in which you are filming?
Contact with the UK
- Please ensure that you have an adequate system for regular contact with your team in the UK so that we can all feel confident that you are safe and devise in advance a back-up plan if you do not make contact as planned.
- Please make sure all relevant numbers are known to all members of the team, in the UK and abroad, and that Channel 4 is also informed.
- It is helpful to arrange in advance who, in the production team, and how often
you will be contacting them. - If you are going somewhere where there is a real risk of kidnap, it may be helpful to agree a special form of words which can indicate that you are in a compromised position and therefore unable to speak freely (e.g. "how is your Aunt Edith?"). That way the contact in the UK can start emergency procedures.
- Please include the Foreign Office and relevant consulate numbers on the protocol so that they can be accessed easily if necessary.
Filming and Interview Plans
- Please consider in advance and advise us on the areas in which you are likely to be filming, the subject you are likely to be covering and the individuals you envisage interviewing.
- You will need to consider as best you are able the likely risks involved in your plans. Do any local laws or customs affect the risk of your plans, e.g. if women can only travel wearing a burkha.
- Please consider whether or not innocent people you film, overtly or covertly, might be at risk once the programme is broadcast. This will enable us to decide before transmission whether we need to take further advice on this issue or further steps to protect them, e.g. by concealing faces or changing names.
Contacts In The Country You Are Visiting
- Is it possible to devise a plan of action if you are caught filming to contact a person or group for assistance? For example, aid agencies, local charities, human rights groups or local journalists who would be sympathetic to the aims of the film might be potentially useful contacts for assistance.
- What is your plan if you are caught by the authorities? Will you say that you are journalists? Should you endeavour to arrange legal representation in advance
in the country you are visiting in case of difficulties while you are there? Is there a British Embassy or Consulate you could contact in an emergency?
Rushes
- Is there a risk that your rushes might be seized by the authorities? Should you make arrangements to send rushes out in tranches?
- Should you make arrangements to copy material while you are there? Please consider these issues and make the necessary arrangements.
Other Precautions
- Please ensure that the whole team has had the necessary vaccinations and medical advice for their travel.
- Please liaise with Hayley Thornton in Programme Finance and Media Insurance Brokers to ensure that production insurance issues are adequately addressed for each individual well in advance of your trip.
- Please think carefully about the material you take with you and accumulate while you are in the country in question and think about the consequences if you were discovered with it by the authorities or those hostile to the project, e.g. names and numbers in your mobile phone could give away the fact that you are a journalist or written outlines of your filming intentions could put your team at risk if they fell into the wrong hands.
- How much money should you carry with you? Will it be necessary to make modest payments to minor officials or would that be risky? Consider this in advance with your fixer.
Going to a hostile environment involves potential risks and personal safety is paramount. We do not want you to take unnecessary risks or do anything which might endanger safety. Please do not hesitate to contact your Commissioning Editor, the Lawyer advising on your project or the Duty Lawyer at anytime to discuss any concerns you might have or areas you feel must be addressed before, after and during your trip.
Good Luck!
Channel 4 Television Corporation
January 2006