Andrew Winning: Shooting in Libya

For all the pre-assignment training, flak jackets and security advisers, the safety of journalists covering conflict comes down to initiative and common sense in the field.

Andrew Winning, senior photographer in Reuters’ London pictures bureau, recently returned from a three-week assignment covering the armed uprising in Libya. He has been talking about the experience to a group of journalists in London. The Frontline Club organised the event with the aim of exploring the risks of covering a wildly unpredictable and fluid conflict, compared with those of more structured embedding of journalists by Western forces in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I described the logistics of arriving in Benghazi, by road from Cairo, and the daily routine of covering the story,” Winning said. “I went over what my role specifically was in the context of Reuters’ overall coverage of the story. I also explained the importance of reliable drivers, the lack of a real front line, the fact that the rebels never dug in and defended positions and did not hold them overnight after fighting for them during the day. 

“I discussed a little of our risk assessment and what kind of hazards the press was subject to and what Reuters did to mitigate those risks as far as possible.”

Asked during the presentation about feedback from editors in London, Winning said: “The only feedback that my editor wanted from us was just to know that we were safe. So we would call in every couple of hours…”

“Although I did not go into real depth, I think those attending went away with a clearer idea of what covering this story required and still requires, and perhaps most importantly how dynamic and fluid it was and remains, and how much any news organisation needs to rely on the initiative and common sense of its people in the field.” 

Winning, formerly chief photographer, Mexico and Central America, is the eldest son of retired Reuters journalist Tony Winning.

PHOTO: Andrew Winning sitting on the sofa at a ransacked hotel in Ras Lanuf after his driver disappeared. ■