War reporting daft, tribunal told

Richard Gizbert (centre) is seeking £2.2m in compensation

War reporting is a "daft" career with journalists facing "abduction, torture and execution", a veteran BBC reporter has told a London employment tribunal.

Martin Bell was giving evidence in support of a sacked ABC journalist.

Canadian Richard Gizbert, 47, alleges the US broadcaster unfairly dismissed him for declining assignments in Iraq and is seeking £2.2m compensation.

But ABC has denied this. It claims Mr Gizbert was an "average" reporter who was dismissed during cost cuts.

London bureau chief Marcus Wilford earlier admitted to the tribunal that Iraq was the most dangerous reporting location in "modern history".

But he said Mr Gizbert had not been asked to work there in February 2003 and October 2003, as the correspondent claimed.

'Deliberately targeted'

Mr Gizbert was concluding his case on Wednesday after the former BBC foreign affairs correspondent Martin Bell gave evidence on Tuesday.

Mr Bell, who was himself badly wounded by shrapnel as he delivered a bulletin from Sarajevo in 1992, told the hearing war reporting had become more dangerous since September 2001

Correspondents were now deliberately targeted, he said.

The former independent MP - who first met Mr Gizbert in Bosnia 11 years ago - said he believed war reporting was "a daft way to earn a living".

Mr Bell highlighted the deaths of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers and BBC producer Kate Peyton.

"It is time to close the book on macho journalism," he said.

Freelance

After joining ABC in 1993, Mr Gizbert covered many high profile foreign stories, including the conflict in Bosnia and Chechnya.

In 2002, Mr Gizbert's contract changed from a staff one to that of a freelancer contracted to work 100 days a year at $1,000 (£560) a day.

Marcus Wilford told the tribunal that family commitments meant the reporter no longer wanted to work on long assignments abroad.

Both parties hoped to benefit from the arrangement but a lack of flexibility and the cost of his employment led to Mr Gizbert being unaffordable, Mr Wilford said.

He added that some ABC programmes had become reluctant to use the reporter, meaning that when staff cuts became necessary in 2004, it was decided not to renew his freelance contract.