“As media outlets turn increasingly to freelancers in order to cut costs, the risks for hired journalists become more evident. Australian Paul Raffaele is a case in point. Raffaele worked as a freelancer for Smithsonian magazine for more than three years, until April 2008, when he was injured on assignment in Afghanistan. While sitting in a vehicle parked inside a police base in a small Afghan town, Raffaele was grievously wounded by a suicide bomb attack that shot pieces of metal into his elbow, chest and brain, where they remain today. Twenty-two policemen were killed in the attack, carried out by a 12-year-old boy. An additional 32 were wounded. Now, disabled and unable to work as before, he wonders whySmithsonian magazine refuses to assist him. For the many freelancers out in the field, Raffaele’s plight offers a sobering, cautionary tale.”
A Client’s Responsibility to A Freelancer?
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