Fired journo sues ABC

Gizbert claims unfair dismissal, $4 million in lost earnings

By ARCHIE THOMAS

LONDON -- Former ABC News war correspondent Richard Gizbert is about to wage his own war -- on his ex-bosses.

The London-based reporter, who alleges he was fired in 2004 for turning down assignments in Afghanistan and Iraq, is suing ABC News for unfair dismissal and $4 million in lost earnings, the equivalent to his salary until age 65.

The case began Sept. 23 at a U.K. employment tribunal and is expected to run for six days.

It's a landmark case invoking the U.K.'s employment health and safety rules, which make it illegal for a boss to dismiss an employee for raising a bona fide complaint about his/her safety.

And war reporting would certainly fit into that category.

However, Gizbert claims the case has wider connotations for reporters, many of whom, he says, are being strong-armed into taking dangerous assignments in Iraq.

"The case is not just about me," Gizbert says. "Many news organizations are having difficulty finding reporters to cover this (Iraq) war, especially since westerners have become targets of bombings and abductions. It is vital companies like ABC/Disney, which claim war zones are voluntary, are held to account when they renege on their promises."

Gizbert, who has joint British and Canadian nationality, joined ABC in 1993 after being scouted by the late Peter Jennings, and went on to cover the bloodshed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chechnya.

In 2002 Gizbert renegotiated his contract with the Disney-owned web, securing a no war-zone agreement in return for giving up many of the perks foreign correspondents enjoy including his $200,000-a-year basic salary plus housing and school fee allowances.

His new, rolling one-year contract gave him a flat $1,000-per-day for babysitting the London bureau while reporters were roaming the globe.

In June 2004 Gizbert claims ABC London bureau chief Marcus Wilford told him his employment was being terminated as "ABC wants to replace you with a correspondent who will travel to war zones."

When contacted by Variety, Wilford denied making the statement.

Speaking from New York, Jeffrey Schneider, ABC News spokesman, described Gizbert as a freelancer whom ABC was free to cut at any time.

He reiterated that "assignments to war zones are entirely voluntary. This has been our longstanding policy."

Former BBC correspondent and independent Member of Parliament Martin Bell and reporter Arthur "Scud Stud" Kent (who sued NBC for breach of contract in 1992) are due to act as Gizbert's witnesses.

The tribunal has ordered Wilford and New York-based ABC News veepee for newsgathering Mimi Gurbst to attend in person.

The case will again spotlight the increasingly dangerous working conditions that foreign correspondents endure, especially in Iraq.

According to Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres, last week's death of New York Times journalist Fakher Haider was the 19th this year, bringing the number of journalists killed since war began in March 2003 to 68 -- two more than died covering the Vietnam war.

Gizbert opines that the increased pressure exerted on foreign correspondents is a byproduct of a landscape where the networks are stretched to near breaking point.

"In the Vietnam era, ABC was one of three U.S. networks that had huge market shares and carved up huge revenues among themselves. They had lots of money and lots of people.

"In the new 500 channel universe, their share of the pie has been sliced thin and revenues and resources have been reduced accordingly. Now, when a reporter says no to a war-zone assignment the network doesn't have nearly as many correspondents to turn to."

ABC News is among many webs, including CNN, CBS News, NBC News and Blighty's BBC, ITN and Reuters, that follow the guidelines to protect journalists set out in 2000 by the News Security Group. That states that "assignments to war zones or hostile environments must be voluntary."