Thirty years ago this Wednesday, I was sitting, chain smoking, in the basement of a childrens needlework school in Kensington, London. It was a few doors away from the Iranian Embassy, which for six days had been under siege as six Iranian dissidents held two dozen hostages captive. Five days earlier, on April 30th, I had been released from the embassy after suffering what the hostage-takers, and myself, thought was a heart attack, though it was probably self-induced through terror and self survival.
The needlework school had another function that day  it was the HQ for the police and military preparing to break the siege. I had been summoned there to assist in the hostage negotiations, though as I arrived the Iranians dumped one dead hostage onto the street. They had shot him in the head and threatened to shoot another within the hour.
Within minutes members of BritainÂs Special Air Services (SAS) were given orders to storm the embassy and break the siege. They did so in 43 minutes, rescuing all but one of the hostages and shooting dead five of the six dissidents. The sixth later stood trial at the Old Bailey and was jailed for life.
It was history in the making. The SASÂs finest hour. All covered live on television (though, remarkably, the interruption of regular programming  a John Wayne western on one channel, the final of a snooker contest on the other  was considered a bold move on the part of the programmers, subject to much criticism from viewers in the days after.)
Three weeks later, on June 1st, 1980, CNN was launched and a revolution in continuous news began. As a former hostage, and a newsman for more than 40 years, I am conflicted.
How would the modern-day media cover a siege such as the 1980 one? How would the relentless, frequently breathless and opinionated media of 2010 report on the delicate, terrifying negotiations that went on 30 years ago this week?
There was at least one television set inside the Iranian embassy, though for some reason it was not working. There was a radio  and the hostages and their captors sat around it like attentive children, sobbing, laughing and occasionally arguing as broadcasts were made. The slightest error or nuanced report was a cause for distress.
These were pre-Internet days. No texts by phone  telephone pagers were considered state of the art. No Facebook, no Flickr, and absolutely no Twitter.
As a journalist that seems terrible. As a former hostage I am not so sure.
What might have been the outcome if insensitive, speculative or just plain bad reportage had been provided and available to the hostage takers? Supposing clandestine filming of the preparations to break the siege had been transmitted on the BBC, CNN or Fox?
Experience tells me there is no such thing as a complete news blackout. The very best intentions by responsible media organizations can be confounded either by screw-ups or by commentators sitting outside what used to be a cozy circle. And social media contributors have their own take on information flow  mostly innocent chatter, sometimes rabid or with a fixed agenda.
ItÂs a good time for media outlets to plan for the next siege. And to determine, in advance, what their response might be.
ItÂs also a good time to reflect on our reporting of the victims of terrorist acts. My ordeal was a brief one, though sufficient to write my Last Will and Testament and leave me with long-lasting after-effects. It ended my ambition to be a dashing war correspondent and started me thinking about the effects of trauma on members of the media.
Thirty years on, responsible media organizations ÂReuters, AP, the BBC, CNN and others  take for granted the duty of care they have for their own staff. Other media organizations might care to examine their own consciences.
@7 months ago with 29 notes
#The #challenges #for #media #30 #years #after #my #hostage #ordeal
The gas will come from conventional reserves and shale gas
projects in Western Canada, and will be taken by pipeline to a
liquefaction plant at Kitimat, British Columbia.The plant and pipeline still require provincial approval.Apache has a 40 percent stake in the Kitimat LNG project on
the Pacific Coast, while EOG Resources Inc and Encana
Corp each own 20 percent.Plans call for the LNG to be shipped by tanker to markets
in the Asia-Pacific region.
@7 months ago with 25 notes
#UPDATE #1Canada #approves #LNG #exports #for #Apacheled #project
* Banks face cost pressure; healthcare is prime for cutsBy Rick RothackerOct 12 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co , one of the
largest U.S. employers, plans to cut costs by moving its
workers into insurance plans that encourage them to spend less
on healthcare.The bank told Reuters that it is rolling out a new
insurance approach next year that will give employees accounts
to help cover medical expenses. They can either put their own
pretax dollars in the accounts, or pay higher insurance
premiums and have the company fund the account.If employees opt to put their own money into the accounts,
they are on the hook for more of their medical expenses if they
get sick. If they stay healthy, they benefit from lower
premiums.These types of accounts are believed to be useful in
encouraging consumers to think more about how they are spending
healthcare dollars.For most employers, these accounts are one option among
many for health insurance, said Alexander Domaszewicz, a
principal with human resources consulting firm Mercer.Only a handful of other companies, including General
Electric Co and JPMorgan Chase & Co , are going
the same route as Wells Fargo and offering only account-based
healthcare plans.”It still isn’t common for very large firms,” Domaszewicz
said in an interview this week.But other companies may follow suit. Account-based health
plans can cut employees’ and companies’ premium costs by 15
percent, according to Mercer.Other employers often follow big companies like Wells Fargo
when it comes to benefits, Domaszewicz said.In materials sent to employees recently, Wells said it was
making the change “because rising health care costs and the
impact of federal health care reform require us to take a new
approach to managing costs together.”Studies are mixed over whether the new U.S. healthcare law
will drive up employers’ healthcare costs, but overall U.S.
health insurance premiums have surged over the last decade.A study last month by the Kaiser Family Foundation found
that the average annual premium for family coverage through an
employer increased 9 percent to $15,073 in 2011 from the year
before. Since 2000, premiums have risen 134 percent.Employers pay nearly three-quarters of that premium, a rate
that has held fairly steady for the last 10 years, according to
the foundation’s data.”This is one of the fastest-growing expenses employers
have,” said Randall Abbott, a senior consultant at healthcare
consulting firm Towers Watson.Cost-cutting is particularly crucial in the financial
sector, where the mortgage crisis, low long-term interest
rates, and weak loan demand are depressing revenue. San
Francisco-based Wells Fargo is looking to shave $1.5 billion
from its quarterly operating expenses by the end of 2012 under
a program known as “Project Compass.”Wells earned $7.3 billion for common stockholders in the
first half of the year, up from $5.3 billion in the first half
of last year.A Mercer survey found that health benefits costs on average
will rise 5.4 percent in 2012, the smallest increase since
1997, because employers have been so aggressive about cutting
these expenses.”We view this as effective use of healthcare services, not
as cost-cutting measures,” bank spokesman Ancel Martinez said
on Wednesday.LESS BARGAINING POWERU.S. employers began widely offering healthcare coverage
after World War Two to get around government salary controls.With 275,000 full- and part-time employees, Wells Fargo is
the 12th-largest employer among public companies, according to
Fortune Magazine.About one-third of the bank’s employees already use some
sort of account-based plan. Wells will still offer traditional
plans in California and other states where switching would
force too many employees to change their doctors.Under the bank’s program, employees can have a “health
reimbursement account,” which Wells funds, or a “health savings
account,” which workers fill with their own pretax dollars.Both accounts will help cover out-of-pocket expenses until
a deductible is met.After that, Wells will cover between 80 and 90 percent of
medical expenses, with the employee picking up the rest. After
an employee reaches an out-of-pocket maximum, Wells covers 100
percent of additional expenses. An insurance company
administers the claims.Eligible preventive care, such as routine checkups, annual
screenings and immunizations, is covered 100 percent. Employees
can earn money to put into their accounts through participating
in health and wellness programs.A Wells employee in North Carolina covered on an individual
basis would pay a premium of about $23 per two-week pay period
for the health savings account option, compared with $48 for
the health reimbursement account plan.An employee in an individual plan can put up to $3,100 into
a health savings account under IRS rules next year. The
deductible in that plan is $3,000.In the health reimbursement option, the company can put
between $200 and $1,000 in an employee’s account. The
deductible is $2,000 for individual coverage. Employees must
pay $25 for a primary office visit, which is less than the full
cost. There are also co-pays for generic prescription drugs.Employees who use health savings accounts can roll their
money into the next year if they do not use it all and take it
with them if they leave the company.
@7 months ago with 59 notes
#UPDATE #1Wells #Fargo #gives #staff #tough #healthcare #choices
