Of all the media, radio is the most dependent on free-lancers. The main reason the media rely so heavily on stringers is money. Meanwhile, as a rule, free-lancers must pay their own transportation and other expenses. And although stringers may be accredited with a major news organization and represent it in the field, they usually enjoy no benefits, such as health or life insurance. If, for example, a stringer is injured in a bus accident in a foreign country but not while pursuing an assigned report, it is unlikely that he or she would be covered.
Some stringers have their own health insurance.
What news directors and editors are looking for,as a rule, is live combat footage or eyewitness print dispatches accompanied by dramatic still photos. Both the Herald and The New York Times, for which Long also reports, offered to cover some of Long's medical costs. In countries like El Salvador and Chile, where the foreign press has been a frequent target of attack, members of the foreign press corps have organized press associations to lobby authorities on behalf of individual journalists in trouble. The outcome of any particular confrontation may well depend on what such organizations and the news outlets involved choose to do. In Iraq, for example, captured reporters were accused of being Israeli, American, or other Western intelligence agents.