Journalism – Remote Worker Security

Journalists travel to dangerous areas, with both known and unknown dangers. You can't rely on communication facilities on the ground such as mobile phone (GSM) networks as these can be easily turned off by authorities with little or no notice. We provide RockSTAR units to a large number of news media organisations across the globe.

Safeguarding Journalists with the RockSTAR

The RockSTAR provides accurate tracking, allowing HQ to know the last location of their team members, and also gives a secure and private means of communication from HQ to remote workers.

Key Details

GPS tracking
Secure communications
Alert notification
Long battery life
Independently powered
Easy to hide/secure
Stealth mode
Relatively discreet

Challenges facing journalists

Journalists have a hard life, travelling from place to place. It might be a warzone one week, a natural disaster area the next. In all cases, they can only rely on the equipment they take with them. There’s no guarantee that there will be any communications equipment onsite when they get there – most of the time they don’t even know if they’ll get a pillow to sleep on.

That’s where the RockSTAR is useful. It provides a vital way for the journalist to keep in touch with both HQ and home. Position information is sent automatically from the unit, as regularly as every 30 seconds, or as infrequently as once every 12 hours. If HQ feel that they’re in trouble, they can remotely increase the transmission rate to get more regular fixes

The RockSTAR can also be used to communicate, sending short messages via email and SMS to the office and to loved ones. Some even use our Bluetooth link (via iPad, iPhone, Android) to write short articles and send them back for print.

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RockSTAR Devices In The Field

Our units don’t rely on any terrestrial service – if the mobile phone network is down, that’s not a problem. As long as our devices can see the sky, they can transmit their position and message data back home. That means certainty – and when you’re stuck in a warzone reporting the news, that’s worth its weight in gold.

It’s cost-effective, too. Normally news organisations might have a stock of RockSTARs, but that doesn’t mean they’re always in use. Slow news days do happen. With our service, you just pay for what you use.

Before the start of the trip, HQ activate the line rental for the unit for a month or more, the journalist turns the unit on, and the RockSTAR will start transmitting a position fix once per hour (or whatever the customer chooses). When the units are sat on the shelf in the store-room, you don’t pay anything. Any credits left over from one deployment will still be there when the unit is activated next time, on its next trip.

Back at HQ, the customer uses The Core management system to monitor the positions of all their workers.

Utilizing the RockSTAR in an Emergency

In the case of an emergency, the RockSTAR unit can be used to alert HQ, using either the dedicated red button or, even better, using the messaging facilities to indicate the type of alert and any other relevant details. It can also be sent a command to go into ‘stealth mode’, which means the screen and LED are turned off. The unit continues to operate as normal, but it looks as though the battery has run out – useful if compromised.

RockSTAR Benefits & Features

Up to 3-month battery life, transmitting every hour
Rechargeable in the field using standard USB options
Portable and can be covertly placed
Two-way messaging between remote worker and HQ
Access to ‘The Core’ for management across all deployed workers
Various alert options including red button, timer alert, dead man’s switch, etc.
Pay only when the units are being used, no annual contracts

In summary, the RockSTAR is a private and reliable means of communication and tracking between the organisation and the journalists. Because of the erratic nature of news events, our pay-as-you-go service is cost-effective, requiring no annual contracts.