The Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield (UK) is an interdisciplinary research centre with global outreach on issues of media freedom, journalism safety, editorial standards and impunity. During the 2022 Academic Consultation on the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, CFOM conducted a literature stocktake to scope out academic literature published in the area of media freedom, journalism safety and impunity. CFOM collated this information and produced a literature database organised by themes or countries for accessibility.  The collection is especially strong on country- and region-specific safety issues and on surveys of emotional wellbeing of journalists. This special collection is curated by gemma.horton@sheffield.ac.uk.

Filter
1011
Featured
Topics
468
185
181
132
107
78
73
54
53
53
50
42
39
29
29
29
28
28
20
19
19
16
13
13
13
12
12
12
12
12
11
11
11
10
10
10
9
9
9
8
8
8
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Language
Document type
87
44
36
24
6
6
5
4
4
4
3
2
2
2
1
1
Countries / Regions
Authors & Publishers
Media focus
Publication Years
Methods applied
Journals
Output Type
"[...] This is a guide to provide support and advice based on shared experience of others worldwide and includes handy links to other research and IFJ resources. With courage, wit and sheer determination, we’ve seen many journalists demonstrate how to take on trolls, call them out, respond to pate ... more
"Concern on safety and security of journalist is a global phenomenon. This gave rise to security and safety policy documents and protocols for journalists and the need for journalists to know about them to better safeguard themselves while on duty. Studies were conducted on the state of journalist ... more
"The overall approach to advocacy in this toolkit is generic, but the toolkit focuses on increasing safety for journalists in Somalia/Somaliland. The order of the different steps follows a logical sequence. However, do keep in mind that advocacy is not necessarily a linear process. Advocacy rarely f ... more
"This study, which covers 121 UNESCO Member States, represents a global benchmarking of journalistic source protection in the Digital Age. It focuses on developments during the period 2007-2015. The legal frameworks that support protection of journalistic sources, at international, regional and coun ... more

Internal Threats and Safety of Journalists: A Study from India

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 227-230
"Journalists face numerous threats from different stakeholders. In developing countries, internal threats coming from inside media organizations – threats that have a serious impact on the professional, economic and psychological lives of journalists – are less researched. This research is an at ... more

The Psychological Wellbeing of Iranian Journalists

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 185-190
"Objectives: To determine the emotional wellbeing of journalists who work in Iran. Methods: A website was established and journalists in newsrooms in Iran and the Diaspora were given information to access the site. Responses were received from 114 journalists (76 per per cent cent). The mean age was ... more
"Yuan Zeng analyses the mixed uncodified strategies that Chinese authorities use to obstruct the work of foreign journalists." (Abstract)
"The relationship between journalists and political sources has been characterized by a tug of war between reporters and officials where top politicians have the upper hand in the coproduction of news through their ability to provide critical information subsidies that most news media rely on. The d ... more
"Domestic journalists covering Kenya’s 2013 General Election worked in an exceptionally challenging media environment; one which was significantly shaped by the 2007 election and post-election violence (PEV). Rooted in literature on peace journalism (PJ), we examine how the PEV of Kenya’s 2007 p ... more

A Country without Mercy: Afghan Journalists Caught in Crossfires

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 81-86
"In the last Afghan solar year (22 March 2015 – 21 March 2016), twelve journalists and media workers were killed, exceeding any previous year in recent history. In June 2016, the US photographer David Gilkey and his interpreter, journalist Zabihullah Tamanna, were killed in a Taliban attack in Maj ... more

What’s Wrong with War Journalism? Why and how legal aspects of conflicts need better reporting

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 241-254
"This chapter deals with whether war journalism in mainstream media is fit to take a fourth estate role in reporting the new wars, from the end of the Cold War in 1989 to the present war against the so-called Islamic State. In particular, it is a critical study of shortcomings when it comes to provi ... more

The Protection of Citizen Journalists During Armed Conflicts

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 267-278
"Digital technologies are changing the way in which journalism is performed. Today, reports by citizen journalists (CJs) are extremely relevant when traditional journalists cannot access hostile and dangerous areas. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 90% of murdered reporters were lo ... more
"Although war journalism has existed for centuries, changes in the nature of armed conflict and its coverage have put the danger for modern journalists at an all time high. The traditional war correspondent has been replaced in recent years by the independent freelance journalist. While the former r ... more
"Introduction: journalists in Latin America continue to face numerous threats in the exercise of their journalistic profession, which has increased the concern of the international community over its protection in recent years. Methodology: The objective of this research is to analyse nearly 500 cas ... more

How Safe Is It? Being an activist citizen journalist in Turkey

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 279-288
"This study discusses how and in what ways activist citizen journalists in Turkey develop safety tactics against the repressive strategies of a neoliberal authoritarian government. By drawing on the theories of alternative new media and citizen journalism, we conducted interviews with activist citiz ... more
"The primary objective of the 2015 NIMP Mission was to provide technical inputs to activities underway under UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists project, particularly in terms of setting up an independent national mechanism on safety at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Another key objective ... more
"Iran ranks 173 out of 180 countries on an index of press freedom. The purpose of the study was to assess the psychological wellbeing of Iranian journalists and document the stressors encountered in their work. Design: A secure website was established and participants were given their unique identif ... more
"Previous studies of intimidation and harassment of journalists have (rightly) focused on non-democratic and authoritarian nations and/or transitional/emerging democracies. In this article, we examine the situation in Sweden, a country with strong de facto and de jure safeguards of journalistic free ... more
"Work done internationally to address impunity concentrates on removing blanket amnesties and establishing commissions of inquiry into past atrocities. Everyday impunity—the impossibility of bringing state officers to account for routinized violent crimes against other individuals—gets less atte ... more

The (Un)safe Practice of Journalism: An Analysis Based on UNESCO’s Journalists’ Safety Indicators Assessments

In: Freedom of Expression and Media in Transition: Studies and Reflections in the Digital Age
Göteborg: Nordicom (2016), pp. 103-107
"Journalists around the world are being killed and threatened for doing their work. This is a serious hindrance to freedom of expression and the safe practice of journalism. UN and UNESCO have led the process to create the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity to i ... more