"The imprisonment of Al Jazeera English (AJE) journalists (Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed) in Egypt between 2013 and 2015 highlighted the safety of journalists in conflict zones. Building on other studies (Baker, 2014; 2016), this is the third paper in a longitudinal study analysing t
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he reportage of the AJE case by its own network, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Examining a total of 59 articles from the broadcasters from October 1, 2015 (a week after the AJE journalists' final release from jail), to September 30, 2018 (three years after Fahmy and Mohamed's release), this paper investigates whether safety was discussed in post-case reportage. Similar to previous studies' conceptual framework of normative media theories of the press (Siebert, Peterson and Schramm, 1956; Curran, 2002) and peace and developmental journalism (Carpentier, cited in Cammaerts and Carpentier, 2007), it highlights that the broadcasters' post reportage about the AJE case did not analyse issues related to the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) safety of journalists' agenda to address issues related to impunity (Poyhtari and Berger). This article argues that raising awareness about safety issues in reportage, and in journalism training in the industry and the academy, is one step towards addressing impunity against journalists in conflict zones." (Abstract)
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"Mention journalists' safety in a conversation, and the spontaneous mental image is often that of a war correspondent. However, in 2017 at least, 55 per cent of the killings of journalists registered by UNESCO were not in countries with significant armed conflict (UNESCO, 2018a). In addition, and as
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is increasingly and painfully evident, safety encompasses not just the brutality of killings and other assaults. There are countless more attacks that inflict severe psychological damage, and there are also increasing attacks on news websites." (Abstract)
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"La relation entre les médias et les agences de sécurité, y compris les services de police et de renseignement, a toujours été délicate. Dans le contexte de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, cette relation est souvent caractérisée par des affrontements fréquents, résultant d'une incapacité quelque pe
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u surprenante des deux parties à apprécier pleinement le rôle de l'autre dans la société, en particulier dans la gouvernance démocratique. Ce rapport rassemble les expériences et les réflexions du Liberia, du Ghana et de la Sierra Leone, distillant les leçons apprises et les meilleures pratiques à cet égard et esquissant un cadre pour informer les initiatives futures d'une variété de parties prenantes." (www.mediasupport.org)
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"This article presents findings from investigations of acclaimed gender employment changes in Israeli journalism, focusing on two main questions: Is the feminisation process of Israeli journalism continuing? Is it improving women’s employment and occupational status? Data were gathered from two in
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ternational surveys that included Israel. The study found that while women are integrated in a variety of news areas, such as news presentation, and play a significant role in management, their roles and salaries are unequal to men. These findings shed light on gender (in)equality and identify some of the mechanisms that exclude Israeli women from the labour market." (Abstract)
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"Jamal Khashoggi is known for his very sharp critics to Saudi Arabian Governments. He was murdered at the Consulate facility of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul-Turkey. The case has become a concern of international society, put the questions of freedom of expression and press as well the security of journa
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list. This article is a normative legal research that is aimed to analyze the international human rights law’s protection to the journalist's activities and to discuss the case of Khashoggi, specifically on the issue which authorities that have obligations to impose legal sanctions to the alleged perpetrators. The research suggests that there have been international human rights norms and principles that protect journalist activities. In addition, it suggests that Turkey has jurisdiction to launch an investigation and prosecute the perpetrators who involve in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi." (Abstract)
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"This chapter investigates the relationship between civic networking coalitions and public interest communication, and an opportunity to explore how the coalitions produce 'public interest-forming practices'. It examines the ability of civic networking coalitions to act and, next, to investigate whi
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ch elements need to be in place in order for them to succeed. The chapter provides a theoretical foundation for our analytical framework. It examines the safety of journalists within the Mexican context and presents an examination of two civic networking coalitions, developed in response to the position of journalists in Mexico. The chapter draws some conclusions about the relationship between these civic forming coalitions, journalism and public interest-forming practices. It shows how media movements in the form of civic networking coalitions can successfully use public interest-forming practices, such as campaigning, community-advocacy journalism and media activism, both off- and online in order to disrupt the public space, set the agenda and enhance civic collaborative efforts." (Abstract)
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"Safety trainings (STs), also known as hazardous or hostile environment trainings, are evolving as a worldwide industry practice designed to keep journalists safe. However, little is known about the effectiveness of STs, particularly how men and women journalists respond to them. In order to better
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understand differences in ST needs and satisfaction among men and women journalists, 247 journalists completed a survey about their most recent experience with STs. Overall, all journalists reported high satisfaction with trainings. Nevertheless, statistically significant gender differences were found on measures of overall satisfaction (general rating and whether to recommend ST to a colleague), satisfaction with trainer knowledge and STs' sensitive and accurate coverage of gender and diversity related threats. Men reported higher satisfaction than women on all four measures. However, gender differences varied based on the regions in which journalists worked and the type of stories covered. Recommendations for future research and design of safety trainings are discussed." (Abstract)
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"This paper examines the teaching of conflict-sensitive reporting, safety education and peace journalism in the curricula of institutions offering mass communication/journalism programmes in three English speaking countries of West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. It assesses the status of r
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esearch and teaching of reporting of conflicts, peace journalism and professional safety in institutions of the selected countries." (Abstract)
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"Journalists in Mexico face hundreds of attacks each year, ranging from online harassment and physical intimidation to outright murder. The official narrative typically claims that murdered journalists are the victims of general criminal violence. This article finds that despite the rampant violence
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in Mexico, the murder of journalists cannot be attributed to the country's general criminal violence problem alone. Instead, the evidence points to the targeting, and even political targeting of journalists. First, journalists are at a much higher risk of being murdered than the general population. Second, the divergence between homicide rates among the general population and among journalists varies considerably between Mexican states. While recent scholarship has shown that subnational governments can successfully remain authoritarian despite democratization at the central or federal level, this literature has largely ignored the use of political killings in subnational undemocratic regimes. This article attempts to understand the murder of journalists not just as a problem of criminal violence, but also of political violence, and thereby connects the findings to the existing scholarship on subnational authoritarianism." (Abstract)
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"Objective: To explore the emotional health of journalists covering the migrations of refugees across Europe. Design: Descriptive. A secure website was established and participants were given their unique identifying number and password to access the site. Setting: Newsrooms and in the field. Partic
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ipants: Responses were received from 80 (70.2%) of 114 journalists from nine news organisations. Main outcome measures: Symptoms of PTSD (Impact of Events Scale-revised), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-Revised) and moral injury (Moral Injury Events Scale-revised).
Results: Symptoms of PTSD were not prominent, but those pertaining to moral injury and guilt were. Moral injury was associated with being a parent (p*=*.031), working alone (p*=*.02), a recent increase in workload (p*=*.017), a belief that organisational support is lacking (p*=*.046) and poor control over resources needed to report the story (p*=*.027). A significant association was found between guilt and moral injury (p*=*.01) with guilt more likely to occur in journalists who reported covering the migrant story close to home (p*=*.011) and who divulged stepping outside their role as a journalist to assist migrants (p*=*.014). Effect sizes (d) ranged from .47 to .71.
Conclusions: On one level, the relatively low scores on conventional psychometric measures of PTSD and depression are reassuring. However, our data confirm that moral injury is a different construct from DSM-defined trauma response syndromes, one that potentially comes with its own set of long-term maladaptive behaviours and adjustment problems." (Abstract)
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"It is crucial that any initiatives focussing on the safety of women journalists exist within the broader framework of conversations aimed at meeting the specific targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and recognize that much
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of the violence that women journalists face stems from more deeply rooted gender-based discrimination and inequality in the media industry, and society at large." (Introduction, page 77)
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"The problem of disinformation and misinformation undermining credible journalism and reliable information has escalated dramatically in the social media era. Consequences include the deliberate targeting of journalists and other online publishers, along with their sources, who are seeking to verify
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or share information and commentary. The associated risks can further undermine trust in journalism, along with the safety of journalists and their sources." (Abstract)
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"The objective of the current study was to determine the frequency and severity of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in journalists covering conflict. Methods: PTSD data (Impact of Event Scale-Revised) collected over an 18-year period from 684 conflict journalists were analyzed retros
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pectively for frequency and severity of reexperiencing, avoidance, and arousal symptoms. Conflicts covered were civil wars in the Balkans ( n = 140 journalists), 9/11 attack in New York City ( n = 46), Iraq war ( n = 84), Mexico drug wars ( n = 104), civil war in Syria ( n = 59), Kenya election violence/Al-Shabab terror ( n = 57), state-sanctioned media intimidation in Iran ( n = 114), and the current migration crisis in Europe ( n = 80).
Results: The mean age of the sample was 38.59 (SD = 8.35) years, 461 (67%) journalists were men, and the mean duration of conflict work was 13.42 (SD = 7.74) years. The 5 most frequently endorsed symptoms were in the reexperiencing/intrusion category. Mean intrusion (1.31, SD = 0.97), avoidance (1.08, SD = 0.89), and arousal (1.07, SD = 0.96) scores for the entire sample were in the mild range. Being female and less educated independently predicted PTSD symptoms.
Conclusions: PTSD phenomenology in a group of conflict journalists with well over a decade of frontline experience is dominated by reexperiencing symptoms. While symptom severity is for the most part mild, group means can obscure those individuals with significantly more severe difficulties." (Abstract)
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"The SAFE (Securing Access to Free Expression) Initiative is IREX’s flagship effort to enable media practitioners and social communicators to work as safely as possible in closed and closing spaces. SAFE serves to equip media practitioners and social communicators with the means to resiliently con
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tinue their important work and manage—as well as mitigate—the risks and threats they face in their day-today work uncovering injustices, reporting on corruption, and holding authorities accountable [...] The purpose of the SAFE Basic Training Master Curriculum is to share the SAFE training methodology for use by media practitioners, social communicators, civil society organizations, and non-governmental organizations, as well as others around the world working on journalist safety issues. To achieve this, SAFE harnessed the knowledge from the regional training teams and their nearly five years of experience. Based on this knowledge, SAFE compiled this Basic Training Master Curriculum to deliver security trainings around the world." (Page 1, page 4)
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"For women journalists, online harassment may result in emotional stress and may require legal and technological remedies to mitigate the damage caused to their identity and reputation. Perpetrators can use a combination of online and offline attacks that threaten the employment and safety of journa
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lists. In the case of women writers, misogynistic and racist attacks can create a chilling effect that silences their voices online and creates a deterrent to freedom of expression that ultimately erodes the freedom of the press. Based on the examination of seminal work, case studies and personal anecdotes, this chapter investigates the consequences of abuse via Twitter and Facebook on the freedom of speech, the emotional and psychological impact on women journalists, and its implications on press freedom. Moreover, before suggesting digital defense strategies for journalists, the chapter also chronicles the development of TrollBusters, a platform for women journalists that counters online hate with positive messaging and just-in-time rescue services." (Abstract)
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"Becoming the Story examines the transformation of war reporting in the decade after 9/11. Lindsay Palmer delves into times when print or television correspondents themselves received intense public scrutiny because of an incident associated with the work of war reporting. Such instances include Dan
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iel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder; Bob Woodruff’s near-fatal injury in Iraq; the expulsions of Maziar Bahari and Nazila Fathi from Iran in 2009; the sexual assault of Lara Logan; and Marie Colvin’s 2012 death in Syria. Merging analysis with in-depth interviews of Woodruff and others, Palmer shows what these events say about how post-9/11 conflicts transformed the day-to-day labor of reporting. But they also illuminate how journalists’ work became entangled with issues ranging from digitization processes to unprecedented hostility from all sides to the political logic of the War on Terror." (Abstract)
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"The ability of the media and especially journalism to operate freely is crucial in order on the one hand to hold governments and other institutions accountable for their actions and on the other to allow citizens to make informed decisions. To discuss the current state of affairs for media and jour
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nalistic freedom in Europe, the authors draw on the findings of two of independent projects awarded a grant by the European Commission —the Safety Net for European Journalists and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ecpmf). First, the article offers insights as to current threats and other impediments experienced by journalists, and highlights their structural basis. In the second section it shows how, despite the European commitment to media freedom, developments in 2015-16 suggest that both the «war of attrition» and the ‘toxic environment’ identified by Safety Net are expanding and apply to more countries in Europe." (Abstract)
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"While the digital era has delivered unprecedented opportunities for big-data based investigative journalism—from the Snowden Files to the Panama Papers—it has also thrown up a host of new threats to the sustainability of journalism based on confidential sources. These include: mass and targeted
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surveillance; data retention regimes and the handover of data by third party intermediaries such as social media platforms, telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers (ISPs); national security and anti-terrorism overreach; attempts to ban encryption and online anonymity; and malicious digital attacks targeting journalists. If sources cannot securely connect with journalists, they risk exposure, with impacts including economic penalties through to extra-judicial killings. The effect of these threats to accountability journalism and public access to information is chilling, and it is leading to significant changes in the practice of investigative journalism dependent upon confidential sources and information on a global scale." (Abstract)
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"Urge poner por delante el respeto a la vida, a la integridad física, mental, emocional y a la dignidad de los periodistas de medios privados y comunitarios. Pero este principio no se cumple en una región flagelada por el narcotráfico, las pandillas y la corrupción. Informar y opinar hacen parti
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cularmente vulnerables a los periodistas en zonas alejadas de las grandes ciudades, donde el Estado no está presente. Son los periodistas y medios locales más pequeños y departamentales, quienes muchas veces trabajan sin ningún tipo de blindaje. Se enfrentan a intimidaciones y amenazas por parte de alcaldes, policías municipales y vecinos con negocios oscuros, sin tener protección alguna y sin poner en práctica siquiera las medidas más mínimas de seguridad a su alcance, aun teniendo consciencia de ellas. ¿Cómo asistirles? ¿Cómo convencer no solamente a los periodistas, sino también a sus medios de comunicación de que urge un esfuerzo para proteger la vida de sus colaboradores, y con ello preservar la libertad de expresión? Una respuesta a estas preguntas surgió entre la DW Akademie, la Fundación por la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP), de Colombia y el Centro Civitas, de Guatemala. En un “Diálogo de Medios” en Antigua Guatemala, del 26 al 28 de noviembre de 2018, se construyó un protocolo modelo de seguridad para periodistas de medios locales y comunitarios que pretende hacer consciencia acerca de la necesidad de prevenir y protegerse. No es un modelo abstracto, sino que parte de las experiencias cotidianas de 12 periodistas con poder de decisión en sus medios. Participaron comunicadores de México, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua y Guatemala." (Introducción)
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