"The Boko Haram terrorism and violent extremism that ravaged North East Nigeria and Republics of Chad, Niger and Cameroons from 2009-2015 exposed weaknesses in the safety policy and protocols for local journalists in times and zones of tension in Nigeria. Boko Haram terrorists killed 30,000 people a
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nd destroyed property worth billions of dollars. In the midst of the violence and killings, journalists demonstrated their resilience to report, with severe consequences for their safety and professional integrity. Some were killed, many injured, and most were threatened by the terrorists and the authorities. Pressure mounted on journalists and media houses from the public, the terrorists and the security agencies. This chapter explains the dangers, risks and challenges encountered by Nigerian journalists and media and the safety options they adopted to maintain professional correctness in reporting terror and violence in hostile circumstances." (Abstract)
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"The effectiveness of any measures taken to address the problems of journalism safety ultimately depends on our ability to understand the complex nature and dynamics of risk to journalists. Mapping the scale of the problem through the systematic collection of data on threats over time is therefore a
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crucial step toward establishing an empirical evidence base that can serve to tailor interventions aimed at safeguarding journalists and their work. Doing so requires us to examine the occurrence of a wide range of threats to a diverse community of journalists within a varied set of hostile environments. Importantly, it challenges us to explore how the multidimensional nature of risk to journalists should be measured." (Abstract)
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"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
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ollows the same process twice, and there is always an element of unpredictability. This toolkit will give you an insight into: Main advocacy concepts and an advocacy vocabulary; How to develop a strategy to achieve your advocacy goals; How to analyse policies and political context with a focus on stakeholders; How to develop your approach to the target groups and audiences; and finally how to identify and acquire essential skills needed to prepare a strong advocacy strategy." (Introduction)
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"The United Nations (UN) has played an increasing role in promoting the safety of journalists. Yet little has been done to study its work from a historical perspective. This paper explores global attempts to promote journalist safety carried out by the UN system, from its inception in 1945 until 201
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6. It also analyses the past to ascertain the relevance of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. Never since its approval in 2012 has the UN progressed so much in such a short time in this field of normative work. This affords a historic opportunity to tackle this issue meaningfully." (Abstract)
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"When discussing the safety of journalists, it is quite natural that the focus is foremost on practitioners: those professional journalists, citizen journalists and other media workers who report about incidents, processes and their consequences from troubled sites around the world. Their accounts o
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f the dangers and problems encountered in their work are important evidence on which efforts to improve the situation can be based. But it is not sufficient, indeed not right, to leave practitioners alone in this struggle. One resource that could make a valuable contribution is research. But what is or could be the role of researchers in the context of improving the safety of journalists? Why should the research community include this topic in their research agenda? Perhaps the main argument can be derived from the Finlandia Declaration, which was accepted on the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day in Helsinki in May 2016. It states, among other things, that “the right to information is critical for informed decision-making” (Finlandia Declaration 2016). The Declaration of course refers to what professional and citizen journalists and other media workers are doing, but at the same time, this statement actually applies to what scientific research can do: accu mulate reliable and accurate information about the obstacles to exercising the right to information. In this respect, journalists’ work and researchers’ studies on journalists’ work complement one another and serve the same purpose, that of making our world a better place for citizens." (Page 141)
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"This Handbook is primarily for use by media professionals who report from conflict zones. It is a practical and accessible guide to the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) that protect media professionals and their work in armed conflict. It also considers the IHL responsibilities that me
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dia professionals (and their publishers and broadcasters) have when reporting on and from armed conflict, including their potential liability under international criminal law as individuals for violations of these rules. The Handbook is supplemented by a lighter and smaller ‘Field Guide’ that is designed to be used in conflict zones as a quick and easy reference to the relevant rules of IHL." (Page iv)
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"This report takes a look at a selection of the innovative, successful ways media companies, individual journalists and civil society organizations are coming together to improve journalist safety. These are cases of people taking the initiative, of acting on behalf of the profession, of not sitting
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back as disempowered victims. The report is not an overview of all the work that is being done in this domain. It is not full of statistics and data. It is, instead, a collection of stories, told in the words of the motivated people who are dedicated to protecting courageous journalists with pro-active measures to make them safer." (Introduction, page 9)
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"In September 2016, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) broke new ground with the unanimous adoption of HRC Resolution 33/2 on the safety of journalists. The HRC is the world’s highest human rights body and its resolutions are a strong collective commitment from States to act on priority human right
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s violations and abuses. On paper, the Resolution is the most ambitious global agenda yet to act on the safety of journalists. However, the reality for journalists facing daily threats and attacks remains dire [...] This important UN resolution must be met with action from States if it is going to ensure safety for journalists and end impunity for crimes against them. To break the cycle of violence, HRC Resolution 33/2 commits States to act on three fronts to: prevent, protect, and prosecute [...] Is HRC Resolution 33/2 legally binding? No. The HRC is a political body constituted by States (rather than by international judges or independent experts), and its resolutions constitute political commitments. Nevertheless, HRC Resolution 33/2 is a significant commitment by States to take action. It is rooted in their international human rights law obligations, and gives an insight into how States view their legal obligations relating to the safety of journalists." (Introduction, page 5-6)
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"Democracies with sharp violence and public insecurity have proliferated in recent decades, with many also featuring extreme economic inequality. These conditions have not been explicitly considered in comparative research on journalists' work environments, an omission that may obscure important rea
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lities of contemporary journalism. We address this gap through analysis of journalist surveys in 62 countries. We confirm the existence of insecure democracies as an empirical phenomenon and begin to unravel their meaning for journalists. We find democracies with uneven democratic performance tend to have more journalist assassinations, which is the most extreme form of influence on work, and that levels of democratic performance, violence, public insecurity and economic inequality significantly shape how journalists perceive various influences in their work environment. Case studies of insecure democracies in Africa and Latin America address why these conditions sometimes (but not always) lead to journalist assassinations and other anti-press violence. They suggest anti-press violence is higher when sub-national state actors intensify criminal violence and when insecurity is geographically and topically proximate to journalists. How journalists' perceive influences on work are therefore more complex and multidimensional than previous research has suggested. The study concludes by identifying areas for improvement in data collection." (Abstract)
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"The safety of journalists is not only about physical wellbeing. Safety extends to protection against impending psychological injury resulting from exposure to violence, conflict, disaster and tragedy. Both psychological safety and physical safety are inextricably linked. Research shows that people
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who experience psychological trauma may have impaired decision-making processes and take more physical risks than nontrauma affected persons. Further studies show that people who are educated about ‘emotional (trauma) literacy’ are able to change their behaviour and understand the emotional experience of others better. Therefore, education about trauma awareness in times of climate change disasters focuses on the safety of the journalist and also contributes to media professionals understanding the experience of sources better, resulting in more accurate and ethical journalism." (Abstract)
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"[...] 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
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ntly false information and posts, factual distortions, propaganda and misogyny. They have flagged trouble-makers who, through incessant trolling, attempt to deliberately misdirect online conversations and derail healthy debate. It is true there are many ways to take this fight back. Importantly, this guide is also a call to solidarity for all media workers, to join together in this fight for freedom of expression and safety online." (Page 2)
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"This research examines the everyday sexism and workplace sex discrimination experienced by women journalists in India. Nearly all of the popular and scholarly attention to the experiences of Indian women journalists has focused on high profile instances of rape and sexual assault. But this focus on
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highly egregious, dramatic stories deflects attention from ongoing global structural problems as well as ongoing sexism and gender discrimination in journalism. Interviews with Indian women journalists indicate a concern with everyday sexism and discriminatory practices at the hands of sources, colleagues, and editors. Additionally, women journalists are not confident that newsrooms will become less toxic for women any time soon. They describe legal guidelines designed to protect women as ineffective and rarely implemented. We ground our understanding of sexual harassment in theories about the politics and power of women but also connect the persistence of these sexist practices--and women's powerlessness to prevent them--to the growing casualization of the journalism workforce in India. The precarity of the journalism industry leaves women vulnerable but reluctant to complain." (Abstract)
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"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
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residential elections informed and shaped journalists’ practice around the 2013 Kenyan General Election. The article is based on qualitative interviews with 16 Kenyan print journalists and editors at the Daily Nation and Standard newspapers as well as interviews with 6 Kenyan media specialists. Our analysis finds the 2007 PEV significantly constrained journalistic practice in three ways: first, journalists witnessed violence in 2007 which anchored their 2013 coverage; second, interviewees felt a ‘collective guilt’ at journalism’s failure to provide responsible coverage in 2007 creating a ‘culture of restraint’ and third, journalists felt compelled to ‘sanitize’ potentially inflammatory language creating a tension between journalists’ duty to inform and strong desire to avoid contributing to conflict. This article concludes by siding with a growing critical chorus of PJ scholars critiquing its often “individualist” approach and calling for greater attention towards structural factors such as perceived social constraints when conceptualizing and theorizing the agency of journalists working in post conflict environments." (Abstract)
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"[...] To test the argument whether the killing of journalists is a precursor to increasing repression, we introduce a new global dataset on killings of journalists between 2002 and 2013 that uses three different sources that track such events across the world. The new data show that mostly local jo
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urnalists are targeted and that in most cases the perpetrators remain unconfirmed. Particularly in countries with limited repression, human rights conditions are likely to deteriorate in the two years following the killing of a journalist. When journalists are killed, human rights conditions are unlikely to improve where standard models of human rights would expect an improvement. Our research underlines the importance of taking the treatment of journalists seriously, not only because failure to do so endangers their lives and limits our understanding of events on the ground, but also because their physical safety is an important precursor of more repression in the future." (Abstract)
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"Safety of Journalists: A Model Course for the Arab States is a significant instalment in our UNESCO Series on Journalism Education. Developed in partnership with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the publication responds to the difficult situation of many journalists working in the
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Arab States region. Reflecting the vulnerability of such journalists, the Director-General’s 2016 Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity records that this region registered the highest number of journalists’ killings – 78 deaths in all – in 2014-2015." (Abstract)
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"Ce rapport met en lumière une sélection de voies et moyens novateurs et efficaces grâce auxquels des entreprises de presse, des journalistes et des organisations de la société civile se regroupent pour améliorer la sécurité des journalistes. Ce sont des cas de gens qui prennent des initiati
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ves d’agir en faveur de la profession et se refusent de s’asseoir en victimes impuissantes. Le rapport n’est pas une pas une vue d’ensemble du travail accompli dans ce domaine. Il n’est pas truffé de statistiques et de données. C’est plutôt un recueil d’histoires, racontées dans les termes des personnes concernées dévouées à protéger des journalistes courageux par des moyens dynamiques censés les mettre à l’abri." (Introduction, page 9)
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"Este informe presenta una selección de las formas innovadoras y exitosas por las cuales los medios de comunicación, sus profesionales y las organizaciones sociales se están agrupando para mejorar la seguridad de los periodistas. Estos son casos de personas que han tomado la iniciativa, en nombre
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de la profesión, de no quedarse de brazos cruzados como víctimas indefensas. Este informe no es un pantallazo de todo el trabajo que se está llevando a cabo en este campo. No está lleno de estadísticas ni datos. En cambio, es una colección de historias, contadas con las palabras de la gente motivada que se dedica a proteger a los valerosos periodistas tomando medidas para que su profesión sea más segura." (Introducción, página 9)
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"This chapter therefore proposes steps toward closing the gaps in the research on the safety of journalists and media workers in the Philippines and across the globe. While there is no absence of research on the subject, there is a preponderance of anecdotal research and a lack of empirical studies.
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This is a significant gap, as empirical research – in the form of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies – is crucial in providing evidence-based information that can inform policies and action agendas intended to deter threats and violence against news media workers. Another gap is the lack of systematic documentation and dissemination of studies on the topic. There is a need for coordinated efforts among schools and research institutions to encourage the inventory and utilization of existing research. The latter may include policy advocacy based on study findings. Yet another gap that needs to be filled is the development and use of a framework that can provide parameters for future research on the topic." (Abstract)
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"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
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37.8 years and 57 per cent were male. Primary outcomes measures: Impact of Event Scale-revised for posttraumatic stress disorder, Beck Depression Inventory-II for depression. Results: Stressors included arrest (41.2 per cent), torture (19.3 per cent), assault (10.5 per cent), intimidation (51.4 per cent) and family threatened (43.1 per cent). Eighty-nine (78.1 per cent) journalists had stopped working on a story because of intimidation. Arrest, torture, intimidation and family threatened were associated with more PTSD symptoms and assault and intimidation with more depressive symptoms. Almost a third used barbiturates, with use correlating with symptoms of intrusion, avoidance, arousal and depression. Conclusions: Iranian journalists confront an extraordinary degree of danger. Self-medication of emotional distress with barbiturates gives additional cause for concern." (Abstract)
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