"The report is the output of a RSE-funded project on how journalists in Scotland undertake their work in the digital age from the point of view of cyber security and surveillance impacts. This research interviewed ten journalists from Scotland, from various beats, locations, and employment backgroun
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ds (including freelance, editorial, broadcast, etc.) during July and August 2022. Interviewees were asked about their perceptions of cyber security threats, surveillance, and their knowledge of cyber security. They were also asked about other related issues that affected their work, including defamation, harassment, and data protection." (Abstract)
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"In Australia, the Data Retention Act (2015), the Assistance and Access Act (2018), the Identify and Disrupt Act (2021), and the International Production Orders Act (2020) have significantly increased the surveillance powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies with implications for journali
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sts and the free press. This report draws on interviews with 19 journalists and 2 media-lawyers in Australia. The interviews were conducted between May and November 2021. The aim of the interviews was to gauge (a) the level of preparedness amongst journalists in Australia concerning surveillance, and (b) the impacts of increased surveillance powers on journalistic practices. There was wide variation in information security understanding and applied skill among media organisations and journalists. Some expressed “very low confidence” (Journalist F) that journalists were adequately prepared for the threats of electronic surveillance and a number conceded that they were not thinking about it “enough” (Journalist Q) or were just “learning on the job but could know more” (Journalist I). Some media organisations do not offer support in terms of education and training, policies and procedures, or formal guidance, and even among the most active and equipped organisations, support for cyber security concerns was described as “probably too far down the list of considerations” (Journalist D). In most instances, journalists were self-educating as “it is up to the individual journalist to make sure they are secure” (Journalist A). The 2019 AFP raids on the ABC and Annika Smethurst were described as a “holy shit” moment (Journalist P) that raised awareness of government surveillance of journalists. These raids resulted in many journalists and media organisations raising their efforts to protect their digital communications. Subsequently, over the past 2 to 3 years many journalists have migrated to encrypted communication applications such as Signal and Protonmail, while several media organisations have implemented SecureDrop for whistle-blowers to provide anonymity and security. Journalists suggested media organisations could do more to provide “formalised training” and “organisational support” (Journalist P) and invest more in their employees to provide confidence to potential sources that “journalists are good at this” (Journalist J)." (Executive summary)
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"This article develops a conceptual framework for understanding risk to journalism, more specifically, risk to the standing of journalism as a civil institution generated by macro-level state and market forces of civil diminishment. While the state and market arguably belong to the most well-studied
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forms of power influencing journalism, it is argued here that the nature of risk to journalism is not sufficiently understood in terms of how it occasions the diminishment of the quality of civil life by distorting collective inclusive communication and association among members of society. To achieve this, the article builds on civil sphere theory to establish how the civil diminishment of journalism by anti-civil state power can be evaluated through the application of a principle of justification." (Abstract)
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"Journalists around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, media houses have had to make drastic adjustments to the impact of challenges wrought by the pandemic on their operations. Ghanaian media houses also faced similar challenges and disruptions. News reporters and
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journalists felt the impact of these disruptions with many Ghanaian journalists losing their jobs. This study used affective-emotive theoretical perspective to examine how the possibility of contracting COVID-19 could affect or trigger emotions of fear and anxiety among Ghanaian journalists. The study set two main objectives (1) what workplace safety policies and protocol guidelines were established in newsrooms to mitigate the spread of the virus and (2) to what extent did journalists fear for the safety and well-being of close family members because of their journalism work. The study conducted in-depth unstructured interviews with five journalists who had recovered from the COVID-19 infections. The study found that despite high degrees of fear and anxiety among respondents about on-assignments and workplace infections, respondents still maintained ‘emotional detachment’ to attain objectivity in news reporting. Respondents also expressed high degrees of fear of exposing family members to the virus." (Abstract)
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"This study investigated the knowledge and practice of safety protocols among journalists serving as frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Structured questionnaire served as instrument for data collection. The popula
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tion of the study was all the one hundred and fifty-seven (157) registered journalists in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Stages of Change Model and Health Belief Model. Simple percentage, frequency table, bar chart, T-test and Pearson’s chi square tests were used to analyse the research questions whereas t-test and Pearson’s Chi square test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. Findings show that whereas majority of the respondents had good knowledge of Coronavirus personal protective measures, they lack the technicalities and personal protective equipment required to serve as frontline health workers in a highly infectious pandemic situation such as Coronavirus. The study recommends special training for journalists who cover pandemics, particularly highly infectious ones of this nature to better equip them with the requisite skills for this genre of special assignment. Journalism training bodies and institutes could also consider the inclusion of pandemic reporting as part of specialised courses in journalism studies. Prioritsing vaccination of journalists who serve as frontline workers during pandemics is also strongly recommended." (Abstract)
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"According to a survey conducted by Reporters without Borders (RSF) in December 2021, from 10,790 people working in Afghan media (8,290 men and 2,490 women) at the start of August 2021, only 4,360 (3,950 men and 410 women) were still working and the number may reduce even further. For this survey, d
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ata were collected through online and in-person manual surveys in May 2022. The questionnaire included 23 questions and was completed by 308 respondents in Dari (75.97%) and Pashto (24.03%). All 100 percent respondents were female. The survey largely represented reporters (54.87%), followed by journalists (19.16%), producers (9.74%), presenters (3.90%) and others (12.01%). [...] A majority of respondents (67.86%) reported that they have lost their jobs since the de facto authorties’ takeover of Afghanistan in August. The highest ratio of respondents having lost their jobs compared to the respondents interviewed were in Bamyan (100%), followed by Kandahar (91%), Balkh (85%), Badakhshan (68%) and Kabul (62%). 60.39% of respondents reported that they have felt ‘major changes’ since the collapse of the former government. In addition, 28.90% respondents reported changes in some cases. As for the level of restrictions imposed on reporting since the de facto authorities’ takeover of power, an astounding 80.52% of respondents reported the case to be ‘very restricted’. As far as the reporting autonomy is concerned, 45.13% respondents mentioned that ‘Government Interferences have Increased’, while 35.71% responded as ‘Bad’ meaning the independency in journalists’ reporting is bad.
46.75% of respondents mentioned that the de facto authorities’ spokespersons do not respond to female journalists, followed by 29.55% who mentioned that they do respond, but just in some cases. All 100% of the respondents reported that they have received some kind of threat since the de facto authorities have taken over the power, and reported the major threat against female journalists to be the new restrictions imposed by the de facto authorities (52.9%), followed by the gender-based discrimination (18.8%), and threats posed by extremist groups (16.9%). A majority of the respondents (55.19%) reported that they were restricted from their work specifically due to their outfit/sense of clothing and some (27.92%) reported that they have experienced the same but to some extent only." (Executive summary, pages 5-6)
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"After nearly 20 years of international investment and successful efforts to build a diverse media landscape and strengthen journalism standards, the Afghan media sector has fundamentally changed for the worse since the Taliban (also referred herein to as the de facto authorities) takeover on 15 Aug
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ust 2021. Before mid-August 2021, dedicated initiatives and investment focused on increasing the number of women working in the media across a diversity of roles, training and equipping them with valuable skills and expertise, as well as a substantive focus on women’s rights and gender equality in the media content, including on how gender inequality is a driver of conflict. The Taliban has sought to bring the Afghan media under its control, prohibiting broadcasts and publications that criticize Taliban rule and/or are incompatible with the group’s interpretation of Islamic and Afghan values. There is no universal experience across the changed media environment as the level of subnational variation is notable. The position of individual de facto leaders on media freedom varies according to their personal viewpoints and relationship to the media in the past, and their perception of the value of media to extend the credibility and authority of the Taliban in the eyes of the target audience. Despite subnational variations, nationwide trends are becoming increasingly discernible, clear and solidified. Although in some cases the level of discretion may be higher, rules and practices are consistent and congruent – continuous harassment, attacks, and detention of journalists, the requirement for women journalists to cover their face when on air, and various tactics which combined lead to self-censorship and exclusion of women from the media. This indicates a systematic and coherent effort to
muzzle the media and exclude women – their faces, perspectives, and experiences – from public spaces." (Summary)
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"This study is aimed at investigating the impact of security threats on the freedom of expression of Pakistani Television (TV) journalists. It has been observed that a growing trend of curtailment of freedom of expression is becoming new normal in the country. One of the significant problems related
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to freedom of expression in Pakistani media has been attacks against journalists. Pakistan Press Foundation recorded that 73 journalists have been killed since 2002 (IPEX, PPF and RIDH, 2017). This study has identified the sources and nature of security threats to Pakistani TV journalists. These security threats include threats from owners to threats from secret agencies. The study has been done under the conceptual umbrella of Social Responsibility Theory since Normative Theory deals with agents of control that also govern the laws and regulation and put check on the press freedom. The qualitative research method was adopted to conduct this research. The data was collected from a group of 25 journalists, belonging to major TV news channels of Pakistan through purposive sampling. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted to gather responses. The data was analyzed through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis technique. All responses were transcribed as verbatim, from which exploratory notes were prepared to derive emerging themes which were further categorized into sub-themes. The data revealed that the respondents not only had concerns regarding their job security rather they were also stopped from covering different packages. The research also presents recommendations to ensure maximum free expression for these journalists." (Abstract)
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"Non-state media journalists in Ethiopia traditionally faced safety threats emanating from state-sponsored attacks and punitive legal frameworks. Recently, however, state hostility is being replaced by non-state actors’ aggression against journalists. By framing emerging threats of reporters’ sa
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fety in Ethiopia within normative vis-à-vis alternative debates of journalism practice in the context of transitional, unstable, pluralistic-partizan societies, this study examines the prevalence of non-state actors in remapping threats of journalistic impunity in Ethiopia. Key findings from interviews conducted with editors, reporters, and other practitioners indicate, while the government cannot be ruled out as a safety threat for journalists, there is an emerging consensus that identifies non-state actors such as vigilante groups, influential social media political personalities, and weaponized media as the most perceptible safety risks to journalism practice. Although threat levels vary depending on journalists’ regional affiliation or perceived ethnic identity/political worldview, domestic journalists face increased native othering that amounts to mobility restrictions and physical aggression compared to foreign correspondents." (Abstract)
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"This paper examines the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Nigerian journalists towards safety protocols especially within security and COVID-19 in Nigeria. The study adopted the survey methodology and relied on questionnaire as instrument of primary data collection. The population of the study
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was 305 journalists under the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abia and Ebonyi State. Sample size was 152 with 80 and 72 respondents chosen from Ebonyi and Abia State chapters respectively using Quota sampling technique. Data analysis utilized percentages, and tables. Findings show that 47.4% of the respondents have had threat of job loss from their employers while 80% consider job loss and threat to life as the most serious safety issues confronting Nigerian journalists. On safety training, 64.5% have no specific safety training; 57.9% of those who have safety training sponsored themselves, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), sponsored 42.1% while 97.4% believe that classroom safety training does not satisfy the needs of Nigerian Journalists. All the journalists take personal safety measures to protect themselves with 39.5% using self-censorship and 48% hiding their identities. All (100%) agreed that government was not doing enough to guarantee the safety of journalists in Nigeria. The paper recommends stricter enforcement of laws guaranteeing safety of journalists and greater emphasis on safety training by employers and journalism training institutions in Nigeria." (Abstract)
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"This report summarised the findings of the focus group discussions, held in November-December 2021, which were organised in Free Press Unlimited in cooperation with BH Novinari. Through these focus group discussions, Free Press Unlimited got a good understanding of the following: The participants'
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experiences with and perceptions on the safety of women journalists; The safety risks that are most prevalent in Bosnia-Herzegovina; The way that women journalists deal with safety risks and the information they rely on; The participants' needs regarding future safety trainings." (Conclusions and recommendations)
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"The consumer Internet of Things (IoT) is a fast-growing area of technology, increasingly embedded in the public and private spheres, including both in and on bodies. There are various security concerns and academic investigations into potential risks of this expansion, but none yet specifically add
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ressing the implications to journalists and the democratic pillar of press freedom. Not only are risks to this community not yet assessed, but IoT threats generally are not communicated without technical jargon, making them inaccessible to non-experts. Given the importance of a free press, mapping IoT devices and, crucially, communicating associated risk in ways understandable and actionable to journalists themselves, is key.
Journalists and the press are particularly at-risk from IoT devices that may feature in the environments with which they must regularly interact because of the fundamental imperative of source confidentiality. Previous research demonstrated that members of the press are largely unaware of the ways in which the IoT can threaten their work and wellbeing. The networked capabilities of IoT devices increases the ease with which well-resourced threat actors can target journalists who routinely handle confidential information and are already at risk around the world from a variety of non-IoT threats. This paper therefore presents a novel categorisation of both ambient and wearable consumer IoT devices according to the environments in which journalists are most likely to interact with them. It draws on related academic work classifying devices for technical audiences to create a system that is accessible to journalists and their sources. Its goal is to make members of the media aware of the prevalence of these technologies and which of the devices’ capabilities may increase their individual risk. Useful risk assessments cannot be undertaken without an accurate understanding of where threats may be encountered. By systematically outlining risks in numerous environments, this taxonomy can be easily incorporated into existing security training materials and risk assessments for journalists. This paper presents a novel taxonomy to codify and organise IoT present in different environments, with examples of how journalists and their work could be impacted, both passively (i.e. via surveillance) or actively (i.e. via information theft). It also discusses how different environments that may contain IoT devices are often under the control of actors whom journalists cannot easily influence, nor protect themselves against. Especially as these devices continue to proliferate, journalistic risk from IoT devices in surrounding environments are growing. It is therefore important to address the contemporary and emerging risks to journalism that are associated with connected devices. This paper enables journalists and readers to not only visualise and conceptualise how IoT devices in different environments may create risks, its user-focused language and organisation also empower journalists to begin to use this taxonomy for awareness, mitigation, and protective purposes." (Abstract)
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"The present study is an attempt to examine how objective structural political forces and subjective perception of political influences determine journalists' autonomy and safety. The evidence is based on responses representing journalists from 65 countries, which adds to the cross-cultural robustne
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ss of the results that inform theory and that bear significant implications for efforts of journalists' protection. The results reveal a strong positive correlation between press freedom and democracy in one hand and editorial autonomy and safety of journalists on the other. The results also show a strong negative correlation between journalists' perception of political influences and editorial autonomy and safety. The correlation between journalists' autonomy and safety was not as strong as expected." (Abstract)
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"In 2016, Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) published the extremely helpful “Safety Manual for Political Cartoonists in Trouble”— the only one of its kind to this day. Thanks to the support of the European Union, Cartooning for Peace presents this guide which we hope will expand
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on the work done by CRNI. In publishing this guide, CFP aspires to help you foresee or respond to a one-off or persistent attack on your work or integrity. We have taken up the support provided by the Global Media Defense Fund, administered by UNESCO , to update this guide. The reasons of the update lie in the increase in threats and censorship through the courts, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and because cartoonists have been seeking more information on what supranational legal protections exist for freedom of expression. In that purpose, Media Defense has produced practical sheets on how freedom of expression is protected in various regions and what institutions are responsible for ensuring its enforcement. These are added in the appendix. While they may be more helpful to the lawyer who is defending you, they can shed some light on the matter that you come up against. We have tried to be exhaustive in this publication; however, this guidebook might not give you the solution to your problem, which may be unique and have several appropriate answers. Nevertheless, it has been written to be a tool that can drive you to the solution matching your need, as well as direct you to those who will be able to help you. And because the world changes quickly, we will carry out frequent updates to avoid this guidebook becoming outdated. The document and the updates will be available on the Cartooning for Peace website." (Caveat, page 7)
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"This guide looks at how our mobile devices could leak data about our locations and what we could do to protect ourselves against it. It’s designed for most Central European journalists’ threat models and only looks at how our mobile devices could give up precise location data on us. It doesn’
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t look at some of the other ways your location can be tracked, such as through payments, CCTV cameras, or images you post online, and doesn’t cover coarse location data (for example, how your IP address might reveal which country or city you’re in)." (Page 1)
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"Latin American journalism has experienced recent transitions marked by digital affordances, including a growth of investigative journalism. The region has also experienced more political and economic instability, giving rise to a wave of threats and harassment against journalists. This repeated cro
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ss-sectional study analyzes the changing perceptions of threats and attacks as barriers to investigative journalism, through surveys of journalists from 20 Latin American countries conducted in 2013 and 2017. It performs intra-regional comparison utilizing the hierarchy of influences model. It found that women and those with fewer years of working experience (individual characteristics) were increasingly likely to perceive threats and attacks as a main barrier to investigative journalism. It also found that those working for digital platforms and working more independently (organizational characteristics) were also increasingly likely to perceive threats and attacks as major barriers." (Abstract)
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