Safety of Journalists CFOM Sheffield

Beyond Incivility: Understanding Patterns of Uncivil and Intolerant Discourse in Online Political Talk

Patricia Rossini

Communication Research, volume 49, issue 3 (2022), pp. 399-425

"This article takes up the popular argument that much online discussion is toxic and hence harmful to democracy, and argues that the pervasiveness of incivility is not incompatible with democratically relevant political talk. Instead of focusing on the tone of political talk, scholars interested in ... more

Why collective resilience in journalism matters: A call to action in global media development

Jeannine E. Relly, Silvio Waisbord

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, volume 11, issue 2 (2022), pp. 163-188

"The COVID-19 pandemic, global economic downturn, anti-press violence and worsening situation of labour precarity for journalists around the world have led to increased stress, trauma and burnout in the profession, which raises questions at the heart of media sustainability and approaches to media d ... more

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Reset Required? Evaluating the Media Freedom Coalition After its First Two Years

Mary Myers, Martin Scott, Mel Bunce, Lina Yassin, Maria Carmen Fernandez, Rachel Khan

University of East Anglia (UEA);City University of London;University of the Philippines-Diliman (2022), 69 pp.

"The purpose of this report is to evaluate the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) in its first two years of operation, from 2019 to 2021. The MFC is a partnership of 50 countries working together to advocate for media freedom and the safety of journalists. Our independent report is based on over 100 inte ... more

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Media Environment and Safety of Journalists During the Crisis in Georgia: Threats and Supportive Instruments

Mariam Gersamia, Maia Toradze

Environment and Society, volume 5, issue 5 (2022), 1 pp.

"Viable, free media is a crucial component of democratic progress in Georgia. Thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and gaining independence, the safety of journalists while carrying out professional duties continues to be one of the critical indicators of progress in the country's med ... ia democracy. This research was triggered by the actualization of the acute and, in some ways, spontaneous media threat that arose during the pre-election period. More specifically, on July 5, 2021, two months before Georgia's local self-government municipal elections, media workers fell victim to a premeditated attack by pro-Russian radical groups during the coverage of demonstrations. As a result, 52 journalists from more than ten media outlets, camera operators, and photographers were assaulted. A TV Pirveli cameraman, Lekso Lashkarava, died a few days later due to severe injuries received during the demonstration. The research aims to distinguish the traits prevalent in the media environment during times of crisis and, even more specifically, during the pre-and post-election periods (particularly during the 2021 local government elections in Georgia). The research also responds to how political polarization and crises affect media and the macro and micro threats they reveal. The study identifies these media threats and assesses the reality of the media environment as seen through journalists' eyes. The research covers topics recommended by UNESCO (Towards a Research agenda on the safety of journalists) and examines seven of those ten recommended issues. A mixed research methodology was chosen for research design, more specifically, a sequential explanatory design. The research was conducted in two phases: the first phase involved the accumulation of quantitative data (through an online survey of 183 respondents from 56 media sources) and analysis, followed which the second phase involved qualitative research (3 focus group discussions). The research answers the questions as follows: How safe do media workers feel when performing their professional duties? What kind of threats have emerged during the 2021 pre-election media environment, and what are the expectations? What are some of the support mechanisms for improving the media environment, and what needs to be done to create a safer environment for media workers? Macro (4) and micro (6) media threats were identified during the research process. They are analyzed in sub-chapters in greater detail. These threats are interconnected and have their structure and aims. Media threats, which emerged during the discussion, contribute to self-censorship and escalation of fear, media credibility, reduction of support, and destabilizing media institutional viability. Political polarization and polarization between media organizations were identified as major macro media threats. Micro threats that were identified as a result of polarization are: Stigmatization of journalists and media (labeling them as biased towards certain political parties) and attempted smear campaigns; They are disrupting the execution of journalist duties. Among such actions are creating obstacles to providing a balanced narrative and bringing a quality media product to the public, primarily reflected in a premeditated restriction to sources and surveillance to disrupt the work process. One macro threat that emerged from the online survey and focus-group analysis was the incitement of physical and verbal violence towards journalists (this includes hate speech and the use of aggressive rhetoric by the state). These media threats reinforce self-censorship and fear, destabilize media institutions' viability and negatively affect the demonstration of solidarity and support toward media. One identified macro-threats towards journalists was the lack of investigation of crimes committed against journalists and impunity as an encouraging factor. Additionally, we could consider the malign nature of the Russian propaganda and malign influence in general as an additional factor, which serves as a leitmotif for the entire discussion on another macro threat. As a result of this study, recommendations have been put forward for various stakeholders. Implementing these recommendations will help create a supportive media environment, encourage solidarity, and improve coordination between different stakeholders during and after crises. Research conducted is by the Media and Communication Educational and Research Center (Georgia) with support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation’s South Caucasus Office and the Federal Republic of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office." (Abstract) more

Perception of journalists reporting in conflict zones: Labour situation, working conditions and main challenges in information coverage in contexts of violence

Santiago Tejedor, Laura Cervi, Fernanda Tusa

Media, War & Conflict, volume 15, issue 4 (2022), pp. 530–552

"A total of 324 journalists have been killed in the world in the last decade. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the situation is alarming. Based on these statistics, this work presents an investigation with journalists from 10 countries. Based on in-depth interviews and the Delphi method, the stud ... more

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Contextualizing Psychological Outcomes for TV News Journalists: Role Differences in Industry Culture, Organizational Hierarchy and Trauma Exposure

Jasmine B. MacDonald, Rachael Fox, Anthony J. Saliba

Journal of Constructivist Psychology, volume 35, issue 1 (2022), pp. 255-279

"Research indicates that TV news journalists’ ongoing exposure to trauma can result in psychopathology. However, we currently know little about potential differences in trauma exposure between individuals in varying journalistic roles. The aim of this study is to contextualize the existing knowled ... more

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The Assassination of Sardasht Osman: Debunking the Official Story

Free Press Unlimited;Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ);Reporters Without Borders (2022), 42 pp.

"Sardasht Osman was a courageous and talented 23-year-old citizen journalist, who wrote about corruption and political mismanagement within the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in a period of political upheaval. On 13 December 2009, Sardasht wrote a satirical article accusing the family of Presiden ... more

Mapping Anti-Press Violence in Latin America: Challenges for Journalists' Safety

Mireya Márquez-Ramírez

In: The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism

Stuart Allan (ed.)

London; New York: Routledge (2022), pp. 469-477

"In global surveys, Latin America is all too often identified as one of the regions with the highest number of journalists killed for practicing their profession in the world. To explore the issues at stake, this chapter begins with a brief overview of the various faces of anti-press violence in thi ... more

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Female Journalists and Safety Challenges in Selected Media Organizations in Kano State, Nigeria

Hadiza Jummai Ibrahim, Binta Rabi'u Spikin

In: Handbook of Research on Discrimination, Gender Disparity, and Safety Risks in Journalism

Sadia Jamil; Baris Çoban; Bora Ataman; Gifty Appiah-Adjei (eds.)

Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2021), pp. 366-393

"Journalism schools have being witnessing an increase in female enrollment in Nigeria, but this is not proportional to the number of women who work in media organizations. For the women who eventually get employed as journalists,they experience various safety challenges which affect their advancemen ... more

Understanding Journalist Killings

Sabine C. Carey, Anita R. Gohdes

Journal of Politics, volume 83, issue 4 (2021), pp. 1216–1228

"Why do state authorities murder journalists? We show that the majority of journalists are killed in democracies and present an argument that focuses on institutional differences between democratic states. In democracies, journalists will most likely be targeted by local state authorities that have ... more

Media Control and Post-Truth Communication

Eileen Culloty, Jane Suiter

In: Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism

András Sajó; Renáta Uitz; Stephen Holmes (eds.)

London; New York: Routledge (2021), 19 pp.

"The erosion of media freedom is a growing phenomenon. Worldwide, journalists face obstruction, hostility, and violence as powerful political and private actors exercise a repressive influence on the media system. Citing historical and contemporary cases from different geographic regions, this chapt ... more

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Medium-Specific Threats for Journalists: Examples from Philippines, Afghanistan and Venezuela

Saumava Mitra, Marte Høiby, Mariateresa Garrido

Journalism Practice, volume 5, issue 1 (2021), pp. 80-98

"Between 2012 and 2016, UNESCO registered 530 deaths of journalists. They also published a statistic showing that television journalists were the most killed, followed by print media, radio and online journalists. Hinted in this statistics is the need to understand the relationship between the mediu ... more

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“We Have to act Like our Devices are Already Infected”: Investigative Journalists and Internet Surveillance

Philip Di Salvo

Journalism Practice, volume 16, issue 9 (2021), pp. 1849-1866

"Internet surveillance has become a crucial issue for journalism. The “Snowden moment” has shed light on the risks that journalists and their sources face while communicating online and has shown how journalists themselves can be targets of surveillance operations or other forms of malicious dig ... more

‘Lockdown’ on Digital Journalism? Mapping Threats to Press Freedom During the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

Lambrini Papadopoulou, Theodora A. Maniou

Digital Journalism, volume 9, issue 9 (2021), pp. 1344-1366

"Across the globe, governments have issued emergency and drastic measures aimed at tracking the spread of COVID-19 and safeguarding public health. Notwithstanding the necessity and importance of some of these measures, this work argues that numerous governments around the world used the pandemic cri ... more

Dealing With Sexual Harassment: Are Women Journalists Silenced at Work?

Janess Ann J. Ellao, Evelyn F. Roxas, Therese Patricia S. Torres

In: Handbook of Research on Discrimination, Gender Disparity, and Safety Risks in Journalism

Sadia Jamil; Baris Çoban; Bora Ataman; Gifty Appiah-Adjei (eds.)

Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2021), pp. 24-42

"https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/dealing-with-sexual-harassment/267626In the Philippines, sexual harassment is among the threats and attacks women in media face. While Filipino women journalists experience being sexually harassed by colleagues and sources, several have opted not to report such in ... more

Voices of Resilience: Colombian Journalists and Self-Censorship in the Post-Conflict Period

Marta Milena Barrios, Toby Miller

Journalism Practice, volume 15, issue 10 (2021), pp. 1423-1440

"Colombian journalists experience abundant threats and acts of violence as well as corporate and governmental obstacles to publishing the truth. In response, many reporters engage in selfcensorship, eschewing stories to protect their livelihoods—and their very lives. Our in-depth interviews with s ... more

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Covering conflict: Safety, sanity and responsibility

Jonathan Munro

In: Insights on Peace and Conflict Reporting

Kristin Skare Orgeret (ed.)

London; New York: Routledge (2021), 13 pp.

"The chapter reflects upon reporting conflict based on the author’s own experiences from several decades in the field. Exploring the assessments being made around risk and safety as Head of Newsgathering at the BBC, decisions which have echoes in the themes of this book. Through a personal practic ... more

PTSD in the Newsroom: A Grounded Theory View of Organizational Leaders and Trauma

Desiree Hill

International Journal on Media Management, volume 23, issue 3-4 (2021), pp. 238-263

"A number of studies have demonstrated that journalists will experience traumatic events during the course of their careers. Yet a gap in the research exists regarding newsroom organizational leaders and the impact of trauma on their work and emotional health. This study used a grounded theory appro ... more

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Report on Media Freedom in Moldova

Freedom House;USAID (2021), 11 pp.

"The media sector in Moldova is diverse. Dogged investigative reporting plays a vital role in public life. However, the legal framework governing the sector is unstable and underdeveloped. In 2020, much of the country’s political class treated the independent press with hostility, viewing journali ... more

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