"The imprisonment of Al Jazeera English (AJE) journalists (Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian national Mohamed Fahmy, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed) in Egypt between 2013 and 2015 reflected the recent ten agenda items of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNES
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CO) about the safety of journalists (Pöyhtäri & Berger, 2015). Building on the relevance of press theories (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1956; Curran, 2002) as well as developmental and peace journalism (Carpentier, 2007 cited in Cammaerts & Carpentier, 2007) as a theoretical basis, this paper examines the twenty-one month reportage of the AJE case by public broadcasters such as AJE, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It assesses whether the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalist agenda was covered. A “mixed method” (Kolmer, 2008), quantitative and qualitative content analysis research design, was used. Four hundred and ninety-five articles from the three broadcasters’ coverage were analyzed in two stages which overall began from the day (December 29, 2013) of arrest of the AJE trio until a week after Fahmy’s and Mohamed’s final release (September 30, 2015). The analysis found that items noted in the UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists’ agenda were not overtly spelt out in the coverage by the broadcasters but cloaked under a wider press freedom framework that hung over the case. Findings also reflected the critical need to address the safety of journalists in Egypt and other parts of Africa, despite the democratic awaking of the 2011 Arab Spring." (Abstract)
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"This paper argues that the safety of journalists in Ghana can no longer be taken for granted given the available evidence of physical attacks on journalists (Joint Statement NMC et al., 2016 and MFWA, 2016). The overarching objective of the study is to portray Donkor’s case as typical of similar
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cases in Ghana and beyond and highlight the implications of attacks on journalists. In the past decade or so, physical attacks on journalist have been the most prevalent form of violation against journalists in Ghana. In this essay, a single case study of Donkor is examined together with relevant documents as the tip of an iceberg to demonstrate and paint a picture of the harrowing and degrading experience of physical and other forms of attacks against journalists in Ghana and its implications for safeguarding press freedom and the fundamental human rights of people. The incidence of attacks against journalists and how such perpetrators often go unpunished, though not a phenomenon peculiar only to Ghana, needs serious interrogation given the latitude of freedom of the media guaranteed in the 1992 fourth republican Constitution of Ghana. It is pertinent to ask: how far have stakeholders contributed to the promotion of journalists’ safety as prescribed in UNESCO’s Safety of Journalists Document? While chronicling some instances of actions, which tend to endanger the lives of journalists in the line of duty, I would conclude that a concerted effort is required to enable journalists, the public, civil society organisations, international organisations and state institutions to initiate strategic actions aimed at tackling the problem." (Abstract)
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"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
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dom and autonomy. We report the findings from a representative survey of Swedish journalists where three themes are analysed: the extent of harassment, the forms of harassment, and the consequences of intimidation and harassment. The results show that a third of the respondents had experienced threats at work in the past year, and an overwhelming majority said they had received offensive and insulting comments. Intimidation and harassment also had consequences, both professionally and personally, such as fear and self-censorship. We therefore argue that it is time to add the dimension of external pressure and threats to the discussion of journalistic autonomy—including in countries like Sweden." (Abstract)
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"On 13 April 2016, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted its Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors. This is a continuation of the Committee of Ministers’ engagement with the topic, following its adoption of
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an identicallytitled Declaration in 2014 (see IRIS 2014-7/4)." (Abstract)
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"This United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report documents the national state of journalists' safety and the issue of impunity by providing an overview of the safety situation of journalists in Nepal. It also examines the context of safety and the responsibility
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of all stakeholders in addressing the issue of journalists' safety in the country. Based on UNESCO's Media Development Indicators (MDI), UNESCO's Journalists' Safety Indicators (JSI) are developed within the context of the endorsement of the UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, providing a baseline of knowledge against which progress can be assessed. Using various methods, including document analysis and interviews with various informants, this research documents the actors and actions in place for the protection of journalists in Nepal, grouped around 4 key indicator categories, namely: the roles and response of the State and other political actors; the roles and response of civil society and academia; the roles and response of media and intermediaries; and the roles and response of the UN system and other extra-national actors with a presence in Nepal. In an overview of the situation of journalists' safety in Nepal, this report also provides information on the number of threats and attacks on journalists in the course of their work. Appendix one describes the methodology and sources of data in more detail." (Abstract)
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"The study finds that Kenyan journalists face serious challenges in the course of their work. Further, both State and non-State actors have contributed to a deteriorating climate for journalists. The number of threats, incidents of harassment and intimidation as well as legal and personal attacks, h
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as grown within the period under study." (Executive summary)
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"Media development organisations regard polarisation and a lack of ethical standards as the main problems in conflict societies. Our interviews with both Europe-based and local media development actors show that their support programmes address journalists as enablers of an inclusive public discours
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e and as proponents of the human right to freedom of expression. Assistance for journalists increasingly considers the bigger newsroom structure, taking the form of long term counselling or mentoring and often focusing on professional standards and ethics. In addition, media development actors emphasise a need for increased coordination and cooperation within the sector, higher prioritisation of media development in foreign policy and a more thorough understanding of local conditions before commencing engagement on the ground." (Executive summary)
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"In Latin America in the twenty-first century, journalists face daily professional and societal constraints and pressures when attempting to fulfill their role to inform the public. Concerns include a lack of press freedom, robust and growing social movements critical of the news media, and personal
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security on and offline. In this article, the authors examine the conceptual frameworks that can be used to understand journalism practice, and the lack of freedom of expression in Latin America. The authors use Mexico, one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work in the region, as a case study. Specifically, the authors examine and discuss the strengths and limitations of six conceptual frameworks: Hierarchy of Influences; Propaganda and Information Scarcity; Collective Action; Scale-shifting; Professional Reflexivity; and Collective Professional Autonomy." (Abstract)
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"The chapter takes as its starting point the notion that journalists’ safety is a precondition for free expression and free media. Based on interviews and discussions with experienced female war and conflict journalists from seven countries worldwide, the discussion evolves around questions linked
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to what particular challenges and opportunities women journalists face, and how their security can best be ensured when covering war and conflict zones. The deliberations are believed to have a direct bearing on debates about female journalists’ safety online and offline, the importance of the presence of female journalists covering wars and conflicts, and how their being there may serve as an indicator of freedom of expression, civil rights and media freedom in general." (Abstract)
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"Ending the culture of impunity requires strengthening the culture of resistance. Impunity results in the dearth or absence of press freedom which, in turn, has deleterious effects on the practice of journalism as the people are deprived of relevant information that could help shape public opinion.
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Effective governance can only be achieved if there is an atmosphere conducive to press freedom and other basic freedoms. The local and global campaigns to end impunity should continue so that the culture of resistance would be strengthened and the specter of the culture of impunity would be finally gone. The Philippines proves to be an interesting case study as it is one of the freest press in Asia but has one of the most number of journalists killed worldwide. The most notable example of media killings is the massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao (located in the southern part of the Philippines) where 32 journalists and media workers were among the 58 people killed. The situation in the Philippines is alarming given the prevailing culture of impunity." (Abstract)
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"Are female journalists more at risk in covering conflict than their male colleagues? Beck states ‘risk is the anticipation of the catastrophe – so it is existent and non-existent’. Is the contention that female journalists are more at risk, knowledge, or a construction of knowledge? Are Edito
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rs and journalists who decide that women are more at risk merely anticipating a catastrophe? There is no certainty that women would be more at risk, but the fear that women are more at risk can prevent them from being sent to cover conflict, or force them to decide not to go to dangerous places. It is not possible to say with certainty that women journalists are targeted because they are women or because they are journalists. An IED or rocket fire does not distinguish between sexes. In many situations being female actually helps women journalist in conflict zones. In this paper we conduct a survey of journalists who work in conflict zones and ask whether it is the job or the gender which is the most dangerous. The question of whether it is more dangerous to be a woman might be debatable, but the survey shows that sexual harassment is a concern for female journalists." (Abstract)
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"This chapter will analyze women’s access to and participation in Mexico’s news media. At the intersections of feminism and the political economy of communication, we will put into context the findings for Mexico in the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (Global Report) (Byer
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ly 2011). Our purpose is to establish that the access and participation of women in Mexico’s news media are (a) identified by gender inequality, (b) subject to a structural problem and not just an accident or a circumstance exclusive of one industry, (c) marked by structural inequality, i.e., the higher the position, the wider the gap of gender inequality, and (d) defined by a gender division of labor that is a feature of the incorporation of women to these industries." (Abstract)
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"The war journalist is often portrayed as a ruggedly masculine individual who survives on hard work, self-sufficiency, and heroic dedication to the truth in a stoic culture and dangerous environment. Yet, the growing number of female war journalists subtly complicates this traditional narrative. Fem
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ale war reporters navigate the precariousness of the conflict zone through the strategy of shape shifting—of switching gender performances depending on the environment and the audience. This article examines the shape-shifting phenomenon in the field, relying on 72 qualitative interviews conducted with English- and Arabic-speaking female journalists who have covered various wars and conflicts in the Arab region and beyond. On one level, interviewees say that they can work in precisely the same way as their male counterparts, downplaying their femininity and accentuating their own masculine qualities. On another rather paradoxical level, women war correspondents also sometimes foreground their feminine accessibility and intuition, especially when engaging female sources and entering private spaces inaccessible to male journalists. Finally, female conflict reporters sometimes perform an exaggerated version of feminine weakness or tacitly accept sexist treatment, especially when shape shifting can save them from danger or help them circumvent obstructions." (Abstract)
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"In March 2006, socialist politician Michelle Bachelet became not only the first woman to assume the presidency of Chile, but also the first female president in South America. Bachelet appointed a cabinet with an equal number of men and women. Although there were several other changes to her cabinet
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as well, hers was significant for being the only government since the country’s return to democracy that established equal representation of female and male ministers (Fernández and Rubilar 2011). Bachelet’s rise to power was a milestone in the fight for equal rights among men and women in Chile, a movement which began toward the end of the 19th century and continued throughout the 20th, with Chile’s first wave of feminism and women’s demands for access to education and the right to vote (Kirkwood 1986). Despite this longstanding movement and the gender milestone represented by her presidency, Bachelet did not fundamentally change the participation of women in positions of political power." (Abstract)
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"The vulnerability of journalists to kidnappings was starkly illustrated by the killing of James Foley and Steven Sotloff by Islamic militants in 2014. Their murder underscored the risks taken by journalists and news organisations trying to cover developments in dangerous regions of the world and ha
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s forced news enterprises to more clearly prepare for and confront issues of safety. This book explores the complex organisational issues surrounding the capture or kidnapping of journalists in areas of conflict and risk. It explores how journalists ‘becoming news’ is covered and the implications of that coverage, how news organisations prepare for and respond to such events, and how kidnapping and ransom insurers, victim recovery firms, journalists’ families, and governments influence the actions of news enterprises. It considers how and why journalists are kidnapped, how employers and journalists’ organisations respond to kidnappings and why freelancers are particularly at risk as well as suggesting best practices for preventing and responding to kidnappings." (Publisher description)
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"The shocking beheading of several Western journalists during 2014, including the Americans Steven Sotloff and James Foley and the Briton David Haines, and the wide dissemination of their murder videos on the Internet, is a graphic, gruesome signal that something has changed in the relationship betw
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een journalism and conflict." (First paragraph)
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"This article considers whether thinking about journalism's present set of challenges is best served by the notion of “crisis.” It argues that adopting such a notion to explain a diverse set of technological, political, economic, social, occupational, moral, and legal circumstances misses an opp
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ortunity to recognize how contingent and differentiated the futures of journalism might be. It also raises critical questions about how institutions deal with uncertainty at their core, obscuring a fuller understanding of the permutations that get eclipsed by perceiving crisis as a unitary phenomenon." (Abstract)
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"Purpose: More journalists died in Syria during 2013 than in any other country experiencing conflict. This statistic raises concerns about the psychological wellbeing of journalists covering the internecine violence. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: The study sample
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was made up of 59 western journalists currently covering the Syrian conflict. To place these results in the broader context of war journalism previously collected data from a group of 84 journalists who had reported the war in Iraq were used as a control sample. Outcome measures included indices of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Impact of Event Scale-revised) and psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-28 item version (GHQ-28)). Findings: Compared to journalists who covered the Iraq war, the journalists working in Syria were more likely to be female (p = 0.007), single (p = 0.018), freelance (p = 0.0001) and had worked fewer years as a journalist (p = 0.012). They were more depressed according to the GHQ-28 (p = 0.001) and endorsed more individual symptoms of depression including worthlessness (p = 0.012), helplessness (p = 0.02) and suicidal intent (p = 0.003). A linear regression analysis revealed that the group differences in depression data could not be accounted for by demographic factors. Research limitations/implications: An absence of structured interviews. Results not applicable to local Syrian journalists. Practical implications: Western journalists covering Syrian appear to be particularly vulnerable to the development of depression. Journalists and the news organizations that employ them need to be cognizant of data such as these. Given that depression is treatable, there needs to be a mechanism in place to detect and treat those in need. Originality/value: This is the first study that highlights the emotional toll on western journalists covering the Syrian conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)." (Abstract)
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"Hardly a day goes by when we are not reminded of the hazards of modern journalism. The already unacceptably high levels of intimidation, kidnapping and killing have escalated still further with the civil conflict in Iraq and Syria and the series of brutal beheadings carried out by ISIS. But while m
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ajor news organisations have paid increasing attention to safeguarding the physical safety of their correspondents, and some limited support is now in place for freelancers, the issue of the mental health of journalists covering conflict is still too often an afterthought. This paper explores the emerging support mechanisms for journalists covering traumatic news events, whether that be full blown war, natural disaster, street crime or family violence. Based on the author’s personal experience of working with the Dart Centre for Journalism & Trauma and on interviews with top journalists, the paper further explores new challenges emerging from social media as journalists seek to incorporate into their news reporting an increasing volume of often distressing “user generated content”. The disturbingly graphic nature of this material, ranging from chemical weapons attacks in Syria to propaganda driven beheading videos, has prompted some news organisations to evolve guidelines to safeguard the mental health of often junior journalists now subjected to a daily flow of traumatic news footage on newsroom intake desks." (Abstract)
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"Objective: To assess the psychological health of journalists in Kenya who have reported on, and been exposed to, extreme violence. Design: Descriptive. Psychological responses were elicited to two stressors, the ethnic violence surrounding the disputed 2007 general election and the Al-Shabab attack
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on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. Participants: A representative sample of 90 Kenyan journalists was enrolled. Setting: Newsrooms of two national news organizations in Kenya. Main outcome measures: Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Impact of Event Scale-revised), depression (Deck Depression inventory-revised) and general psychological wellbeing (General Health Questionnaire).
Results: Of the 90 journalists approached 57 (63.3%) responded. Journalists covering the election violence (n*=*23) reported significantly more PTSD type intrusion (p*=*0.027) and arousal (p*=*0.024) symptoms than their colleagues (n*=*34) who had not covered the violence. Reporting the Westgate attack was not associated with increased psychopathology. Being wounded (n*=*11) emerged as the most robust independent predictor of emotional distress. Journalists covering the ethnic violence compared to colleagues who did not were not more likely to receive psychological counselling.
Conclusions: These data, the first of their kind from an African country, replicate findings over a decade old from Western media, namely that journalists asked to cover life-threatening events may develop significant symptoms of emotional difficulties and fail to receive therapy for them. Good journalism, a pillar of civil society, depends on healthy journalists. It is hoped that these data act as a catalyst encouraging news organisations sending journalists into harm’s way to look out for their psychological health in doing so." (Abstract)
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