"Stories of journalists entering conflict zones without basic equipment or first aid training are all too familiar; so too are reports of news outlets washing their hands of responsibility regarding commissioned freelancers. This needs to change, and it can, so long as enough voices in the industry
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back initiatives to implement minimum working standards. This was the objective of a retreat for international journalists who have reported from Syria since conflict broke out in early 2011: to produce a set of minimum professional and safety standards for journalists reporting from conflict zones and their employers, drawing on their experiences and challenges in the field. What follows is an outline of a series of discussions held over the three-day retreat among some 45 journalists, photographers and filmmakers, which led to the production of a minimum standards document. Participants discussed their greatest personal, security and professional challenges faced when reporting from Syria, including experiences with kidnappings, news blackouts, computer encryption, cultural sensitivity and post-traumatic stress disorder. Their recommendations are outlined in the “Minimum Working Standards for Journalists in Conflict Zones” (appendix 1) and “Recommendations to Press Freedom Organisations” (appendix 2)." (Executive summary)
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"I have been asked by the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) for a paper setting out the principles that can be drawn from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) relating to the protection and safety of journalists and journali
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sm. I understand that the overall objective of the CDMSI is to establish a declaration of principles and to draft an in-depth recommendation to member states which includes the positive obligations upon states in respect of journalists." (Abstract)
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"Legal and political responses to the above issues will feature centrally in this paper. More specifically, the paper will consider the role of Council of Europe as a regional body in the concerted international efforts to enhance the protection of journalists and other media actors, in particular t
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he implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity (hereafter: UN Plan of Action). It will do so in the context of an examination of some of the broader challenges of (re-)definition and (re-)orientation faced by a journalistic/media sector that is increasingly dynamic, diversified and diffuse." (Abstract)
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"This document provides the United Nations Implementation Strategy 2013-2014 of the UN Plan of Action on The Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity (hereafter referred to as the UN Plan). In addition to the Strategy, there is a detailed Work-Plan to put the Strategy into place." (Introducti
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on, page 2)
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"This course aims to analyse the context in which journalists and communicators are working at local, national, regional and international level, and to help them to identify potential risks, to learn safe protocols and to know about those institutions and procedures that can help them." (Abstract)
"This guide details what journalists need to know in a new and changing world. It is aimed at local and international journalists of varied levels of experience. The guide outlines basic preparedness for new journalists taking on their first assignments around the world, offers refresher information
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for mid-career journalists returning to the field, and provides advice on complex issues such as digital security and threat assessment for journalists of all experience levels." (Introduction)
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"This national baseline survey sets out to achieve two main objectives. First, it seeks to shed more light on and generate awareness of safety and protection issues for journalists within the profession and the public. Secondly, it seeks to provide a knowledge-based platform with which to lay future
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interventions and initiatives to address the threats for the benefit of the media industry and the country. Through detailed field data collection, analyses, interpretation and inferences, including focus group discussions and key informant interviews, the study shows an industry and profession caught between the realms of a riddle and riding on the horns of a dilemma. How to mitigate and address the issues of safety and protection on the one hand – both direct and indirect – and how to underwrite and finance the associated cost implications without undermining the imperatives of the business model is a challenge to the media owners." (Executive summary)
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"This report seeks to provide an immediate overview of the current insecure media environment in which Afghan journalists work and the threat scenario potentially facing them after the 2014 withdrawal of international troops. The aim of the report is to provide input into local and international dis
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cussions on what the focus of media development support should be in Afghanistan in future to ensure that Afghan media can play its crucial role in supporting peaceful and democratic development. The data presented in this report largely stems from on-going monitoring of media workers’ safety carried out by the local body Afghan Journalist Safety Committee (AJSC) and its safety coordinators and network of volunteers across Afghanistan. The AJSC implements the IMS-established, countrywide Afghan Journalism Safety Mechanism, a set-up that combines a number of components to enable local media workers to survive and provide the public with accurate, reliable information under the most challenging of circumstances." (Introduction, page 4)
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"Any observer of the so-called Arab Spring, the massive wave of political revolt that has been sweeping the Arab region since 2011, could not help but notice the visible role that women have been playing in it. Hundreds of thousands of Arab women throughout the region, including in some of the most
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traditional, conservative countries, like Yemen and Bahrain, took to the streets, alongside men, calling for an end to dictatorship and repression and demanding dignity and freedom (Khamis 2011; Radsch 2011, 2012). In doing so, they were not confining themselves to stereotypical gender roles, such as nurturing or supporting men in their struggle for freedom. Rather, they were often in the front lines of resistance, risking their lives, exposed to the dangers of arrest or assault. The Arab Spring unveiled “numerous examples of courageous Arab women heroes risking not only their reputation but also their physical safety for the sake of reform” (Al-Malki et al. 2012: 81)." (Abstract)
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"Nearly 200 investigative journalists converged from all corners of the US-Mexico border at the salmon-colored Hotel Lucerna in Ciudad Juárez to discuss their targets: corrupt politicians, contaminators, criminals, rogues and wrong-doers of all stripes. The gathering came in late 1997-a high point
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in the halcyon days of border journalism. After seven decades, the ruling PRI party had loosened its iron grip on the Mexican media, and muckraking border reporters had won backing from powerful media moguls in both the United States and Mexico. Some of us quaffing Coronas around tables covered with white linen in the reception room that night believed we might finally be about to break some of the biggest untold stories of binational crime and corruption without facing much-if any-threat of retaliation." (Abstract)
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"Just like in many other sub-Saharan African countries, Kinshasa's media world has opened up in the mid 1990s. Especially since 2002, local TV stations have been mushrooming. This has not only led to a proliferation of media productions, but it has also enlarged the terrain of local journalists, in
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particular allowing for more jobs. The TV stations are inserted within the larger division that governs Kinshasa's political society: a media outlet is either du centre (of the centre', also du pouvoir', of power') or not, referring to the division between pro-Kabila media and anti-Kabila media. Despite this strong polarization in the local press, many of Kinshasa's journalists share similar professional experiences. In this article, two components of the lifeworlds and work of Kinshasa's journalists are explored: the management of journalists' patron-client relationships with leaders and the experience of risk and fear in their work and in their private lives." (Abstract)
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"Turning the tide on the killing of journalists involves several steps, but primarily it is a matter of having the political will to acknowledge the issue as important and ending the impunity for those responsible for the violence. These steps include: following through on making attacks on the medi
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a, particularly murders, a federal rather than a state or local crime, in order to remove the investigations from often corrupt or intimidated local law enforcement groups. This fundamental legal change would be significant in ending the cycle of impunity and the botched investigations that currently feed the violence; strengthening the special prosecutor’s office, with additional funding and staff, to more effectively go after those accused of these crimes; forming a common front in the media to tackle the problems of security for journalists and the risks of reporting on transnational organized crime; persuading national opinion leaders to speak out about the violence and its impact on society; targeting international aid specifically for the protection of journalists." (Executive summary, page 6-7)
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"The Plan of Action aims to creating of a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, both in conflict and non-conflict situations, with a view to strengthening peace, democracy and development worldwide. Its measures include, among other undertakings, the establishment of a coordin
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ated inter-agency mechanism to handle issues related to the safety of journalists as well as assisting countries to develop legislation and mechanisms favourable to freedom of expression and information, and supporting their efforts to implement existing international rules and principles. To further reinforce prevention, the Plan recommends working in cooperation with governments, media houses, professional associations and NGOS to conduct awareness raising campaigns on a wide range of issues such as existing international instruments and conventions, the growing dangers posed by emerging threats to media professionals, including non-state actors, as well as various existing practical guides on the safety of journalists." (UNESCO website)
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"Journalists as a category of individuals are subjected to special risks of physical violence that amount to serious risks to their right to life. The current scale of threats to the lives and killings of journalists is a serious matter of concern. It shows an erosion of the rule of law and democrat
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ic governance where they occur. There is a serious issue of impunity for perpetrators of these violations by the failure to investigate and prosecute crimes against journalists. This issue is a common thread tying the various categories of risks together in this report. Despite its prevalence in the risks faced by most human rights defenders, it remains an important problem for journalists in their own right. There is evidence that physical violence against journalists that might amount to threats to their right to life also deters the entire journalistic community and forces it to practice self-censorship that eventually erodes its public role in democratic societies. The largest numbers of journalists who are killed around the world each year die outside zones of armed conflict and in time of peace. According to UNESCO this is 80 per cent of journalists’ killings worldwide. It is erroneous to believe that media workers share only those risks that civilians face in wartime. Rather, they face heightened risks while practicing their profession." (Conclusions, page 22)
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"Seit 2001 wird der »Preis für die Freiheit und Zukunft der Medien « an Journalisten, Verleger, Publizisten und Institutionen vergeben, die sich mit Risikobereitschaft, Engagement und demokratischer Überzeugung für die Pressefreiheit einsetzen. Diese Zwischenbilanz stellt die bisherigen Preistr
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äger in Porträts vor und versammelt Interviews zur Zukunft des Journalismus, u. a. mit US-Enthüllungsreporter Seymour Hersh, Kriegsfotograf James Nachtwey, stern-Autor Hans-Martin Tillack sowie dem Schriftsteller Erich Loest." (Klappentext)
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