Journalists work in dangerous conditions where security is a serious concern. Evolving technologies and newsroom cutbacks, however, have resulted in more reporters on the frontlines of news gathering as freelancers and stringers, working without the institutional support long enjoyed by staff journalists. As a result, the Committee to Protect Journalists - an independent organization that promotes press freedom worldwide - says they need new ways to stay safe.
CPJ says the profession and the threats facing journalists have changed dramatically in the last decade. Digital technology allows a great many “citizen journalists” to be out in the field on their own, and many governments, and other groups, increasingly take lethal action against anyone attempting to document events.
In Syria, experienced American war correspondent Marie Colvin was killed in February along with French photographer Remi Ochlik.
Risky proposition
McClatchy Newspapers’ Roy Gutman said journalists often must take risks to cover a story. Speaking from Istanbul via Skype, he said that even those who know the rules, though, cannot always protect themselves.
“Journalists have realized that they are targets, and they are not, you know, protected by really anybody, and they better find their own protection,” said Gutman.
VOA foreign correspondent Peter Heinlein was detained in Ethiopia in May while trying to interview protesters during a demonstration. He said journalism is definitely becoming a more dangerous proposition.
"When you go out into the field, you know you’re going into an arena, an environment, that is increasingly sophisticated at flummoxing journalists, at stopping them, preventing them from covering the stories,” said Heinlein.
Prepping for safety
CPJ’s new Journalist Security Guide outlines basic preparedness for new journalists, such as entry and exit planning when going into dangerous situations, navigating foreign bureaucracies in cases of injury or arrest, and threat assessment for journalists of all experience levels.
It also offers advice on digital security. CPJ senior advisor Frank Smyth said that's something about which journalists only recently have started to become aware.
“… that they need to protect the information on their hard drives, that they need to be able to protect their communications, whether an email or by telephone, cell phones with sources,” said Smyth.
The guide also stresses the importance of emotional self-care - recognizing and dealing with the trauma that can come with hazardous assignments - up to, and including, sexual assault.
Emotional protection
ABC News’ chief foreign correspondent Martha Raddatz said a good journalist must have empathy, as well as ways to cope with painful memories of things they have seen in the field.
“Just the other day, I was driving someplace with my family and there was a little kid running around, and my daughter said something, 'look, take my baby, take my baby,' and I said, oh, that brought back a memory of Ethiopia in the early 80s during the famine and remembering that women were trying to hand me their babies because they were so starving and near death.”
She says it is then - when journalists are “in the moment” - that they must be most cautious.
Raddatz agrees that security is a core function of being a journalist. She said the CPJ guide provides important tips on how they can protect themselves, their sources and their work. But in the end, she said, journalists must have their own sense of security - in order to do their job and live to tell about it.
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题七 非谓语动词
研究:内向的人更可能成为成功的CEO
英语作文万能句子与模板
2017届高考英语(牛津译林版)一轮复习课时提升作业:(十一) 必修4 Unit 2 Sporting events
2017届高考英语二轮题组训练语法专练:定语从句
2016高三英语一轮外研版巩固练习:选修8 Modules 5-6
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题八 情态动词
好莱坞明星最想毁掉的作品 帕丁森:《暮光之城》不该出版[1]
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题十九 书面表达
2017届高三英语一轮复习题组层级快练:(十七)外研版必修3
2017届高考英语二轮题组训练语法专练:情态动词和虚拟语气
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题四 形容词与副词
2017届高三(牛津版)英语一轮复习课后达标检测15 Unit 3《Science and nature》
2017届高考英语(牛津译林版)一轮复习课时提升作业:(一) 必修1 Unit 1 School life
2017届高考英语(牛津译林版)一轮复习课时提升作业:(四) 必修2 Unit 1 Tales of the unexplained
2016黄石市高考英语完形填空和阅读理解一轮练习(3)及答案
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题六 动词的时态和语态
英国最近很刺激,2020年的首相大选要提前选
2017届高考英语二轮题组训练语法专练:名词性从句
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题十六 七选五
2017届高考英语(牛津译林版)一轮复习课时提升作业:(五) 必修2 Unit 2 Wish you were here
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题二 名词
不能没有他:有个男闺蜜的N+1个好处
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题十五 完形填空
【备战2016】高考英语典型试题精粹 专题三 代词
2017届高考英语二轮题组训练语法专练:代词和介词
(江苏专用)2017届高考英语二轮复习冲刺演练、综合练:第20练
【3年高考2年模拟】2017届高三英语一轮复习课件 Module 6 War and Peace
2016重庆万州市高考英语一轮阅读理解选练(11)及答案
2017福布斯富豪榜出炉,前10名依旧竞争激烈
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |