Dozens of journalists have already died this year simply doing their jobs. As of today that number is 85, and for each one who has died, countless others face daily threats to their safety and live with the legacy of assaults and attacks.
The International News Safety Institute has prioritised the safety of journalists and news media colleagues for more than a decade. We believe that now is the time to go a step further and carry out a detailed review of what more can be done to protect those who put themselves in harm’s way to bring home the news.
For this reason, INSI is announcing the launch of a comprehensive, multi-media look at how the safety landscape has changed, and is changing, for member of the news media.
Over the next few months, INSI aims to speak to a wide cross section of voices from our industry – from the executives who make the overriding decisions on budget and strategy to those on the receiving end of those decisions and deployments – the reporters, producers and fixers. One particular focus of the study will be on freelancers for whom foreign, and particularly conflict, reporting has become increasingly risky.
We would love to hear about your experiences, your concerns and your hopes, to help inform a piece of research that we hope will help make the world a safer place for our industry. Please get in touch at hannah.storm@newssafety.org and info@newssafety.org.
We expect our findings to be available in the first half of 2015.
Hannah Storm, INSI director
AP Photo
