Media Safety News and Views
May 17, 2013 Leave a comment
By Helena Williams
The International News Safety Institute is proud to support the International Committee of the Red Cross in its search to find some of the finest examples of humanitarian reporting in the Philippines.
March 7, 2013 Leave a comment
By Hannah Storm
Photo: CBS correspondent Lara Logan is pictured in Cairo’s Tahrir Square moments before she was assaulted. Logan wrote the foreword to ‘No Woman’s Land’. (CBS News)
This Friday marks International Women’s Day and a year since the International News Safety Institute launched the first book dedicated to the safety of women journalists.
January 10, 2013 2 Comments
By Shumaila Jaffery
Shumaila Jaffery is a BBC journalist based in Pakistan (Photo: Shumaila Jaffery)
The recent attack on female polio vaccination workers in Pakistan has reinforced the idea in my mind that extremists have found new targets in their objective to hurt those who do not believe in their agenda of killing and hatred. These new targets are women.
It all started with the attack on the Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last October. After the international community reacted with utter disgust over the incident, I feel that now militants have made it a point to attack women more vehemently and forcefully than ever before.
Insecurity and fear have been permanent features of life in Pakistan for a while now, particularly for journalists who are not only on the front line of the battleground, along with security personnel and rescue workers, but also on the front line ideologically.
December 7, 2012 Leave a comment
By Rodney Pinder
Protesters shout slogans during a rally at Quezon city, the Philippines, in 2006, to protest spate of killings of left-wing activists and journalists in the country. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
One thousand two hundred and seventy-three – that’s the number of journalists and support staff who have died trying to cover the story since we set up INSI in 2003.
That’s the number that was foremost in mind when I retired last month after a decade as Director, and one of the founders, of the International News Safety Institute.
December 5, 2012 1 Comment
By Helena Williams
Peter Ter Horst moderates the ‘No Woman’s Land’ panel debate in The Hague with Katya Alder (BBC) and Minka Nijhuis (Trouw, Vrij Nederland, Radio 1) (Photo: INSI)
The International News Safety Institute’s ground-breaking publication, ‘No Woman’s Land – On the Frontlines with Female Reporters’, was presented to the mayor of The Hague this week, marking the launch of the book in the Netherlands.
INSI’s Director Hannah Storm gave the copy to Jozais van Aartsen at the third international launch of the book, which details the experiences of 40 women journalists in conflict zones.
October 31, 2012 Leave a comment
Sign reads ‘security training for journalists’. Brazil is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the news media has been the focus of INSI safety work. (INSI)
By INSI
• The International News Safety Institute has counted six casualties this month, three of whom were from Somalia – a sign of the rapidly deteriorating situation there. Somalia is now the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists this year, only surpassed by Syria. As of the end of October, the figure for news media casualties since the start of the year is 107, suggesting that 2012 will be one of the darkest years for journalist safety in recent history.
• Across the globe, another one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the news media has been the focus of INSI safety work. Brazil has consistently been in the top 10 most deadly nations for our profession in the past decade, and seven have been killed there this year, with many more attacked and threatened. INSI is currently training 12 journalists so they can in turn provide safety training to their colleagues. Funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, via the British Embassy in Brasilia, we are partnering with Abraji, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism and the following unions: Sindicato dos Jornalistas do Município do Rio de Janeiro, Sindicato das Empresas de Radiodifusão, Sindicato das Empresas de Jornais e Revistas. To keep up to date with INSI’s training projects click here.
July 31, 2012 1 Comment
This month INSI ran its first safety training project for female journalists in Cairo. ‘No Woman’s Land’, INSI’s unprecedented publication about the safety of women journalists, had its genesis in the horrendous attack on the CBS journalist Lara Logan last year and she provided the foreword for our book. (INSI)
• INSI has recorded the deaths of 77 journalists and media staff this year, with a further 28 cases under investigation.
Syria continues to be the deadliest country for journalists and media workers – at least 19 news media casualties have been recorded since the start of 2012. Many more have been injured, detained and threatened.
INSI has been working with its members, who include some of the world’s leading media organisations, to share and collate information that might impact on the safety of journalists and news crews covering the events there.
The situation in Syria is extremely volatile and INSI urges all journalists covering Syria to read our safety advisory.
Those who would like more information or to speak confidentially should contact Hannah Storm +44 7766 814274 hannah.storm@newssafety.org
• INSI Director Rodney Pinder visited Brazil for the 7th annual Congress of Abraji, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalists, and to check arrangements for more INSI safety training in the country.
Abraji is the second biggest association of investigative journalists in the world with 3,000 members, and this year’s event attracted more than 800 delegates, many of them concerned at the deteriorating security situation confronting journalists in Brazil.
July 30, 2012 1 Comment
By Hannah Storm
Women journalists have reported being harassed and assaulted in Tahrir Square, Cairo (Flickr/Ramy Raoof)
The International News Safety Institute has held its first safety training for women journalists in Cairo. Sponsored by theNorwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the unique two day training course was specifically designed and delivered for female journalists by female security trainers.
In recent months, the Egyptian capital has become an increasingly difficult working environment for female journalists and reports of sexual harassment and assault have highlighted the dangers they face on a daily basis.
June 27, 2012 3 Comments
The UN Special Rapporteur Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns, said that journalists should be given special protection because of rising levels of impunity at a conference in Geneva this month (UN)
• INSI has recorded the deaths of 73 journalists and media staff in the first half of 2012, with a further 23 cases under investigation. In June, a number of conferences, talks and debates were held around the world to explore ways to improve the safety of journalists.
On INSI’s 10th anniversary, thank you for your support
May 3, 2013 Leave a comment
By Hannah Storm
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the International News Safety Institute and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your commitment to us and your support over the past decade.
We were established in 2003, dedicated to safeguarding the lives of all journalists everywhere. Born of a unique coalition of media organisations, press freedom groups and human rights campaigners, since then INSI has been providing safety advice and training to our friends and colleagues who work in dangerous and difficult conditions to bring home the story.
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Filed under Comment, INSI Blog Tagged with Hannah Storm, impunity, journalist safety, No Woman's Land, safety training, World Press Freedom Day