INSI 10TH ANNIVERSARY – Planning and preparation for safe travel overseas

May 2, 2013 Leave a comment

By INSI

Foreign journalists and hotel guests put on their gas masks as civil alert sirens ring throughout the city in a hotel in Kuwait City, Thursday, March 20, 2003. Before noon, the Kuwait Ministry of Defense said that four missiles were launched into Kuwait from Iraq. No injuries or damage were reported. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Foreign journalists and hotel guests put on their gas masks as civil alert sirens ring throughout the city in a hotel in Kuwait City, March 20, 2003. Before noon, the Kuwait Ministry of Defense said that four missiles were launched into Kuwait from Iraq. No injuries or damage were reported. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Unrest in Africa, the Middle East and Asia is dominating the headlines, meaning more journalists – both staffers and freelancers – are travelling to conflict and former conflict areas.

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Global death toll for journalists ‘third worst on record’

December 20, 2012 Leave a comment

By Helena Williams

An ambulance believed to be carrying the bodies of two western journalists, Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, arriving at Alassad University Hospital in Damascus, Syria. The American journalist Mary Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed on February 22 during an intense bombardment of the Baba Amro district of Homs, Syria. (AP Photo/APTN)

An ambulance believed to be carrying the bodies of two western journalists, Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, arriving at Alassad University Hospital in Damascus, Syria. The American journalist Mary Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed on February 22 during an intense bombardment of the Baba Amro district of Homs. (AP Photo/APTN)

Journalists killed while covering the the violence in Syria made up the majority of news media casualties in 2012 in one of the bloodiest years on record.

Preliminary findings by the International News Safety Institute show that at least 156 journalists and other media staff were killed because of their work. The global death toll is the third worst on record since INSI began in 2003.

The 33 casualties in Syria were almost double those of the second most dangerous country for journalists, Somalia, where 18 media workers were killed.

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One thousand two hundred and seventy three: the number of journalists killed since INSI began

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)

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.

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CPJ resources and tips for journalists covering conventions

November 5, 2012 Leave a comment

By Helena Williams

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama attend the 67th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

As US presidential rivals Barack Obama and Mitt Romney prepare for their final day of campaigning, journalists around the world are preparing to cover a cliffhanger election.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a list of resources and tips for journalists covering Republican and Democrat conventions last August, which is well worth a revisit.

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Do or let die – UN and journalists vow to fight global media safety crisis

October 19, 2012 Leave a comment

Top news organisation and NGO representatives attended the conference, and approved a UN draft plan of action (CFOM)

By Helena Williams

“If a coked-up twelve year old with a Kalashnikov steps out from behind a bush and points it at me, I can’t wave the Declaration of Human Rights at him and say ‘you can’t do that, I’m a journalist.’”

Al Jazeera English’s executive producer Dairmuid Jeffreys’ comment reflected what many journalists in the room felt.

Yesterday’s Journalism Safety Conference, organised by the BBC College of Journalism and Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) was marred in scepticism. Little wonder: the discussion was made to a room full of journalists.

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UN human rights body throws weight behind safety for journalists

September 28, 2012 Leave a comment

By Helena Williams

The Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva (KEYSTONE/Sandro Campardo)

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council affirmed for the first time the importance of journalist safety as a fundamental element of freedom of expression and called on states to protect journalists against violence.

The 47-member body passed a resolution that urged countries to “promote a safe and enabling environment for journalists to perform their work independently” and to fight impunity by ensuring “impartial, speedy and effective investigations” into acts of violence against journalists.

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URGENT APPEAL from the Internatio​nal News Safety Institute

September 14, 2012 1 Comment

The global news media death toll has just hit 90.

If journalist safety matters to you, you need to take a stand. Today.

INSI needs you – to help your friends and colleagues in danger around the globe.

I cannot state this any more clearly. Or any more urgently.

Most of the casualties this year are in Syria but somewhere in the world this week, two journalists will die, mostly as a result of simply doing their jobs.

More than 1,000 have been killed on assignment over the past decade, and the toll is increasing all the time.

The evildoers, who invariably escape justice, are usually criminals, corrupt businessmen and politicians, or trigger-happy soldiers or police.

Nine out of 10 of them kill with impunity because most of us are silent about the real cost of our world news.

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) has been fighting to change this for the past decade. And we will keep fighting until it is safe for journalists and media workers to do their jobs and, where it is not, governments are held responsible.

We cannot do this alone. We need your help. And we need it today.

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Journalist ‘lucky’ to escape with a beating by security forces in Yemen

September 13, 2012 Leave a comment

By Helena Williams

Protesters run as police open fire into the air near the U.S. Embassy during a demonstration about a film ridiculing Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

A journalist who was attacked while covering violent protests at the US embassy in Yemen today said he felt lucky he was able to escape with little more than cuts and bruises.

Violence has spread across north Africa in the past 48 hours in the wake of an anti-Islam film which was broadcast on Egyptian television programme earlier this week.

Reports said that hundreds of demonstrators stormed the US embassy in the capital Sana’a following similar protests in Benghazi and Cairo.

Yesterday, the US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three of his staff were killed in an attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi.

As windows to the embassy building in Sana’a were smashed, and cars and US flags burned, security forces used tear gas and gunfire to disperse the crowd.

Benjamin Wiacek, co-founder and chief reporter at Sana’a-based French news website ‘La Voix du Yemen’, told INSI that security forces beat him with sticks and pushed him to the floor amid a cloud of tear gas, before having the memory card of his camera taken.

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INSI and Free Press webinar recap: Journalist safety and rights at US Conventions

August 23, 2012 Leave a comment

By Natasha Lennard

Nearly 90 people have been arrested while trying to report on the Occupy Wall Street protests in the United States (Flickr / Jessica Lehrman)

Join us on August 23 for second online discussion

On August 16, INSI joined Free Press and the Harvard Digital Media Law Project to host a webinar on press freedom, journalist safety and reporters’ rights in advance of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The online event drew an interactive audience of 40 people.

The discussion drew on a mix of concrete law and safety advice, interspersed with personal stories and experience from professional and citizen journalists who have been covering protests on the ground.

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A global information network, an adviser to the news industry, free safety training and more…

August 14, 2012 1 Comment

INSI helped pass UN Resolution 1738 on the safety of journalists in conflict

Since 2003 the International News Safety Institute has been working to help journalists covering conflict and other danger.  We’ve recently updated the main website to showcase some of our achievements. From providing safety training free of charge to thousands of journalists in hotspots around the world, to helping secure the passage of UN Resolution 1738, INSI is continuously working to ensure that journalists survive the story.

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