News & Analysis Safety & Security
Wildfire Reporting — Expert Advice on Emerging Issues, Recurring Risks
Two California-based journalists offer some reporting best practices, logistical tips, and safety precautions to take when covering wildfires.
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Safety & Security
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Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
Are You Being Tailed? Tips for Reporters Concerned About Physical Surveillance
Would a group of reporters who knew – for sure – that they were being followed be able to identify the operatives sent to track them?
Chapter Guide Resource
Introduction to Investigative Journalism: Digital Security
Digital security may seem a little daunting at first, but increased security will help investigative journalists build trust with — and protect — current and future sources.
News & Analysis Safety & Security
Reporting Stories of War in the Face of Loss: Interview with the Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda
Sevgil Musaieva on the challenges of reporting during war and the dilemma facing journalists who want to fight for their country.
Press Freedom Safety & Security
‘Silenced’: Brazilian Investigative Journalist Juliana Dal Piva on Facing Threats from Her Reporting
Brazilian investigative journalist Juliana Dal Piva faced personal and professional ramifications for investigating the powerful.
Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
Investigative Tips for Safely Tracking Far-Right Extremist Chatter
Veteran journalists share tips on how to monitor online chatter among white supremacists and other far right extremists — and how to stay safe while doing so.
GIJC23 Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
Recruiting Secret Sources: Where to Find Them, and How to Keep Them Safe
German investigative journalist Bastian Obermayer – who was leaked the Panama Papers documents – explains the art of finding, using, and safeguarding sources.
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Exiled Media: An Investigative Toolkit
Hundreds of journalists are forced into exile around the world by despots, autocrats, and crime cartels. Exiled editors and émigré media are an old story. But amid the modern backlash against independent media, journalists are taking advantage of a new era in tools and technology. These digital toolkits are proving a game-changer, enabling journalists to better report on their homelands, and their audiences to better access that reporting.
Resource Video
GIJC23 – Dealing with Online Harassment
Online harassment of investigative journalists who identify as women has reached crisis proportions. In addition to gendered trolling, discrimination, and doxxing, women reporters are disproportionately the targets of intimidation and even direct physical threats on social media. See this experienced and courageous panel to learn about the effective resources that now exist to not only […]
Resource Video
GIJC23 – AI: Perils and Promise
The rise of AI-powered chatbots has prompted hot debates about whether these technologies will reshape or unmake our world. But instead of engaging in the hype cycle, journalists can demystify these tools for their audiences by sticking to basic reporting principles: investigate the artificial intelligence models themselves and cover their real-world impact. Burke will discuss […]
Safety & Security
‘Things Are About to Get Worse:’ GIJC23 Keynote Speaker Ron Deibert On the Battle Against Hidden Cyber Threats
The director of Citizen Lab warns that spyware and a “general descent into authoritarianism” have created a perfect storm for democratic institutions.
News & Analysis Safety & Security
Peru’s Investigative Journalists Carry On Amidst Disinformation, Attacks, and Political Crisis
Amidst disinformation and numerous attacks on press freedom, investigative reporting has all but disappeared from Peru’s major news outlets, leaving a handful of small nonprofit digital outlets to carry the mantle of accountability reporting.
Safety & Security
How Investigative Journalists Can Fight Back Against New, Enhanced Surveillance Threats
A panel about the “brave new world” of surveillance at the 2023 IPI World Media Congress in Vienna discusses success stories around the world of journalists and activists pushing back against new and enhanced surveillance methods.
Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
The Latest on Coping with Internet Shutdowns and Online Censorship
The National Press Club recently hosted a panel of cybersecurity and digital experts to discuss the latest in government internet shutdowns and online censorship — and how journalists can work around these challenges.
Press Freedom Safety & Security
Hungarian Investigative Newsroom Átlátszó Targeted in Pro-Government Smear Campaign
Hungarian investigative media outlet Átlátszó and its editor-in-chief, Tamás Bodoky, have become targets in the latest smear campaign by pro-government news outlets, aimed at discrediting what remains of the country’s independent media.
Resource Video
How To Use The Journalist Security Assessment Tool
Security is essential for journalists, and for investigative journalists in particular. Tackling the issue, let alone understanding its complexities, can be challenging. To make the process easier, GIJN has worked with experts at the Ford Foundation to adapt Ford’s Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) for use by watchdog journalism groups. Our new Journalist Security Assessment Tool […]
News & Analysis Press Freedom Safety & Security
Forensic Tools Open New Front for Using Phone Data to Prosecute Journalists
Like spyware, forensic tools can access everything on a phone or computer, but unlike spyware, such tools are in widespread, open usage in democracies as well as more repressive regimes. Their use has accelerated threats to the press while protections and public awareness lag behind.
Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
6 Ways the Internet of Things Poses Security Threats to Journalists
The Internet of Things can pose many threats to journalists — at home, in the office, and in the field. To help us understand them, a cybersecurity researcher examines these threats across several categories along with real-world examples.
Safety & Security
Investigative Journalism: Safety and Security for Asian Journalists – A Free Training Program
GIJN has partnered with the Centre for Investigative Journalism, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Judith Nielsen Institute to offer a unique safety and security training program specifically tailored for investigative journalists and others in watchdog newsrooms. It will be delivered online through hands-on practical training sessions with some of the world’s leading journalism safety trainers.
Press Freedom Safety & Security
Document of the Day: 2022 Global Impunity Index Finds ‘Vast Majority’ of Murders of Journalists Go Unsolved
To mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its annual report on the state of justice for attacks on the press around the world. It found that no one has been held accountable for 80% of all journalist murders in the past decade.
Safety & Security
Why Small Investigative Outlets Lead the Way on Newsroom Digital Safety
Some of the most significant progress in newsroom information security over the past decade has been in smaller, more recently-formed digital startups — many of them investigative outlets. They are proving they can effectively incorporate strong information security strategies into their highly adaptive and responsive workflows.
Reporting Tools & Tips Safety & Security
Why Source Protection Begins With Your Smartphone Contacts
In an era when an investigative reporter’s contacts are often all stored on their smartphone or in the cloud, digital security best practices are paramount to protect your sources.
Resource Tipsheet
A Guide to Journalism Safety Organizations
The figures are grim for our colleagues around the world. Since 1992, 978 journalists have been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. More than 60 percent have been murdered with impunity; that is, no killer was ever brought to justice. And today, 232 journalists are in prison worldwide, many for doing what would […]
Resource
How to Protect Yourself from Metadata
There is no way for investigative journalists to completely eliminate the risk of being tracked through metadata, but in an interview with Reporters Without Borders, technology expert Benjamin Finn offers a series of tips on how to protect both your sources and yourself.
News & Analysis Safety & Security
Brazil: 5 Questions for a Reporter Investigating Bolsonaro’s Scandals
Due to her tenacity in scrutinizing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s family’s transactions, reporter Juliana Dal Piva is a constant target of attack by the president’s supporters. Here, she describes the security measures, collaboration, and persistence needed to keep the spotlight on autocrats in repressive environments.
Chapter Guide Resource
Essential Steps for Journalists in Emergency Situations
Journalists receiving threats often have to flee their homes in a matter of a few hours. Conflicts, though, are often foreseeable and that’s why those in fragile regions should have an exit plan in place and crucial documents ready to go. We’ve listed what documents journalists should gather as well as which organizations support journalists with relocation.
News & Analysis Safety & Security
How Secure Are Journalists’ Favorite Transcription Tools?
While there is no single service that meets all of our data privacy needs, here two experts unpack security and privacy practices for popular transcription services, weigh when journalists should use remote transcription services, and explore how to minimize risk when working with sensitive audio.
News & Analysis Safety & Security
Top 5 Surveillance Investigations of 2021
Investigative journalists went all out last year in covering surveillance issues. From a deep-dive into the dark side of pandemic tech in Singapore’s techno-utopia to an in-depth look at how schools are spending thousands on unreliable “aggression detectors” in the name of student safety, global reporters have been holding Big Tech accountable for its role in fueling authoritarianism worldwide.