1st Edition

Journalism and Safety An Introduction to the Field

Edited By Oscar Westlund, Roy Krøvel, Kristin Skare Orgeret Copyright 2024

    This volume presents key international research on journalism and safety with a focus on conceptual, global, and transnational approaches, as well as conflict, challenges, and consequences for democracy. It offers an overview of the latest research and ongoing developments in the field of journalism and safety and speaks to the ways in which digital developments have worsened the risks surrounding journalists, with online harassments, security breaches, surveillance and so forth challenging their safety like never before.

    The first of two volumes, this book comprises a handpicked collection of cutting-edge research articles authored by distinguished international scholars. The chapters in the book were originally published in Digital Journalism, Journalism Studies, and Journalism Practice during the years 2019-2023, and have thus been through rigorous double-blind peer-review. The chapters draw on data from diverse geographical locations such as U.S, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Palestine, Latin America, Pakistan, Philippines, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, and Slovakia. The first section of the book focuses on research that either has made significant conceptual advancements on journalism and safety, and/or has contributed with global or transnational approaches, and the second section focuses on challenges in conflict coverage and the impact it has on democracies.

    This collection offers important points of entry for understanding this area of research and insights into worthwhile concepts and approaches that can be used to further study and advance knowledge. It will be a key resource for scholars, practitioners and researchers of journalism, media and cultural studies, communication studies, and sociology, while also being of interest to those seeking an introduction to the field.

    Introduction to the practice and state of journalism amid dangerous times

    Oscar Westlund, Roy Krøvel and Kristin Skare Orgeret

     

    I. Conceptual, Global and Transnational Approaches

     

    1. Conceptualizing Journalists’ Safety around the Globe

    Vera Slavtcheva-Petkova, Jyotika Ramaprasad, Nina Springer,Sallie Hughes, Thomas

    Hanitzsch, Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada, Abit Hoxha and Nina Steindl

     

    2. Mob Censorship: Online Harassment of US Journalists in Times of Digital Hate and Populism

    Silvio Waisbord

     

    3. Stronger and Safer Together: Motivations for and Challenges of (Trans)National Collaboration in Investigative Reporting in Latin America

    Lourdes M. Cueva Chacón and Magdalena Saldaña

     

    4. ‘Lockdown’ on Digital Journalism? Mapping Threats to Press Freedom during the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

    Lambrini Papadopoulou and Theodora A. Maniou

     

    5. Determinants of Journalists’ Autonomy and Safety: Evidence from the Worlds of Journalism Study

    Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada

     

    6. Moving Barriers to Investigative Journalism in Latin America in Times of Instability and

    Professional Innovation

    Vanessa de Macedo Higgins Joyce, Lourdes Cueva Chacón and Rosental Calmon Alves

     

    7. Promoting Newsafety from the Exile: The Emergence of New Journalistic Roles in Diaspora Journalists’ Networks

    Colin Porlezza and Rana Arafat

     

    II. Conflict and Challenges to Democracy

     

    8. Reality on the Ground: Exploring News Production Practices by Syrian Journalists in Times of Conflict

    Tania Ouariachi and Lidia Peralta

     

    9. Reporting Conflict from Afar: Journalists, Social Media, Communication Technologies, and War

    Britt Christensen and Ali Khalil

     

    10. Harassment’s Toll on Democracy: The Effects of Harassment Towards US Journalists

    Kaitlin C. Miller

     

    11.  Human Security as a Conceptual Framework: The Case of Palestinian Journalists

    Carol B. Schwalbe, Jeannine E. Relly, Sally Ann Cruikshank and Ethan H. Schwalbe

     

    12.  The Monitored Watchdogs: Journalists’ Surveillance and its Repercussions for their Professional and Personal Lives in Pakistan

    Sadia Jamil

     

    13. Medium-Specific Threats for Journalists: Examples from Philippines, Afghanistan and Venezuela

    Saumava Mitra, Marte Høiby and Mariateresa Garrido

     

    14. From State Repression to Fear of non-state Actors: Examining Emerging Threats of Journalism Practice in Ethiopia

    Téwodros W. Workneh

     

    15. Coping with the Murder: The Impact of Ján Kuciak’s Assassination on Slovak Investigative Journalists

    Marína Urbániková and Lenka Haniková

    Biography

    Oscar Westlund (PhD) is Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, where he co-leads the OsloMet Digital Journalism Research Group. He holds a secondary appointment at University of Gothenburg and is the Editor-in-Chief of Digital Journalism. He specializes in digital journalism, fact-checking, platforms, epistemology, media management, news consumption, and, mobile media.

    Roy Krøvel (PhD) is Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, where he co-leads the OsloMet Media, War and Conflict Research Group with Professor Orgeret. He holds a secondary appointment at the Sami University in Kautokeino, Norway, and is the co-organizer of the annual Safety of Journalists conference in Oslo. He specializes in the safety of journalists, investigative and data journalism, the uses of AI in journalism, Indigenous Journalism, and war and peace journalism.

    Kristin Skare Orgeret (Dr.Art) is Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, where she co-leads the research group MEKK (Media, War and Conflict) and organizes annual international conferences on the safety of journalists. She leads the international research project DD-MAC on the role of digital media in ongoing violent conflicts. She has published extensively within the field of journalism in conflict situations, global journalism and power relations, and media and gender.