U.S. Election Safety Summer
The 2024 U.S. general election comes at a critical time for press freedom in the United States, amid increasing hostilities toward the press and intensifying politically-motivated abuse and violence. Going into a key election year, the U.S. fell 10 spots on the World Press Freedom Index, dropping to 55th in 2024. Journalists in the U.S. are confronting a rise in domestic extremism manifesting in physical and digital attacks, threats likely to increase in the lead-up to the November election.
Join the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and PEN America for a free webinar series that will help journalists prepare for covering the upcoming U.S. general election and election-related events. The series will provide safety guidance on assessing risk, bolstering digital safety and online abuse defense, ensuring physical safety when covering rallies and protests, understanding the legal rights of journalists, and addressing psychological safety and mental health.
Session 1: Risk assessment and planning for journalists in the field
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) will lead this webinar to equip journalists with tools to assess and mitigate risk on their upcoming assignments. This training will cover actor mapping, security measures, and other best practices you can implement to lower the risk of potential threats and their impacts. This includes developing communication and check-in protocols for journalists reporting in the field.
Speakers
Nadine Hoffman is the IWMF’s deputy executive director. She is responsible for developing the organization’s programmatic priorities and initiatives. Working closely alongside Executive Director Elisa Lees Muñoz to guide and execute organizational strategy, Nadine approaches her work with a dedication to gender equity, press freedom, and supporting the IWMF’s global community of journalists.
Jeje Mohamed is a safety and security specialist, media risk advisor, and journalist. She is senior manager for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, with over a decade of experience working on human rights issues, journalism, and safety and security in the Middle East and internationally. Before joining PEN America, she was a Next-Gen Safety Trainers fellow with the IWMF, developing more inclusive and trauma-informed safety and security training.
Jen Byers is a visual and investigative journalist with a specialty covering activism, LGBTQ+ issues, climate, and state repression of dissent. Their work has appeared in places like Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Hulu, and Salty. They recently completed an Investigative Journalism Fellowship at USC Annenberg, which included teaching conflict-zone safety and trauma-informed reporting to student journalists.
Session 2: Online abuse self-defense
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
Join PEN America for this training designed to equip journalists, as well as their allies and employers, with practical tools and strategies to defend against online abuse. Taking a holistic approach to digital safety, we’ll talk about how to prepare, respond, take care of yourself, and support others in the face of online hate and harassment during a contentious election cycle.
Speakers
Jeje Mohamed is senior manager for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, with over a decade of experience working on human rights issues, journalism, and safety and security in the Middle East and internationally. Before joining PEN America, she was a Next-Gen Safety Trainers fellow with the International Women’s Media Foundation, developing more inclusive and trauma-informed safety and security training.
Viktorya Vilk is the director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America. She created and runs the organization’s programming on digital safety and online abuse defense, which equips writers and journalists with self-defense resources and training, partners with media organizations and publishers to strengthen protections for writers and journalists, and conducts research and advocacy to hold technology companies accountable for online harms. She has over fifteen years of experience working in nonprofits to expand access to the arts and defend creative and press freedom.
Session 3: Protecting against hacking and doxing
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
Learn how to better protect yourself from doxing, hacking, and impersonation during a contentious election season. In this interactive workshop developed by PEN America and Freedom of the Press Foundation, we’ll show you how to audit your social media accounts, tighten your privacy settings, and track your personal information online so you can maintain the public profile you need to do your job.
Speakers
Harlo Holmes is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Director of Digital Security at Freedom of the Press Foundation. She strives to help individual journalists in various media organizations become confident and effective in securing their communications within their newsrooms, with their sources, and with the public at large. She is a media scholar, software programmer, and activist; and was a regular contributor to the open source mobile security collective The Guardian Project.
Viktorya Vilk is the director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America. She created and runs the organization’s programming on digital safety and online abuse defense, which equips writers and journalists with self-defense resources and training, partners with media organizations and publishers to strengthen protections for writers and journalists, and conducts research and advocacy to hold technology companies accountable for online harms. She has over fifteen years of experience working in nonprofits to expand access to the arts and defend creative and press freedom.
Session 4: Legal rights & resources: Covering the 2024 election
Tuesday, June 25, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
As journalists and news organizations prepare to cover elections at all levels in 2024, understanding reporters’ legal rights and the free legal resources available is essential. This session will discuss journalists’ newsgathering rights when covering elections; issues to consider when reporting at conventions, polling places, or demonstrations; and the range of free resources available through the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and its local partners, including online guides and a Legal Hotline, to help reporters who have legal questions or encounter issues. Attendees will hear from an experienced media law attorney at the Reporters Committee — which has provided pro bono legal support for journalists in every election cycle for the last five decades — and will come away with practical tips and resources that can be shared with their newsrooms.
Speakers
Lucy Westcott is director of CPJ’s Emergencies Department. She oversees CPJ’s assistance and safety work worldwide. Prior to joining CPJ, Westcott was a staff writer for Newsweek, where she covered gender and immigration. She has reported for outlets including The Intercept, Bustle, The Atlantic, and Women Under Siege, and was a United Nations correspondent for the Inter Press Service.
Jennifer Nelson is a senior staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where she leads its pre-publication and pre-broadcast review practice, oversees the publication of and updates to the Reporters Committee’s legal guides, and supervises its hotline for journalists. Nelson also regularly represents news organizations and journalists in public records, court access, and legal defense matters before federal and state courts.
Session 5: Journalist safety covering the election: Protests, policing and crowds
July 9, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
This training, led by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), equips journalists with knowledge to safely cover election-related protests, civil unrest, and crowded events. The training will focus on physical safety and include information on situational awareness, assessing risk, dealing with aggression, police tactics, personal protective equipment, and protest management weaponry.
Speakers
Lucy Westcott is director of CPJ’s Emergencies Department. She oversees CPJ’s assistance and safety work worldwide. Prior to joining CPJ, Westcott was a staff writer for Newsweek, where she covered gender and immigration. She has reported for outlets including The Intercept, Bustle, The Atlantic, and Women Under Siege, and was a United Nations correspondent for the Inter Press Service.
Colin Pereira is CPJ’s journalist safety specialist. For more than 15 years, he has worked to shape the risk management model for journalists operating under threat. He is a Director at HP Risk Management, a consultancy assisting companies and media organizations operating in fragile environments. Previously he was head of security for ITN and Deputy Head of BBC High Risk Team.
Session 6: Protecting mental health in the face of online and offline attacks
July 30, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST
In an election year where journalists are facing intense pressure, how do we find ways to sustain ourselves from collective burnout? IWMF Next Generation Safety Trainer Rosem Morton will discuss how trauma affects journalists in this webinar on navigating mental health and self-care. The IWMF will also present resources available for journalists, including A Mental Health Guide for Journalists Facing Online Violence released in 2022. This resource was created with the needs of journalists in mind by mental health professionals specialized in working in trauma and the media.
Speakers
Rosem Morton is a documentary photographer, registered nurse, and safety consultant based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a National Geographic Explorer whose work focuses on daily life amidst gender, health, and racial adversity. Rosem uses her camera to explore issues from the effects of gender-based violence and the unheard stories of healthcare workers to the forgotten histories that have shaped Filipino culture and migration.
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