A year ago, the International Women’s Media Foundation was preparing to launch a nationwide journalism initiative that would provide in-person holistic safety training and wrap-around support to journalists and newsrooms before the U.S. elections. My prediction then was a call to action that, as an industry, we had an obligation to better prepare journalists due to the increasing threats to press freedom and the decline of journalism safety in the United States. We partnered with more than 20 journalism collaboratives, universities, and newsrooms, including the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press, to train more than 600 journalists in 21 cities on physical, digital, legal, and psychological safety throughout 2024. After logging thousands of miles on the road this past year, the need for this work continues.
We learned that 36% of journalists who responded to our national survey had previously been threatened with or experienced physical violence, 33% were threatened with or experienced digital violence, and 28% reported legal threats or actions against them while working as a journalist. Every photojournalist we interviewed had experienced harm and physical threats, and we heard countless stories from journalists about how they were harassed by law enforcement — even when they identified themselves as press. Journalists have been dehumanized and treated as enemies when they are truly in service of society, shining a light on what is happening in the world around us.
As we prepare to continue this work in the coming year, I keep thinking about the importance of protecting journalists and newsrooms who are vulnerable to targeted harassment in relation to their identity or the beats they cover, such as politics, gender, immigration, and reproductive rights. Several reports have shown that women and nonbinary journalists, as well as journalists from the LGBTQI+ community and ethnic and religious minorities, are disproportionately targeted. This harassment sometimes achieves its goal: driving these journalists out of an industry that already struggles to represent diverse communities. Data from the Women’s Media Center showed that women of color represent just 7.95% of U.S. print newsroom staff, 12.6% of local TV news staff, and 6.2% of local radio staff in 2018. We must support and protect a diversity of voices in the news industry so journalists can continue reporting stories critical to their local communities and our democracy.
If you are interested in more insights from our national survey and in-depth interviews, I invite you to dive into our report, “Journalists Under Fire: U.S. Media Report Daily Threats, Harassment and Attacks at Home.” We include recommendations for newsrooms to provide for the safety and well-being of their journalists, the importance of collaboration and community, and how supportive editors play a key role in providing a sense of safety. If you are a journalist, editor, or newsroom who does not have access to safety resources, please reach out to us. We are here to support you.
Juanita Islas is director of programs at the International Women’s Media Foundation.
