Kathy Im, Director, Journalism and Media, shares context for our growing focus on press freedom and safety as journalists face increasing threats.
Nearly ten years ago, the Journalism and Media Program began funding the newly founded ACOS Alliance (A Culture of Safety Alliance), which sought to prioritize the safety and protection of freelance journalists working in hostile environments. The ACOS Alliance was formed in the aftermath of the kidnapping and killing of freelance journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in Syria, a galvanizing moment for the industry. Newsrooms sending freelancers on dangerous assignments began to look inward and reassess their safety protocols and practices.
Today, there are more than 150 organizations that are signatories to the ACOS Alliance and its Journalist Safety Principles. At its 2024 annual Safety Coordination meeting in London, which gathered 116 people from 32 countries, it was clear that much progress had been made. A collaborative and mutually supportive community has been built by newsroom leaders, journalists, and press freedom NGOs who understand and actively promote safe and responsible practices. At the same time, it was also exceedingly evident that the safety threats to journalists and journalism had grown and spread.
We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on freedom of the press in conflict zones.
We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on freedom of the press in conflict zones like Gaza and Ukraine, in countries with repressive regimes and little to no respect for an independent press, and in places where corporations, oligarchs, and law enforcement have the financial resources and manpower to intimidate reporters. At the ACOS annual meeting, reporters and press freedom advocates, representing countries and regions ranging from Hong Kong to Nigeria and from Eastern Europe to Central and South America, shared harrowing stories of intimidation, harassment, and exile. Meanwhile, organizations that respond to, support, extract, and resettle exiled journalists shared that they cannot possibly keep up with the demand for their services and supports.
In the U.S. where press freedom is a Constitutional protection, we might expect the situation to be better, and in many ways, it is far less extreme. The MacArthur-supported U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has been monitoring and documenting press freedom violations since 2017, and it reveals a continuous spike in assaults, arrests, denial of access, intimidation, and other forms of violations of freedom of the press during protests and election cycles.
In October 2024, in recognition of this problem, and with help from grantee Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Department of Justice issued a first-of-its-kind guidance for police-press interactions: recommending arrest avoidance and reminding law enforcement that journalists are exempt from dispersal orders and curfew enforcement. While government authorities and law enforcement personnel are largely the responsible parties, ordinary individuals, perhaps emboldened by our increasingly violent political culture and the anonymity of social media, are also often found to be the perpetrators of physical violence and online harassment of journalists.
In both the domestic and international contexts, it is undeniable that the safety risks to women journalists online and in real life, are different from those facing men.
In 2024, the International Women’s Media Foundation, another grantee, surveyed 610 journalists across 11 states as part of its nationwide initiative to provide safety training to local reporters in the lead up to the 2024 U.S. Presidential elections. The survey revealed disturbing trends. Of those surveyed:
- 36 percent reported threats or experiences of physical violence while working as a journalist;
- 33 percent reported threats or experiences of online harassment and violence;
- 28 percent reported legal threats or action against them; and
- 24 percent reported experiencing sexual harassment, with an additional 6 percent reporting threats of sexual violence.
About three-fourths of those participating in the survey were women. In both the domestic and international contexts, it is undeniable that the safety risks to women journalists online and in real life, are different from those facing men.
Ethnic media has also experienced a heightened climate of aggression and harassment in recent years. Anti-immigrant rhetoric, racialized mis- and disinformation, and state-sponsored propaganda targeting diaspora communities are some of the factors undermining and endangering independent ethnic media and journalists trying to bring fact-based, non-partisan news and information to their audiences, often in native languages. This already vulnerable group, with few sources of revenue and specific audiences, is feeling deeply the weight of resisting and withstanding the attacks and intimidation targeting them.
Protecting a free and independent press at the frontlines of advancing democracy will be a top priority in the years to come.
The Journalism and Media program has maintained a modest focus on press freedom since 2016, supporting a handful of U.S.-based press freedom and legal assistance organizations. Recognizing that the environment has changed for the worse, we are actively exploring how to expand this area of grantmaking, with a growing focus on the global context. As an Enduring Commitment, we aim to have a long view of the journalism and media ecosystem and environment. Protecting a free and independent press at the frontlines of advancing democracy will be a top priority in the years to come.
