Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/category/security/page/2/)
It is vital for journalists to shield their sources, and at a dedicated workshop at GIJC21, two security experts gave practical examples of how reporters can reach out to sources in a way that protects the individuals and wins trust for both journalists and their organization.
Afghan journalist Zahra Joya, 28, is not hopeful of a bright future for women journalists in her country. In November 2020, she used her personal savings to recruit five women journalists and start Rukhshana Media. They wanted to go around the country and tell the stories of maternal mortality, domestic violence and women’s reproductive health. Since then, they have published stories on the taboo of menstruation, child marriage, street harassment, gender discrimination and what it means to live as a survivor of rape.
The digital security risk to investigative journalism was reaffirmed this month with the release of the Pegasus Project. This involved collaborative reporting by 17 global media outlets on a list of thousands of leaked phone numbers allegedly selected for possible surveillance by government clients of Israeli firm NSO Group. At least 180 journalists are implicated as targets. It also sheds light on four chilling cases profile here.
Digital self-defense is becoming an important part of the journalistic toolkit. Beyond risks to everyone’s digital lives—webcam hacking, email breaches, identity theft—people who work in newsrooms have even more at stake. Newsrooms are some of the biggest targets in the world for state-sponsored digital attacks, as well as more routine threats.
Investigative reporters around the world are tightening their digital safety habits, out of concern that emergency pandemic laws, new spy technologies, and the lockdown itself have exposed journalists to even greater threats of surveillance and harassment. A dozen reporters and experts interviewed by GIJN agreed that sound digital hygiene was no longer optional for journalists in the COVID-19 world — and offered 10 security tips, including threat modelling, encrypted document transfer, and virtual burner phones.
التوثيق الاستثنائي للقصة من الممكن أن ينتج قصة استئنائية بطبيعة الحال، إلا أن هناك مشاكل قد تقع في حال لم يتم التعامل بحذر مع من يسرب تلك الوثائق.
Работающие в авторитарной среде журналисты часто сталкиваются с электронной слежкой. Иногда такая слежка не направлена на конкретную цель, но становится массовым явлением. В таких случаях задача наблюдения – понять, чем занимаются журналисты в целом и чему посвящены их расследования.
Journalism is by definition investigative. However, the depth and scope of possibilities to unearth and bring to light wrongdoings of public interest has increased manifold, thanks to the way the Internet has been evolving in the last decade. To be a true investigative reporter today, it is indispensable to fine-tune the old philosophy with three new practices: be Open, Systematic and Safe.
Extraordinary documentation can make for an extraordinary story — and terrible trouble for sources if handled without enough care. Here’s a checklist to help reporters and news organizations protect their sources from getting hurt by materials posted along with a story.
Why do people put stickers over their webcams? It’s well known in tech circles that a camera in a computer or smartphone can be turned on remotely by an attacker with the resources, time and motivation.