Conceptualizing Journalists’ Safety around the Globe

Bibliographic Data

ID22010651
AuthorsVera Slavtcheva‐petkova (0000-0002-5576-4353, University of Liverpool, corresponding author), Jyotika Ramaprasad (University of Miami), Nina Springer (0000-0003-0186-0582, University of Münster), Sallie Hughes (0000-0002-3237-5865, University of Miami), Thomas Hanitzsch (0000-0002-7104-6300, LMU Klinikum), Basyouni Ibrahim Hamada (0000-0002-3861-250X, Qatar University), Basyouni Hamada (Qatar University, Doha, Qatar), Abit Hoxha (0000-0001-9722-493X, University of Agder), Nina Steindl (0000-0002-3733-2936, LMU Klinikum)
Year2023
Volume11
Issue7
Pages1211-1229
Publication date2023-08-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2022.2162429
OpenAlexW4318035293
LanguageEN
Citations received38
References cited85

Killings, as the most extreme form of violence against journalists, receive considerable attention, but journalists experience a variety of threats from surveillance to gendered cyber targeting and hate speech, or even the intentional deprivation of their financial basis. This article provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework of journalists’ safety, summarized in a conceptual model. The aim is to advance the study of journalists’ safety and improve safety practices, journalism education, advocacy, and policy making - vital as press freedom and fundamental human rights face multifaceted challenges, compromising journalists’ ability to serve their societies. Journalists’ occupational safety comprises personal (physical, psychological) and infrastructural (digital, financial) dimensions. Safety can be objective and subjective by operating on material and perceptional levels. It is moderated by individual (micro), organizational/institutional (meso), and systemic (macro) risk factors, rooted in power dynamics defining boundaries for journalists’ work, which, if crossed, result in threats and create work-related stress. Stress requires coping, ideally resulting in resilience and resistance, and manifested in journalists’ continued role performance with autonomy. Compromised safety has personal and social consequences as threats might affect role performance and even lead to an exit from the profession, thus also affecting journalism’s wider function as a key institution

Autonomy · Globe · Journalism · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Law · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology · Public Relations and Crisis Communication · Workplace Violence and Bullying

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