According to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, attacks against press freedom are intensifying worldwide. Women journalists around the world face offline and online attacks for their reporting and gender, putting their safety at risk.
For the 2025 World Press Freedom Day of Action, the IWMF will be leading a hands-on workshop for newsrooms and journalism support organizations/individuals working with newsrooms interested in developing safety policies. This event is supported by UNESCO's International Programme for the Development of Communication.
This session falls under the sub-theme of violence against journalists and challenging the future of journalism in the era of AI. This session seeks to help newsrooms create safety policies as a way to mitigate growing attacks on press freedom. As part of the session, the IWMF will invite newsroom representatives who have successfully developed and implemented safety policies in their newsroom to share their experience with attendees. Participants will then engage in small group discussions where they can present their newsroom scenarios and their experiences in supporting journalists and work on tailored solutions with IWMF safety trainers and peers.
The session will include actionable recommendations from the IWMF’s experience working with small, medium, and large newsrooms and recommendations from media support organizations, individuals and experts who recently came together to review the progress of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for its 30th Anniversary. These recommendations aim to enhance journalism safety around the world for staff and freelancers.
The target audience includes journalists, newsroom leaders, editors, media trainers, lawyers and journalism adjacent organizations at all levels.
Facilitators:
Nadine Hoffman – Deputy Executive Director, IWMF
Ela Stapley – Digital Safety Lead, IWMF
Laura Aguirre - Laura Aguirre, Co-Founder of Alharaca, El Salvador
Mimi Mefo Takambou - Founder/Editor-in-chief of Mimi Mefo Info Ltd, Cameroon
Date: Tuesday, May 6 from 3:00-5:00 pm
Venue: BIP Meeting Center | Zinneke Room | rue Royale 2-4, 1000 Brussels
*Please note the venue has a room capacity of 45 people. We will accept participants on a first come, first served basis, and will notify you to confirm your attendance as soon as we can.
