Newsroom Safety

Drew Sullivan – Editor –OCCRP

Stevan Dojcinovic – KRIK.rs

Some truths

• Our job is very dangerous.
• 70 percent of journalists killed are killed because of their reporting
• 70 percent of those killed are never warned before being killed
• We face the difficult problem of stopping an attack we don’t know will come

What are our Threat Vectors?

• Organized crime
• Corrupt Governments
• Rogue Businesses
• Rogue actors in government or business
• Terrorist groups
• Hooligans
• Extremist groups

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Five Key Points About Safety

• Protect Yourself
• Report the Threat
• Look for Surveillance
• Raise the costs, lower the benefits of murder
• Write for Safety

1. Protect Yourself

• Take the responsibility head on.
• Have a safety plan.
• We are the ONLY ones who can protect ourselves. Don’t delegate this to NGOs or police who may not care.
• OCCRP System:
• Editors are responsible for the safety of journalists. You keep them alive.
• Journalists are proactively protected and have the right to seek safety immediately and collect reimbursement later.

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1. Protect Yourself

• OCCRP System (cont)
• Safety is designed into stories from an early stage. Safety meetings are called as needed and there we agree on safety protocols for a story
• Editor order reporting of risks
• Reporter expected to report danger
• No Cowboys - You have a professional responsibility to protect yourself

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2. Report the Threat

• Does this person or organization kill? Who is likely to do the killing?
• Have they killed before?
• Why do they kill? What sets them off?
• How do they kill (MO)?
• Are there possibilities of anyone else taking advantage of a story

2. Report the Threat

• Who can answers questions?
• Past history – court records, police reports
• Police
• Organized crime
• Victims and enemies
• Other journalists or NGOs
• Risks are dependent on circumstances and timing (Are elections happening? Is the group under stress? )
• Risks decrease with time
• May depend on character and what is going on in their life

2. Report the Threat

• Risk = impact x probability
• A risk assessment is part of any safety plan
• You must understand the risk you are taking –
• Firefighter wouldn’t go into a burning factory without knowing what chemicals are there
• The more certain the impact and the probability is, the better you can assess risk

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3. Look for Surveillance

• Surveillance - most dangerous sign
• Look for inquiries and social engineering
• Unusual interest by friends, acquaintances, people you rarely see
• Threats or veiled threats
• There may not be ANY signs – we should base our response on just the understanding that someone is really, really dangerous

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3. Look for Surveillance

• Get trained in surveillance/counter surveillance
• Switch up reporters
• Change schedule
• Change routines
• Change routes and modes of transportation
• Use counter-surveillance with trained expert
• If under surveillance – GET OUT NOW

4. Change the Cost/Benefit Equation

• Murder, while common, is a difficult decision for crime gangs
• It can be expensive investment – surveillance, intelligence gathering, expensive specialists
• Often outsourced to murder squads and other gangs
• Anyone thinking of killing a reporter has likely done at least a simple cost/benefit analysis.
• What might be the benefits of killing a reporter?
• What might be the risks of killing a reporter?
• Do the benefits outweigh the risks

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4. Change the Cost/Benefit Equation

• Benefits –
• Ends the story & hampers the news organization
• Intimidates others from reporting badly
• Protects network
• Costs
• Possible jail time
• Increased scrutiny – more things exposed
• Bad PR
• Higher bribe costs
• Have to move countries

5. Write for Safety

• The goal is to write a story in such a way that nobody wants to harm or kill you when it is published.
• Good journalism mitigates risk
• Fair, accurate and balanced reporting
• Journalistic Jihad is dangerous
• Causes sense of persecution
• Eliminates dialog
• Creates justified anger/frustration
• Creates situation where eliminating the reporter eliminates problem

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5. Write for Safety

• Give even the worst person a chance to tell their side of the story and include it.
• This is business, not personal. The more professional you are, the more likely they will see you as a professional.
• Stay away from wives, children, girlfriends or personal issues unless they are involved in the criminality
• Tunisia Example

5. Write for Safety

• Don’t try to embarrass people. Treat everyone with respect.
• Check all facts and issue corrections for all mistakes
• Don’t be “in the game.”

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Safety meeting issues

• Information control
• Who needs to know about the story? What information do they need to know? When do they need to know?
• Who has access to data?
• Do we need special handling of information or communication?
• Information gathering
• What sources of information can we go to?
• How can we ask for information? FOIA? How do we ask?
• Who can we talk to as sources? What do we tell them?
• When and where do you talk to sources?

Safety meeting issues

• Meetings
• Where and when do we meet with people?
• What backup do we have? What protocols should we follow?
• What names will be associated with the story
• What protocols are needed? Daily check-ins?
• How will be handle emergencies?
• How will we report the risks?

Safety Planning

• Correct handling and planning of dangerous situations is important
• Dangerous meetings
• Reporters should go in pairs
• All meetings must be in a public place
• A third person should monitor the meeting
• Police or security should be on call
• Editors should monitor the situation
• There should be a way to track reporters whereabouts at all times
• When in doubt, meet in his lawyers office or by phone

Dealing with Dangerous People

• This is business, not personal
• Be a professional and explain yourself
• Do not allow yourself to be threatened
• Don’t join – you are NOT their friend
• Don’t be “in the game”
• Don’t take responsibility for your story – that’s the editors job – you don’t work alone

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Dealing with Dangerous People

• Explain how you work
• Make sure you communicate clearly
• Don’t make promises
• Don’t lie, cheat or steal
• Make sure you are credible and responsible

Threats

• Threats
• All threats are different. Understand them.
• Report all threats to editors immediately. Editors may want to report threats to police, NGOs or other authorities. But there may be cases you don’t want to.
• For anonymous threats, try to get as much information from caller as you can why you are being threatened
• Keep copies of threats on tape if possible. If not, immediately write down everything you remember.

Threats

• Threats
• Do not argue with person making threat, joke or be macho. Tell him you have no control over story and ask if he wants to talk to your editor.
• Depending on the credibility of the threat, editors should consider either putting story on hold, changing reporters, sending reporter on vacation or bringing in security personnel
• For anonymous threats on social media, in OCCRP, contact tech security people. Otherwise, find a good tech person to track the person.

Threats

• Threats
• To the extent possible, threats should be investigated
• Where appropriate, advertise the threat and have media partners run stories on it
• Continue to do the work when it is safe to do so

Safety Truths

• You can only mitigate 95 percent
• Sadly, murder works. It has successfully stopped reporting except in a few cases
• Do not help set bad precedent – follow up
• The more murder works, the more it will be used

Safety Truths

• In the event something bad happens
• Aggressively finish the work of your colleague
• Allow police to investigate and cooperate with the investigation
• Continue your own investigation

Case Study: Veronica Guerin

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Case Study: Anna Politkovskaya

Case Study: Ivo Pukanic

Case Study: Paul Klebnikov