Newsroom Safety Across America

US Intake Form US Emergency Fund Report: Journalists Under Fire

The IWMF is committed to improving the safety of journalists in the United States and will continue to provide wraparound care for small newsrooms and journalists looking for resources and knowledge to implement best practices and safety policies. This can include virtual safety trainings, safety consultations, assistance developing and implementing safety policies, and emergency assistance grants.

In February 2024, the International Women’s Media Foundation launched the Newsroom Safety Across America Initiative to provide safety training to journalists ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential elections. The IWMF trained more than 600 journalists representing 200 local and regional news outlets in battleground states and rural areas as newsrooms grappled with ongoing safety challenges.

Thanks to our partners, we reached 13 states in-person before the 2024 U.S. Election.

Newsroom training map

As part of this effort, the IWMF collected in-depth survey data and interviews from training participants and launched the report, “Journalists Under Fire: US Media Report Daily Threats, Harassment and Attacks at Home”. The data revealed a shocking number of threats to American journalists’ safety and well-being. Journalists reported incidents ranging from physical violence and harassment to threats of gun violence, verbal attacks and sexual harassment while on assignment and in the workplace.

In 2025, the IWMF will continue to offer safety training and policy support to newsrooms or journalism organizations in any state in the U.S. If you are a newsroom or freelance journalist interested in a training or policies covering safety, please fill out this intake form. Our team will get back to you to create a support plan based on your requests.

Apply here

 

Additional resources

 

“Our country cannot survive without the presence of quality local news – and local news cannot survive without its journalists. Ahead of what promises to be a particularly tenuous year, I’m proud to back this massive effort by the IWMF to keep local journalists safe across the U.S.”
– Craig Newmark, Founder, Craig Newmark Philanthropies

Participant Testimonials

The scenarios you created were extremely realistic for Arizona journalism and smartly rendered. I felt like we covered a week's worth of in-depth training and it has stuck with me. I'd recommend your courses for anyone looking for a comprehensive training program for their newsroom.
Thank you for traveling across the country to offer this training opportunity. It can be difficult and expensive to attend more than one or two conferences a year, so having them come to you like this is just fantastic. Thank you for being accessible.
The training with you all last week was probably the best – and most comprehensive – training that I have ever been to, and I am in year six of my career. Where was this before?
It was really important for me to have a variety of journalists from different newsrooms [in the workshop]… It was a help to learn about what they have dealt with…
I’m just so happy something like this is offered for free for journalists, especially helpful to someone like me who is a younger reporter and is in a smaller newsroom with not much guidance and conversations about safety procedures while out on the field. Also the presenters were SO engaging and knowledgeable and the day went fast despite it being an all-day workshop.