Digital Safety Support

Newsroom Training and Policy Development

The IWMF is committed to providing safety training and assistance to address these realities. We have been working with journalists and newsrooms both in the US and globally to provide customized training and collaborate with newsrooms to develop their safety policies. 

Journalists are increasingly being targeted online for not only what they write, but for who they are. Newsrooms have a duty of care to protect their staff online through policies and procedures that support journalists before, during and after an online attack. The IWMF’s News Safety Cohort offers a group of international newsrooms access to peer learning, customized safety trainings, and resources to navigate online violence.

The training that is available from IWMF is first rate. I think every newsroom should host these sessions. Listen to the staff about what problems they are seeing and experiencing and discuss them openly. Our journalists should not have to face this online abuse and harassment alone.
Michael D. Bolden Director, American Press Institute

Policies

Each newsroom is different and there is no one-size-fits all when it comes to policies for managing safety. The IWMF works with the media outlet to help management and staff decide which policies work best for them. Our safety advisors assist staff with the creation of policies, including providing resources, feedback on content produced, and supporting the newsroom in deciding which steps work best when designing best practice. 

Policy Guide

The IWMF has developed “A Guide to Protecting Newsrooms and Journalists Against Online Violence”, which details policies and best practices newsrooms can implement to better protect staff against online abuse. The guide features case studies from six months of work with a wide range of newsrooms, as well as additional templates and resources.

Training sessions

Once policies have been drawn up, we can create tailored training sessions to accompany the new guidelines as well as build staff skills. In addition to these sessions, the IWMF can provide one-on-one assistance to journalists who may need extra support. We have experience training a wide range of newsrooms from bigger established outlets, to smaller local newspapers, to specialized online-only news providers.

Newsrooms we’ve trained include:

The 19th | The Minneapolis Star Tribune | KQED | Mother Jones | The Roanoke Times | Reveal | McClatchy | The San Francisco Chronicle | St. Louis Public Radio | Gannett | Radio Free Europe | Anchorage Daily News | Protocol Media | Clarín | Bhekisisa | The Seattle Times | Axios | Dallas Morning News | High Country News | The Center for Public Integrity

Does your newsroom or journalism association need support? Please fill out our intake form here.

Case Studies: Results and Testimonials