Journalists face various digital security threats; online harassment and trolling aimed at discrediting their reputation or their work are most common but surveillance by remote monitoring malware is increasing and not just in authoritarian regimes. Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are increasingly used to intimidate journalists, creating a lot of red tape and financial hurdles to obstruct investigations. Lastly journalists are often exposed to psychological risks, increasing evidence shows that repeated exposure to traumatic events can lead to serious mental health issues, leading to a loss of valuable talent from the field.

It is essential to build resilience to deal with these attacks. This needs to be done early and consistently. Journalists need to have the right risk assessment tools. There is a scheme called ICORN, International Cities of Refugee Networks, where you can partner with cities around the world that act as safe houses for refugee writers and artists at risk to support freedom of expression.

The most common risks organisations may face when they hire targeted freelancers are cyber or digital attacks. But any big news organisation should have protections in place to tackle this, and this must not become a barrier for freelance journalists. The main hurdles displaced journalists may face as freelancers is a lack of access to professional security advisors, such as lawyers and digital security experts. If you are a journalist at the BBC or Al Jazeera, for instance, planning an investigative story involves a detailed meeting with the cybersecurity and risk analysis team. They work together to prepare you for the assignment with safety in mind. Many big outlets often extend this safety to the freelancers they commission as well.

At the Rory Peck Trust, we try really hard to fill this gap in support and provisions so that freelance journalists get the same access to safety that staff do. We have now launched a Risk & Safety Helpdesk so we can support freelance journalists with paid consultations from professional media safety experts on physical, digital, legal or psychological risks journalists may be exposed to on a given assignment.

We are aware that the support we provide is only as effective as the outreach it has, so we are trying hard to grow our relationship with national groups of freelance journalists. We currently have assistance officers in Europe, Russia and Africa but want to develop our relationships with different countries. The stronger our network becomes, the easier it will be to mitigate these risks through safety desks and consultants.