Tuesday, April 09, 2019

Safety self-assessment tool available to news outlets


The News Organizations Safety Self-Assessment is a new resource aimed at helping news outlets to review and improve their current safety practices and protocols. The Self-Assessment consists of a brief set of key questions and guideline notes that should prompt a conversation around best safety practices and encourage practical ways to advance such practices.
The resource is a collaboration between the ACOS Alliance, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma, Free Press Unlimited, Frontline Freelance Register, the International Federation of Journalists, International News Safety Institute, International Media Support, International Press Institute, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
The resource pays special attention to gender issues, mental health care, digital security needs and working with freelancers, aspects which are often neglected in organizational policy and protocols.
“Aside from the moral imperative to protect all the individuals who contribute to a news product, investing in a robust safety policy and protocols can save an organization from the financial loss and reputational damage of a crisis that could have been prevented, or could have been carefully managed,” said Elisabet Cantenys, executive director of the ACOS Alliance.
The News Organizations Safety Self-Assessment can be downloaded from the ACOS Alliance website and from most partner organizations’ websites.
The development of this resource was made possible with support of the MacArthur Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.

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