WAN-IFRA AND ACOS ALLIANCE CREATE SECURITY CENTER PLATFORM FOR EDITORS
Taken from the website of the Asociación de Medios de Información, AMI, of Spain
In the face of unprecedented threats to independent media worldwide, the ACOS (A Culture Of Safety) Alliance and the global media association WAN-IFRA have joined forces to launch the Editor Safety Hub. It is a free access training platform for editors and editors of news media.
The ACOS Alliance is a global coalition of more than 150 news organizations, journalists’ associations and press freedom NGOs working to advocate for safe and responsible journalistic practices, with a special focus on freelance and local journalists. The Alliance’s mission is to build a culture of safety in journalism so that independent media and journalists around the world can play their essential role in defending democracy.
TRAINING TO ENCOURAGE REFLECTION ON DIGITAL, LEGAL, PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SECURITY
The first course available, The Fundamentals of Safe Commissioning, seeks to equip editors with the skills necessary to safely commission journalism assignments, support the safety of the freelancers they work with, and integrate a culture of safety into their daily practice. The content has been created in collaboration with the Aegis Safety Alliance and in conjunction with news editors, safety specialists and educational consultants.
This training demonstrates the essential elements of risk management through videos, examples, scenarios, visualizations, quizzes and downloadable templates. The training is designed to foster continuous thought processes around security and covers aspects of digital, legal, physical and psychological security.
The intention is for managers to be able to understand their security roles and responsibilities, including duty of care, in addition to conducting a security self-assessment and risk assessment with freelancers.
It should also help them to be aware of incident reporting procedures and carry out safety protocols, as well as implement sound editorial versus safety decisions or support the psychological well-being of their teams and adopt self-care measures.
The course is free of charge and is aimed at media editors worldwide. It is currently only available in English, although Arabic and Spanish versions will be available later this year.
“AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO IMPROVE MEDIA SAFETY CULTURE”
In the words of Elisabet Cantenys, executive director of the ACOS Alliance, “Editors and publishers have the potential to positively influence the safety of the journalists they work with, but they are often overlooked when it comes to safety training. The Safety Center provides news organizations, large and small, with an effective way to improve their safety culture.”
For Andrew Heslop, WAN-IFRA’s Executive Director of Press Freedom, the platform is “a vital resource for newsrooms at a time when they must address the growing threats to their journalistic work and instill good security practices in an industry that faces challenges of all kinds. Keeping their staff safe is a top priority for our members and partners around the world, and this training will give them the knowledge and tools they need to do just that.
To join the Editor Safety Hub, take the course and learn more, visit editorsafetyhub.org.
