Safety training from the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) typically ranges from eight hours to two weeks. But SPJ 2026 conference attendees learned essential and strategic steps they can take to work more safely in the field in a mere 50 minutes.
Sticky notes were available for attendees at the beginning of the session to share their safety concerns. Photo by Skylar Paxton.
IWMF provides safety training and financial support to women and nonbinary journalists. Tat Bellamy-Walker, a program coordinator with IWMF and Ximena Natera, a freelance photojournalist based in California’s Bay Area, helped attendees create a risk management plan and learn how to check their digital footprint.
Knowing your risk involves assessing risk probability, exposure and mitigation, said Natera. Exposure, or the time spent in a situation, is the factor journalists have the most control over. She encouraged attendees to think about how long they need to be on the ground to get a story and not go over that. If a situation changes rapidly, leave safely and contact a colleague or editor, she said.
“Trust your gut. If something feels off, it most likely will be off,” Natera explained. “Most of the time, we don’t leave when we should have.”
Presenter Ximena Natera discusses the different stages of managing risk after talking about how risk should be assessed before reporting on a story. Photo by Skylar Paxton.
The first step to assessing risk probability is to evaluate your own identities and how that adds to risk. Factors including gender, citizenship status, race and sexuality all impact how safe we are in different situations.
“Our identity is the number one entry to our approach to safety,” Natera said.
Natera used immigration coverage as an example. She said a U.S.-born journalist is likely safer covering an immigration protest than a one who is an immigrant. Before you get into the field, one way to work around this is to “transfer” the risk: If the risk feels too high to report due to your identity, discuss with your editor handing the story over to a colleague who can.
If there’s a risk of arrest, journalists can decide how likely it is and what potential ramifications would be, including: bodily harm, arrest or detention, a delay in publishing or legal action taken against a reporter or outlet.
Before starting any coverage, journalists should think through precautionary steps. These include knowing your legal rights, having a code word that will trigger protocol with an editor or co-reporter if used and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).
Smaller newsrooms with fewer resources may have a harder time managing journalists’ safety on the ground, which is why it’s so important to take time to assess possible risks and have plans in place, Natera emphasized. Organizations such as Reporters Without Borders have modest equipment funds for smaller, less-resourced newsrooms.
Even with planning, it is nearly impossible to remove all risk. Natera referred to the leftover harms as “residual risk,” a journalist is aware of and knows they can handle.
Bellamy-Walker walked through the different responses journalists can take to prevent and respond to online threats and harassment. By reducing the amount of personal information available online, changing travel patterns and investing in supplies such as signal-blocking Faraday bags or password managers, journalists can reduce the likelihood of state surveillance or being hacked.
Encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal and Proton Mail are great resources for journalists. They take data and “scramble it like an egg,” so hackers can’t access it, Bellamy-Walker explained.
Still, online violence can be overwhelming and difficult to avoid. To deal with online harassment, Bellamy-Walker said journalists can choose to block, mute or report trolls, or do all three. Different situations may call for different responses, so it’s best to assess the situation with colleagues before taking action.
As for protecting mental health, Natera suggested taking time to debrief after being in the field rather than automatically moving on to the next assignment. Having room to discuss what happened with someone from their support system gives journalists time to look at the strategies they used, see what worked and adjust as needed.
Community is a necessary resource, Bellamy-Walker emphasized. They suggested having a “rapid response team” of other journalists who can help when digital threats become overwhelming. A colleague can step in to offer a spare room if you have been doxxed, another can manage your social media presence and a third can be there to listen.
Mental health support organizations for journalists include the Journalist Trauma Support Network, the Media Resilience Network and the IWMF U.S. emergency support fund.
The IWMF has resources on its website to help with developing your newsroom’s safety protocol.
Featured photo by Skylar Paxton.