Alinafe, a broadcast news editor in Malawi, has begun using safety protocols and practices in her everyday work. Her safety literacy used to be non-existent. Now she wants to champion protocols within her organization.
In Nigeria, Eden is using her training to mitigate the risks of a story her media outlet is currently pursuing, and is embedding safety practices into everyday operations.
Ayele, an award-winning investigative journalist, producer and editor in Ethiopia, is passing on the safety skills he has gained to his fellow editors.
These are just some of the updates we have received from the alumni of our first-ever Editors Safety Cohort which, in August, led fifteen news leaders from nine African countries through a series of online safety training modules, accompanied by weekly webinars and one to one coaching.
The Cohort was structured around the online course, The Fundamentals of Safe Commissioning, launched in April by the ACOS Alliance and the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). This free, self-paced safety training has been created for news editors and managers to undertake alongside their demanding work schedules. It also provided ACOS with an opportunity to bring together groups of editors for a deeper and more collegiate training experience linked to their own geographical contexts.
Many editors have an awareness of their safety responsibilities, but struggle to know where to start when it comes to practising
News editors and managers are often overlooked when it comes to safety training. This can have an impact on the security of the freelancers they work with, as well as themselves, their colleagues and their organizations. Many editors have an awareness of their safety responsibilities, but struggle to know where to start when it comes to practicing duty of care or embedding risk assessments and safety protocols.
The Editor Safety Cohort provides a space for editors to discuss and share their concerns and experiences, access structured training and get dedicated guidance from a local security expert - something that is rarely available to smaller and resource-poor newsrooms.
[coaching] sessions helped participants apply what they had learned to their own working practices and gain the confidence to become safety champions within their own organizations.
Safety trainer Ephraim Muhemi, who is also deputy head of IREX’s SAFE initiative in East Africa, worked with the ACOS Alliance to shape and lead the weekly seminars for the Africa cohort. He also delivered individual one to one coaching sessions to each of the editors at the end of the program. These sessions helped participants apply what they had learned to their own working practices and gain the confidence to become safety champions within their own organizations. They also provided an opportunity for feedback and additional support. Ephraim told us he had been inspired by the group’s “commitment to shaping safer, more resilient newsrooms across Sub-Saharan Africa”, and how working with the cohort had been a powerful reminder of the importance of safety literacy.
The second ACOS Alliance Editor Safety Cohort has just begun in Latin America with a new group of editors from nine countries. They will have different experiences and needs from the first, but we also expect common challenges and hurdles. We look forward to working with them.
“Honestly the [cohort] gave me a fresh perspective on safety in the newsroom. Once you see it you can't un-see it”
We have much to learn from the cohorts - the participants’ feedback will inform the program’s development and help to shape the ACOS Alliance’s knowledge and wider work going forward.
In the meantime, when we hear that Felista - who oversees editorial content and operations across seven African countries - is already rolling out safety protocols for her organization’s staff journalists and freelancers, we know that something’s clicking. “Honestly the [cohort] gave me a fresh perspective on safety in the newsroom”, she told us. “Once you see it, you can’t un-see it and it becomes top of your mind. More editors and journalists need to practice safety and we’ll keep spreading the word until it becomes a default.”
This Editor Safety Cohort is part of Safety in Numbers, a collaborative programme driven by four feminist-led organisations: ACOS Alliance, IFEX, International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) and Media Defence. The initiative aims to improve the safety and protection of journalists and media workers worldwide, addressing physical, legal, psychosocial and digital threats. Leveraging the expertise and networks of these organisations, the programme seeks to develop a comprehensive safety net through a rights-based feminist approach, ensuring the inclusion of women and vulnerable groups. With connections to over 375 partners in more than 115 countries, the programme integrates diverse perspectives and resources to build a robust, sustainable ecosystem for the protection of journalists.
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