By
Javier Garza
The soccer World Cup starts this week
in Brazil. As players get in shape and fans stock their refrigerators, news
organizations are getting ready to handle the huge logistical challenge of
covering such an event.
But the Brazilian and foreign
journalists who will cover what happens outside the stadiums face a scenario
far removed from the excitement of the matches.
In the run-up to the World Cup,
activists have held numerous anti-government protests in Brazil’s major cities.
Reporters have increasingly found themselves in the middle of clashes between
demonstrators and security forces. Dozens of journalists have been beaten,
harassed or detained either by police or protesters.
The violence reached a high point in
February, when a cameraman was killed after being hit by a flare during a
protest in Rio de Janeiro against a price increase in public transportation.
Covering an event like the World Cup is
an enormous task for any news organization, but the social instability in
Brazil prior to this event has forced journalists to focus on something more
than goals and cheering fans. News organizations are bracing for the
possibility of more protests and violence in the streets.
Some editors in the Brazilian media
have shared their concerns about the risks their reporters will face as they do
this type of coverage. While Brazil has struggled with issues of press freedom
in the past, notably, judicial censorship and criminal attacks have gone unpunished.
The Committee to Protect Journalists recently published a special report about these problems in Brazil.
However, the dangers of covering social
protests are relatively new in Brazil, and reporters are at risk of being
attacked by both sides (demonstrators or police) depending on who doesn’t like
the coverage.
The situation in Brazil, and violent
protests in other countries, such as Mexico, Ukraine and Venezuela, highlights
the need to address journalists’ security.
Media outlets must take into account
the different forms of aggression that can happen in this environment:
physical, psychological, digital or legal, but also pay attention to the way
these risks are related.
For example, special gear might protect
a journalist during a physical attack, but if his smartphone is stolen or
damaged and he hasn't taken adequate digital security measures in advance, his
personal information could be compromised.
In another situation, a reporter
might be illegally detained and need legal advice. Or, in an even more
troubling scenario, a journalist could be seriously injured and later develop
psychological trauma that will need to be treated.
Some news organizations purchase
special equipment, such as helmets, vests and gas masks, that their reporters
could wear to a protest.
This is a good start, but more is
needed. Journalists need training in first aid, as well as in backing up the
data on equipment such as smartphones or tablets. News outlets need to develop
protocols for reporters to let editors know their whereabouts and the security
situation in any place they’re covering. And they will need support on legal or
trauma issues.
Marcelo Rech, an executive at RBS, a
media company in Porto Alegre, Brazil, told me that his firm is also training
reporters in how to behave in hostile environments. The firm is even contacting
authorities and radical groups in an effort to promote respect for the press.
The World Cup gives us an opportunity
to look at how news organizations have to start thinking about journalists’
protection and security in an environment that in the past has been perceived
as harmless.
And for Brazilian journalists, it will
be a test for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, because the protests don’t seem to
be going away anytime soon.
Javier Garza is an ICFJ Knight International
Journalism Fellow based in Mexico City. He focuses on digital security for
journalists.
Image courtesy of Javier Garza
Source: Ijnet.org
No comments:
Post a Comment