Covering Protests
Covering Protests
RECENT UPDATES
Jam lab: How to Report on Civil Unrest Safely
RiotMedicine.net
Free medical guides to treat wounds and other needs for people in protests, covering riots, etc.
Committee to Protect Journalists Video: How to Prepare to Cover a Demonstration
Committee to Protect Journalists Video: What to Do When Demonstrations Escalate
Committee to Protect Journalists Video: How to Deal with Teargas
COVERING PROTESTS
Committee to Protect Journalists: Journalist Security Guide
RCFP: Police, Protesters and the Press
An in-depth guide updated June 2020.
RCFP: Tips for Covering Protests
Dart Center: How to Safely Cover Street Protests
From Judith Matloff, senior adviser, safety training: “Covering civil unrest can be frightening and dangerous. A crowd may turn violent with little warning and police can target journalists or mistake them for rabble rousers. It’s particularly challenging to maintain social distancing during a riot, so take extra precautions to stay on the edge for quick exit. Bring extra masks, gloves and sanitizer for gear.”
Dart Center: Covering Riot Control in the U.S.
Dr. Anna Feigenbaum, author of the book Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of World War I to the Streets of Today, shares a riot control primer for journalists covering protests across the United States.
Committee to Protect Journalists Video: How to Prepare to Cover a Demonstration
Committee to Protect Journalists Video: What to Do When Demonstrations Escalate
Committee to Protect Journalists Video: How to Deal with Teargas
RTDNA Guidelines for Covering Civil Unrest
RCFP: Police Protesters and the Press
Committee to Protect Journalists: Guide to Legal Rights in the US
Lenfest Institute: A Journalist’s Guide to Safely and Responsibly Covering Protests
ACOS Alliance: Civil Unrest Resources
RiotMedicine.net
Free medical guides to treat wounds and other needs for people in protests, covering riots, etc.
Jam Lab: How to Cover Civil Unrest Safely
Jeff Belzil, IWMF’s security director, offers many useful tips.
Internews: Covering a Protest? Resources to Keep You Safe
Available in English and Spanish. Offers mobile security resources, too.
PEN America: Covering Protests Archives
A treasure trove of training on legal rights, safety, digital security and more.
The Guardian: World Protests
News coverage and opinion from protests around the world.
NY Times: Why Charges Against Protests are Being Dismissed by the Thousands
Pen America: Combatting Protest Misinformation
The New York Times: At Protests Across America, Guns Are Doing the Talking
SPJ’s Ethics committee offers tips and resources.
Video: Physical Safety at Polls/Protests
In this 16-minute tutorial from TrollBusters, journalists will learn tactics for assessing your risk at protests, polling locations and other mass gatherings and how to prepare your digital footprint and physical devices for travel.
Nieman Lab: How Risky is it for Journalists to Cover Protests
PEN America: Combatting Protest Disinformation
Poynter: Guidelines for Journalists to Safely Cover Protests
GIJN: Tips for Interviewing Trauma Victims
Muckrack: Guide for Journalists Covering Protests
Poynter: 25 Guidelines for Journalists to Safely Cover Unrest
Dart Center: Tips for Interviewing Victims of Tragedy, Witnesses, and Survivors
Nieman Storyboard: An Editor’s Sensitive Guide to Interviewing Trauma Victims
Dart Center: Covering Volatile Street Protests
The Dart Center Style Guide for Trauma-Informed Journalism
The style guide is designed as a quick, authoritative reference for reporters, editors and producers working on tight deadlines. It includes brief evidence-informed guidance on news choices, language usage and ethics in reporting on the impact of trauma on individuals, families and communities; recommendations for appropriate use of relevant psychological and scientific terminology; and special considerations when reporting on consequential trauma-laden issues such as racism and sexual violence.
Before and After the Vote: A Journalism Resource Database
From Free Press, this database database features more than 100 resources that address ways to: Cover white supremacy and white-supremacist violence; report on police, protests, uprisings and demonstrations, detect and combat misinformation and disinformation; produce coverage that upholds election integrity; protect journalists’ physical safety and secure digital communications.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Dart Center: Covering Riot Control in 2020
CPJ Journalist Security Guide
Download from Kindle for a dollar.
International Media Support Group: Journalist Safety
Medical training, how to set up a live shot, covering protests, etc.
Video: Live Shot Safety
Tips for broadcasters on how to safely set up a live shot.
CPJ Safety Kit
Security guide, safety notes, resource center, first aid videos.
CPJ Emergency Response Resource Center
Reporters Without Borders: Safety Guide for Journalists
James Foley Foundation: Journalist Safety
JAWS: Resources for Covering Protests
IWMF: Covering Injustice — Safety Tips for Reporting on Protests
FAIR: Seven Ways Journalists Use Police Jargon to Obscure the Truth
From Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting.
IJNET: Mental Health and Journalism Toolkit
Reporting Atrocities: A Toolbox for Journalists Covering Violent Conflict
A helpful guide from Internews.
GIJN: The Forensic Methods Reporters Are Using to Reveal Attacks by Security Forces
IJNET: Tips for Coping After Covering Traumatic Events
Syracuse University: Citizen Journalism and Political Protests
As protests continue to be held, we are seeing more altercations between the public and police. This resource shares the role citizen journalists are playing in digital media, the rights of the press at protests, and ways for news organizations, reporters and citizen journalists can establish healthy relationships with law enforcement.
Trollbusters Video: A Conversation on Media Safety and Coverage
This panel brings together educators teaching journalism in the face of increased violence in the streets targeting journalists and student journalists. Strategies for staying safe at protests and online come from educators at HBCUs and minority-serving institutions and from Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Founder, TrollBusters.com.
TrustingNews: Trust-Building Tips for Covering Attacks on Democracy
Since the death of #GeorgeFloyd in police custody sparked #protests across the U.S., police have assaulted and arrested journalists covering them—in some cases causing serious injury. CPJ’s @MustafaHameed compiled some of the shocking moments caught on video. #PressFreedom pic.twitter.com/LCgGurJ91r
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) June 5, 2020
RTDNA: As Protests Continue, Need for Contextual Journalism Grows
IJNET: Tips for reporting on anti-police violence protests in the U.S.
Poynter: What to Do if You’re Pepper-Sprayed
University of Georgia: Tips for Journalist’s Covering Protests
Freedom of the Press Foundation: What to Do if Your Phone is Seized by Police
HuckMag: A Conflict Photographer’s Guide to Shooting Protests
The Right to Photograph and Record in Public
Dart Center: Guide to Working with Freelancers Exposed to Trauma
Reuters: Safety for Journalists
The Thomson Reuters Foundation has partnered with UNESCO, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), and the International News Safety Institute (INSI) to develop practical and legal tools for journalists, media managers and newsrooms to counter harassment.
Video: Know Your Rights – Joining a Protest or Covering One as a Journalist
Lia Ernst, a NEFAC board member and senior staff attorney at the ACLU, talks about how the First Amendment protects us at political demonstrations across the country. She offers helpful guidance and tips.
MapChecking.com
Use this tool to estimate the size of a protest crowd.
Google Earth Measure Tool
Use the measure tool to get the size of an area to help estimate a crowd size.
Dart Center: Trauma and Journalism Handbook
Journalist’s Resource: 13 Security Tips for Journalists Covering Hate Online
CPJ: Covering Civil Matters and Disturbances
Part of CPJ’s journalist security guide.
CPJ: Physical Safety, Civil Disorder
Ethical Reporting on Police Violence and Black-led Protests
Compiled by Press On, a southern movement journalism collective.
Surveillance Self-Defense List
Go over this checklist before heading out to cover a protest. Tips on encryption and other digital and personal safety. Includes tips on what to do if your device is confiscated.
NY Times: Covering Protests Where There’s a Distrust of Social Media
Journalism.co.uk: Tips for Covering Protests
Reporters Without Borders World Roundup
Journalist’s killed, taken hostage or detained in 2018. U.S. ranked among most dangerous countries for journalists for first time.
SPLC: Student Media Coverage of George Floyd Protests
National Union of Journalists: IFJ Safety Guidelines for Covering Demonstrations
This is a .PDF that will auto-download when you click on the link.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Digital Security Tips for Protesters
The tips for the protesters work well for journalists, too.
IJNET: Staying Safe While Covering Protests
National Press Club: Covering Protests — Dissent is Not a One-Way Street
SPLC: Taking Photos and Shooting Video at Protests, Demonstrations and Crime Scenes
SEJ: Student Journalist’s Guide to Covering Dissent
JEA: Tips for Reporting on Protests
Medium: Dressed for Excess: Gear for Covering Riots, Protests, Etc.
Amnesty International: Safety During a Protest
Journalism.co.uk: How to Report on Online Hate Groups Safely
Navigating the Hate Beat
Slides from IRE 19 on how to cover hate groups and other issues.
DataJournalism.com: Capturing Racial Justice Protests with Data
Poynter: Covering a Protest? Know Your Rights
CJR: Covering Protests Has Become the Riskiest Job in Journalism
NPPA Condemns Minnesota State Patrol for CNN Arrests
WNYC Guide to Police Misconduct Records
RCFP: Map of Curfew Orders Around the Country
RCFP: Police Body Camera Legislation Map
Tracks the status of state legislation and police department policies regarding public access to police body-worn cameras.
RCFP: Body-Worn Camera Policies
Phi Delta Kappan: How to Cover a Protest
Dart Center: Working With Traumatic Imagery
MediaShift: Advice for Journalists Working with Traumatic Imagery
NPPA: Critical Stress Help Sheet
A single page of safety tips and outreach contact information.
Local News Lab: Times for White Newsroom Leaders to Act, Tips for Ethical Reporting and Protests
ProPublica: Five Ways You Can Start Holding Your Police Department Accountable
Journalists: Point to What Makes Your Protest Coverage Credible
Oxygen: Crimes Related to Race, Police Brutality
Twitter Thread: What to Do if Your Protest Rights are Violated
IJNET: Mental Health Tips and Resources for Journalists
A single page of safety tips and outreach contact information.
Nieman Reports: Protest Photography Can Be a Powerful Tool For and Against Black Lives Matter
Washington Post: Are Police Trying to Stop You from Taking That Cell Phone Video?
Education Writers Association: EWA Reporter Guide for Inclusive Coverage
NPPA: Practical Advice About Covering High Profile News Stories
Some great tips in this Mickey Osterreicher piece about covering protests and elections.
Nieman Lab: How Journalists Are Managing Their Mental Health
James F. Foley Foundation Journalism Safety Modules
A downloadable .PDF of tips and resources to keep journalists safe when doing their jobs.
James F Foley Foundation Journalist Safety Curricula
Public Media Alliance: Tools and Resources for Reporting on Protests
Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism: Security Manual for Covering Street Protests
Archives: Ferguson, Missouri, Protests and Press Rights
Resources for those reporting on the attacks on journalists and citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, August 2014.
The Verge: You Have a Right to Record the Police
Washington Post: Reporters Detained by Police
Story and video.
RTDNA’s Letter to Ferguson Police Chief
NY Times: Ferguson Reveals a Twitter Loop
Research on Police Brutality
From Harvard’s Journalist’s Resource site.
Gigaom: Flexing First Amendment Rights Can Reveal New Threats to Those Rights
RCFP/ONA Help Kit for Ferguson Journalists
Resources, list of attorneys, etc.
The Local News Lab: Citizen Journalism and Ferguson
A great read on the role citizen journalists played in coverage. Many links to coverage and other stories/analysis.
Dart Center: Working with Traumatic Imagery
ACLU: Journalism is Under Attack and it’s Not Just Ferguson
Source: What Data Journalism Told Us About Ferguson
Great examples.
What Data Told Us About Ferguson
Infographic from Simon Rogers.
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