The Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield (UK) is an interdisciplinary research centre with global outreach on issues of media freedom, journalism safety, editorial standards and impunity. During the 2022 Academic Consultation on the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, CFOM conducted a literature stocktake to scope out academic literature published in the area of media freedom, journalism safety and impunity. CFOM collated this information and produced a literature database organised by themes or countries for accessibility.  The collection is especially strong on country- and region-specific safety issues and on surveys of emotional wellbeing of journalists. This special collection is curated by gemma.horton@sheffield.ac.uk.

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"Despite rising scholarly interest in online violence as an “occupational hazard” for journalists, we know little about the dynamics that shape the often-limited support given by media organizations to media workers affected by online violence. In this study, I explore how the working environmen ... more
"Journalists around the world face immense threats for doing their job. Although compared to other regions, the situation in Europe is considerably better; many challenges need to be addressed here as well to ensure conducive conditions for the conduct of journalistic work. The present working paper ... more
"As detailed in this paper, the analysis revealed that most online security guides for journalists do not prioritize their content effectively, and provide no clear path for users to improve their security in a time-efficient way. The advice provided was also inconsistent across the guides. This pap ... more

Safety of Journalists in France

In: Safety of journalists in Europe: Threats and best practices to tackle them
San Domenico di Fiesole: European University Institute (2021), pp. 31-42
"The 2020 law for “global security” and the National law enforcement plan (Schéma national du maintien de l’ordre), presented by the Minister of the Interior, meant to address, among other questions, the issue of the safety of journalists during demonstrations. Considering growing defiance an ... more
"Digital journalism in Brazil is dominated by a few big players and has recently been threatened by the country’s challenging political and economic environment. Still, organizational structures promoting independent digital journalism (IDJ) persist. Originally understood as “the blogosphere,” ... more

Health and Safety Risks to Journalists During Pandemics

In: Handbook of Research on Discrimination, Gender Disparity, and Safety Risks in Journalism
Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2021), pp. 90-103
"Journalists play a critical role in the dissemination of health information to the public. This chapter explores the challenges created by COVID-19 for journalists in Pakistan. It also examines how the pandemic has shed light on the disparities and safety risks in the Pakistani journalism and expos ... more
"This chapter examines Zimbabwean print journalists’ everyday newsmaking experiences during the 2008 disputed harmonized elections. The article is sequel to our article (Tsarwe and Mare 2019), which exclusively relied on qualitative content analysis of a state-owned weekly (The Sunday Mail) and tw ... more

Journalism safety in the time of populism: A cautionary tale from the US

In: Populism, the Pandemic and the Media: Journalism in the age of Covid, Trump, Brexit and Johnson
London; New York: Routledge (2021), 9 pp.
"How did the home of freedom of expression become a very dangerous place to report the democratic process? Elena Cosentino, director of the International News Safety Institute, says the American experience is a lesson for us all." (Abstract)
"Zubair Mujahid was a journalist from Mirpurkhas in Pakistan whose stories exposed corruption and human rights abuses. His stories and columns were published in the Daily Jang, an Urdu language newspaper based in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest urban centre. On 23 November 2007, Zubair was shot while ... more
"To ensure that social media becomes safer, more open, and more equitable for all users, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram must prioritize curbing online harassment. In this report, PEN America proposes concrete, actionable changes that social media companies should make immediately to ... more
"Utilizing a constellation of conceptual tenets drawn from critical digital technology theory, field theory and concepts of digital democracy, this article argues that the post-coup period in Zimbabwe has solidified digital journalism practices in three main ways. These are: (i) the consolidation of ... more
"This article focuses on state-media relations and the shifts in the overall media landscape in Kenya. Drawing on a political economy approach to media operations in Kenya, it argues that while there are competing meanings over what constitutes "news values", "editorial independence", and "critical ... more
"This article examines sexual and gendered harassment among professional female editorial photographers, whose experiences have largely been under-researched. It draws on semi-structured interviews conducted between 2017–2019 with 17 female professional editorial photographers, aged 23–82, who w ... more
"In 2017, following the #MeToo movement stirred by the public outing of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, the safety of women at the workplace became a prime agenda for international news media. Although far from being truly inclusive, the #MeToo movement rapidly spread to other parts of the worl ... more
"Online attacks on women journalists appear to be increasing significantly, as this study demonstrates, particularly in the context of the ‘shadow pandemic’ of violence against women during COVID-19. The pandemic has changed journalists’ working conditions, making them yet more dependent on di ... more

Bulgarian Journalists Under Pressure: Threats, Violence, and Freedom of Speech

In: Handbook of Research on Discrimination, Gender Disparity, and Safety Risks in Journalism
Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2021), pp. 212-231
"Bulgarian journalists are under pressure. Although the country has been a member of the EU for 13 years and the legislation on freedom of speech corresponds to Western practices, the country ranks 111th in the annual Freedom of Speech Index. While the cases of work-related physical violence against ... more
"This practical guide aims to provide journalists with concrete legal tools to deal with online harassment, be it to identify punishable offences, to seek help from appropriate organisations, to efficiently gather evidence and to take steps should they decide to file a complaint against the perpetra ... more

Female Journalists and Safety Challenges in Selected Media Organizations in Kano State, Nigeria

In: Handbook of Research on Discrimination, Gender Disparity, and Safety Risks in Journalism
Hershey, PA: IGI Global (2021), pp. 366-393
"Journalism schools have being witnessing an increase in female enrollment in Nigeria, but this is not proportional to the number of women who work in media organizations. For the women who eventually get employed as journalists, they experience various safety challenges which affect their advanceme ... more