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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"This chapter therefore proposes steps toward closing the gaps in the research on the safety of journalists and media workers in the Philippines and across the globe. While there is no absence of research on the subject, there is a preponderance of anecdotal research and a lack of empirical studies. ... more

Unwarranted Interference, Fear and Self-censorship among Journalists in Council of Europe Member States

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 221-226
"Journalists may be exposed to a number of risk factors for unwarranted interference. This is often compounded by a culture of impunity. The extent of unwarranted interference, the experience of fear associated with such interference, and the consequent possibility of self-censorship among journalis ... more

Assaults against Journalists: We see the tip of the iceberg

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 119-128
"The summarised reports in this chapter show that the scope of safety and sacrifice is far greater than each actor alone or their sum can account for. Although the discussion did not offer an investigation into the USA and other mature democracies, it is clear from the survey in the European territo ... more
"Civic organizations, groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, play a key role in the production and circulation of human rights discourses. Scholars have examined the strategies civic organizations use to attract media coverage, the permeability of the news media to human rights me ... more
"This report takes a look at a selection of the innovative, successful ways media companies, individual journalists and civil society organizations are coming together to improve journalist safety. These are cases of people taking the initiative, of acting on behalf of the profession, of not sitting ... more
"In September 2016, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) broke new ground with the unanimous adoption of HRC Resolution 33/2 on the safety of journalists. The HRC is the world’s highest human rights body and its resolutions are a strong collective commitment from States to act on priority human right ... more

UNESCO’s Research Agenda on the Safety of Journalists: Call for new academic research initiatives

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 103-108
"Within this global context, UNESCO is the UN agency with the mandate to advance “the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication” and to promote “the free flow of ideas by word and image”. UNESCO has defined press freedom as designating the conditi ... more

What’s Wrong with War Journalism? Why and how legal aspects of conflicts need better reporting

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 241-254
"This chapter deals with whether war journalism in mainstream media is fit to take a fourth estate role in reporting the new wars, from the end of the Cold War in 1989 to the present war against the so-called Islamic State. In particular, it is a critical study of shortcomings when it comes to provi ... more

Embedded Journalism and Its Implications in the Field

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 255-266
"The Iraq War was a landmark in war reporting. The design and implementation of the embedded system enabled nearly 700 journalists to live and work alongside soldiers of the United States and British armies. Nearly 30 countries took part in the system, including Spain, one of the main supporters of ... more
"More and more countries are deciding the answer to a bad press is to imprison journalists who dare to report anything that is critical." (Abstract)

Journalists as Victims and Perpetrators of Violence

In: News of Baltimore: Race, Rage and the City
London; New York: Routledge (2017), 17 pp.
"This chapter explores the complicated ways in which journalists became subjects within the stories of Ferguson and Baltimore through a particular focus on the discursive identification of journalists as either victims or perpetrators of violence. It focuses on two evaluative frameworks: journalists ... more

Tribal Journalists under Fire: Threats, impunity and decision making in reporting on conflict in Pakistan

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 147-158
"This study investigates the challenges faced by local journalists caught between the global “war on terror” and its local consequences in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Threats and impunity are commonplace in this buffer zone bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, compell ... more
"Although war journalism has existed for centuries, changes in the nature of armed conflict and its coverage have put the danger for modern journalists at an all time high. The traditional war correspondent has been replaced in recent years by the independent freelance journalist. While the former r ... more
"This Field Guide summarises the legal protection and responsibilities of media professionals operating in armed conflicts. It focuses on international humanitarian law (IHL) – also known as the ‘law of armed conflict’ – and sets out some aspects of international and UK criminal law. It is i ... more
"[...] To test the argument whether the killing of journalists is a precursor to increasing repression, we introduce a new global dataset on killings of journalists between 2002 and 2013 that uses three different sources that track such events across the world. The new data show that mostly local jo ... more
"This paper serves as a review of crimes committed against journalist in Indonesia within the past six years (2010–2015). This work draws primarily on the annual reports made by the Alliance of Independence Journalist (AJI), the prominent association of journalists in Indonesia. The first part int ... more
"Poland has become a crucial battleground in the drive by authoritarian-minded leaders to gain control over political discourse and limit media pluralism. The Law and Justice government has sought to control the media as part of a broader push to weaken checks and balances and silence independent vo ... more

Violence against Indigenous Journalists in Colombia and Latin America

In: The Assault on Journalism. Building Knowledge to Protect Freedom of Expression
Göteborg: Nordicom (2017), pp. 191-204
"This chapter explores mechanisms and causes that put indigenous journalists at risk in Latin America. It seeks to explain the nature of “indigenous journalism” as well as the differences and similarities between “indigenous journalism” and the journalisms found in mainstream media in Latin ... more
"This research examines the everyday sexism and workplace sex discrimination experienced by women journalists in India. Nearly all of the popular and scholarly attention to the experiences of Indian women journalists has focused on high profile instances of rape and sexual assault. But this focus on ... more