New journosec training program for reporters covering US-Mexico border


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From Jorge Luis Sierra at IJNET. He seems to be actively working with journalists in this region, and has developed a planning tool called Salama.

From https://ijnet.org/en/blog/improving-journalists-safety-along-violent-border

To get accurate information and stay safe, journalists here may need to develop more skills than any other journalists in the U.S. or Mexico. They need solid methods of building sources, verifying information, bulletproofing stories and meeting ethical standards. Their professional skills must include a command of digital security tools, and they need training in both emotional and physical security.

With this in mind, I am starting a program to help U.S.–Mexico border journalists stay safe while doing sensitive investigations.

The program will include partnerships with the University of Arizona’s School of Journalism, the South Texas College and media organizations in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, as well as counterparts in Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua and Baja California in Mexico.

Journalists will use Salama, the application I created earlier in my ICFJ Knight fellowship, to conduct risk assessments and design security plans and protocols. Training will include how to handle high-risk sources in sensitive stories, how to verify and protect stories against libel and defamation laws, how to cover violence and be respectful to victims, how to protect digital information and the basics of covering an armed conflict at the border, including weapons and what to do in crossfire situations.