Secure your digital accounts, protect yourself against phishing and digital surveillance, prepare yourself for online harassment, and watch out for your physical safety while reporting from rallies and crowds. 

These are some of the key chapters in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ safety guide for journalists covering the Lok Sabha polls this year. It pointed out an “increasing threat to journalists from physical attacks, mob violence, and violent demonstrations” and also an “escalation in social media trolling, online harassment, cyberbullying, and digital surveillance”.

The guide was launched on March 8 following an online event with a discussion featuring journalists N Ram, Ishani Dutta Ray, Dhanya Rajendran and Ashish Pandey, and CPJ’s Colin Pereira.

Among its suggestions to maintain physical safety, the guide said journalists at political events and rallies should ensure they have “the correct accreditation or press identification” and wear clothing without media company branding. They should have an “escape strategy in case circumstances become hostile” while gauging the mood of the crowd. 

While reporting on protests, the guide recommended ensuring full battery on mobile phones, trying to work with a colleague, planning an evacuation route, and using “personal protective equipment” when appropriate. It also warned journalists to prepare themselves against teargas and assault.

In areas or communities that are “hostile to the media or outsiders”, CPJ urged media persons to first “develop an understanding of what their reaction to the media will be”. It said journalists must “be respectful”, work with a team or with backup, ask consent before filming or taking photos, and remember that “risk increases dramatically” while working at night.

Digital safety

The guide said that unlike Apple devices running iOS 16 or 17, Android phones do not have inbuilt spyware protection so users must regularly carry out factory resets. It urged journalists to plan for internet shutdowns in area they’re reporting from, and to make sure they have “more than one way to contact others”.

As for online harassment and targeted online campaigns, CPJ noted that women were “particularly targeted and are exposed to misogynistic and violent sexual harassment online”.

To better protect oneself, it said: “Online abusers may try to hack your accounts. Secure your online accounts using the best practices given at the beginning of this guide...Ensure you look yourself up online and take steps to remove data that could make you vulnerable...Look through your accounts and remove or hide any photos or images that could be manipulated and used as a way to discredit you. This is a common technique used by trolls.”

The guide also contained a safety checklist for editors, suggestions to manage trauma and mental health in newsrooms, and flagged security protocols in the event of a newsroom raid or seizure of devices.

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