Why Indian journalism needs to start taking safety seriously

On July 23, I woke to a disturbing message from an independent journalist who had been reporting on the protests at Jantar Mantar. The previous evening, as she tried to enter the protest site, she was confronted by a group of demonstrators who heckled her as “Godi Media.” In the crush of the crowd, she was inappropriately touched and someone pulled at her earrings. “The combination of the crowd pressure and the verbal hostility left me feeling unsafe and I broke down in tears,” she wrote.

She was not the only journalist to face hostility while reporting on protests that have roiled India over the past month.

Times Now’s Dev Kotak was physically assaulted by protestors. Reporters from the independent news outlet Khabragaon recounted being verbally abused, punched and shoved. While the Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force largely allowed journalists to do their work, some reporters were indiscriminately struck with batons during the violence on July 20.

Having worked on press freedom and journalist safety for several years, I receive far too many messages like this from reporters covering communal violence, public protests, and restive election campaigns. The details change, but the issue remains the same: journalists are increasingly finding themselves exposed to risks that many newsrooms fail to prepare for. Challenges to journalist safety can come from a slew of threats including digital, legal and psychological. However, in this column I’m restricting myself to only talk about physical harm that a journalist can encounter while reporting and the proactive steps newsrooms can take to minimise these threats

During the anti-CAA protests, farmers’ protest and the 2020 Delhi riots, journalists were assaulted by protesters, attacked by mobs and detained.  As political polarization has deepened, journalists are increasingly viewed not as independent observers, but as participants in political battles. Depending on who is looking at them, they are either “Godi Media,” “anti-national,” or “presstitutes.” Such labels do not remain confined to social media — they shape how reporters are treated on the ground.

Yet one thing has remained remarkably unchanged: how poorly Indian newsrooms prepare journalists for these assignments.

When I speak about journalist safety today, I often think back to my years as a young reporter, when I had little understanding of how quickly a routine assignment could turn dangerous.

Once, while covering a violent clash between police and villagers in Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh, I watched in horror as a TV9 reporter was beaten bloody by protesters as people ran in every direction. I had no idea what to do. As I tried to leave, I kept calling my editor, hoping she would tell me how to get out safely. Her advice was simple: “Just leave.” In the chaos, I somehow managed to climb onto a passing police truck – having lost my slippers along the way – and escaped.

Looking back, what strikes me is not that I lacked courage; but that I lacked preparation. Seriously, who travels to the interiors of Andhra Pradesh to report on violent unrest wearing slippers? Like many reporters of my generation and earlier, I had been taught how to chase a story, cultivate sources, and meet deadlines. Nobody taught us how to assess risk, identify escape routes, communicate with our newsrooms during an emergency or how to make the safest decision without compromising our reporting.

Unfortunately, not much has changed.

For many journalists and editors, safety is something for war correspondents or conflict zones. Protest coverage is treated as routine reporting. A reporter is handed a microphone, a camera or a phone, along with a press card, and expected to navigate a volatile environment with little discussion about risk or contingency planning.

That approach is no longer acceptable.

One of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is that journalist safety is expensive. Newsrooms argue they cannot afford Hostile Environment and First Aid Training (HEFAT), body armor, helmets or other specialized protective equipment like PPE gears.

These are legitimate concerns. But comprehensive training and protective equipment are valuable investments, and organizations that can afford them, should provide them.

A better place to start, though, is newsroom culture.

It begins with asking a few basic questions before assigning a reporter to a volatile situation. What are the risks? How is the crowd behaving? Where are the exits? What happens if violence erupts? Who knows where the reporter is? How often will they check in? Under what circumstances should they leave?

None of these questions cost money.

For reporters on the ground, some of the most effective safety measures are the simplest: maintaining situational awareness; avoiding getting trapped between protesters and police; identifying escape routes before entering a crowd; reporting in pairs wherever possible; carrying a fully charged phone and a power bank; sharing one’s live location with an editor or colleague; establishing emergency check-in protocols; and knowing when to step back because no photograph or quote is worth a life-changing injury.

Just as importantly, editors and media owners have a duty of care towards the journalists they deploy. Risk assessments should be as routine as editorial discussions. Safety briefings should be as natural as editorial briefings. Reporters should never feel pressured to remain in dangerous situations. Same safety measures should be made available to retainers and freelance journalists.

Journalists have long romanticized risk. Tales of narrow escapes are often recounted as badges of honor. But courage should not be confused with recklessness. Good journalism should ultimately be measured by the quality and integrity of the work.

The young journalist who messaged me on July 23 filed her story, despite the intimidation. But no journalist should have to leave an assignment feeling violated because basic safety planning was not done.

Press freedom depends on journalists being present where history unfolds — at protests, during communal violence, in disaster zones, and in moments of political upheaval. But bearing witness should never require accepting preventable risks.

Journalists covering protests can access safety resources here: https://cpj.org/tags/physicalsafety/

Kunal Majumder is the Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com.