The International Women’s Media Foundation is launching a national journalism safety initiative to provide wrap around care for small newsrooms and journalists that lack the resources and knowledge to implement best practices and safety policies for 2024 and beyond. The IWMF will offer one and two day highly interactive in person safety workshops to local and regional news outlets in battleground states and rural areas where newsrooms are grappling with ongoing safety challenges. Topics include risk assessment and mitigation, personal security, active shooter, protests, legal/know your rights, and psychosocial/mental health awareness. After the training is completed, the IWMF will offer ongoing support to the participating newsrooms and journalism networks with safety consultations, assistance developing and implementing safety policies, and emergency assistance grants when needed. This approach will target the needs of journalists and newsroom leaders before, during, and after the elections with a mix of prevention and mitigation measures alongside emergency response and assistance if the newsroom faces any threats.   

The Newsroom Safety Across America Initiative will begin in February 2023. During the initial phase of this project, the IWMF will prioritize Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia. Exact dates and locations are being finalized. The training is free to participants, but the IWMF is unable to provide financial support for transportation and/or lodging. 

If you are a newsroom, journalism association, or freelance journalist, please fill out this form to indicate your interest in this training. 

About the IWMF's Safety Work

As the leading provider of identity-informed, holistic safety training and resources for journalists and newsrooms – with a focus on women and non-binary reporters – in the U.S. and globally, the IWMF has trained thousands of journalists to enhance their safety online and offline. From 2020-2022, the IWMF has trained more than 7,230 journalists via our customized safety trainings and self-paced courses, and has provided HEFAT trainings to 810 journalists worldwide from 2014-2023. We lead Hostile Environment and First Aid Training (HEFAT) courses specifically tailored to the localized threats faced by the journalists we serve.