What to Expect from Journalist Safety Outlook 2022:

The 2022 Journalist Safety Outlook will analyse trends and events we expect to impact media security and editorial decisions in the year ahead.

We will discuss what was learnt from some of the major stories of the 2021 - including Covid-19, the instability of Afghanistan and conflict Ethiopia – and how they are expected to unfold in the year ahead. Other themes of discussion include:

The normalisation of repression: Intimidation, efforts to delegitimise the media, and pressures to censor have become commonplace in too many countries. We will dissect some of the methodologies governments and non-state actors are using to silence the media and discuss how, if at all, these can be “managed.”
Weaponising Migration: Whether it’s the English Channel, Polish-Belarussian or US-Mexican border, the Mediterranean, or many of the other key global migratory frontiers, the coverage presents considerable logistical, editorial, and safety challenges that are set to persist.
Editorial tightropes: Can impartiality be maintained if powerful political actors and market forces play against you? Will data localisation become more commonplace and will Australia’s requirements on tech companies to reveal the identities of trolls impact volumes of online abuse journalists suffer? We assess some of the key questions for the media industry in the year ahead.
Round the world in 20 minutes: Elections in Brazil and Philippines, the US mid-terms, Lebanon’s turmoil, “sportswashing” in Qatar, and the prospects for more coups in Sub Saharan Africa, we’ll look at some of the major stories that newsrooms can prepare to cover in the year ahead.

Colin Pereira, Director RiskPal / HP Risk Management & CPJ Safety Strategist

For two decades, Colin has shaped the risk management model for journalists operating under threat. He is a Director at HP Risk Management, a consultancy assisting companies and media organisations operating in fragile environments.

In addition to working with numerous news organisations, Colin also serves as the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Safety Strategist.

Colin was previously head of security for ITN and Deputy Head of BBC High Risk Team. He was also an award winning journalist for BBC Newsnight and BBC Current Affairs.

Martin Smith, Producer and Correspondent, FRONTLINE, PBS

In his 40 years as producing and reporting, Martin Smith has covered the world: from revolution in Central America and the fall of communism in Russia, to the rise of Al Qaeda and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the inside story of the global financial meltdown. Smith was among the first journalists to investigate Col. Oliver North's clandestine network and one of the first western reporters to investigate the emergence of Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network.

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Smith has covered the conflict for FRONTLINE with a series of films, including Truth, War, and Consequences (2003), which established Smith’s presence as an on-camera correspondent, Beyond Baghdad (2004), Private Warriors (2005), and Gangs of Iraq (2007). His film The Rise of ISIS (2014) investigated the circumstances and context leading to ISIS’s emergence. He followed that in 2016 with Confronting ISIS, a film that received the Peabody Award. His latest films from the Middle East are The Crown Prince (2019), which investigates the rise and rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia (MBS), and The Jihadist (2021), an exclusive portrait of the Syrian rebel Abu Mohammad al Jolani.

Nima Elbagir, Senior International Correspondent, CNN

Nima Elbagir is an award-winning senior international correspondent for CNN based in London. Her reporting on human rights abuses have been directly and extensively referenced by lawmakers, most recently through her investigations on the conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region. She has been a crucial component of some of CNN’s most high-profile international reports, including an investigation into shootings at the Lekki toll gate in Nigeria, the use of child labour in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the discovery of slave auctions in Libya which sparked global outcry. Among her honours, Elbagir has been named the Royal Television Society 'Television Journalist of the Year' and received the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 2019. Before joining CNN, Sudanese-born Elbagir worked in various capacities for the UK's Channel 4 for a number of years starting in 2005.

Ian Phillips, VP of International News, Associated Press

Ian Phillips is the Head of AP's international news operations, managing teams of journalists in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Phillips joined the AP in 1994 in Argentina, where he had previously worked for Reuters and The Buenos Aires Herald. After reporting from Latin America, he worked for the news cooperative in Paris, London, and New York. In 2004, he returned to London as deputy editor for Europe and Africa, before being named head of the Prague-based hub for coverage of eastern and central Europe. He has directed coverage of the Middle East for the past three years, part of a team that launched Middle East Extra, a premium video service.

Recently, Phillips took a one-year assignment focused on global security, journalist safety, and crisis management at AP. Ian was deeply involved in some of the most sensitive security situations AP has faced in recent years, including the destruction of the AP bureau in Gaza and the detention of one of their colleagues in Myanmar. Phillips is currently part of the 2016 Sulzberger Leadership Program with a 2019 certification in Crisis Management, both from Columbia University, New York. Phillips is also the current board member of MINDS International and the International News Safety Institute (INSI).

Clionadh Raleigh, Professor of Political Geography and Conflict, University of Sussex; Executive Director of ACLED

Dr. Clionadh Raleigh is a Professor of Political Geography and Conflict at the University of Sussex. She is a political geographer, and her work is focused mainly on conflict patterns and political elites across Africa. Dr. Raleigh founded and directs the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project, which tracks and analyzes local conflict events globally and in real-time.

Journalist Safety Outlook 2022

Thursday, 13th January 1400 GMT / 0900 EST

This event is over!

What to Expect from Journalist Safety Outlook 2022:

The Host

Colin Pereira, Director RiskPal / HP Risk Management & CPJ Safety Strategist

The Panel

Martin Smith, Producer and Correspondent, FRONTLINE, PBS

Nima Elbagir, Senior International Correspondent, CNN

Ian Phillips, VP of International News, Associated Press

Clionadh Raleigh, Professor of Political Geography and Conflict, University of Sussex; Executive Director of ACLED

Tom Bacon, COO, RiskPal