From online harassment to doxxing, journalists face increasing digital security threats as a direct result of their work.
The Institute reached out to PEN America for a primer on digital safety. Viktorya Vilk, director, digital safety and free expression, and Tat Bellamy-Walker, program manager, digital safety training and resources (media), shared the following tips and resources.
What are the biggest safety concerns you are hearing from journalists right now?
PEN America: It’s hard to know where to start. The Trump administration is unpredictable and extremely hostile to a free press, which means that U.S. journalists are facing heightened safety risks.
In terms of offline risks, journalists and newsrooms are concerned about legal attacks, particularly libel lawsuits, and the weaponization of federal agencies — from the FCC and the IRS to the FBI — in retaliation against the press. Journalists are also increasingly worried about threats to their physical safety, including intimidation and violence in the field.
In terms of online risks, journalists — particularly women journalists, journalists of color, and LGBTQ+ journalists — say they’re facing a surge in hateful and harassing content on social media platforms. As technology companies gut their trust and safety teams, loosen their anti-harassment policies, and abdicate responsibility for content moderation, online abuse and threats are exacerbated. There’s also a growing concern about digital surveillance from both the federal government and private corporations.
It’s important to keep in mind that journalists are targeted not only because of their profession and their coverage areas, but because of who they are and how they look. We’ve increasingly been hearing from newsrooms staffed by and covering Black communities, trans communities, and immigrant communities that they are encountering heightened hostility and safety challenges.
Despite these risks, we want journalists and newsrooms to understand that there are multiple non-profit organizations that will have their backs. If you’re a U.S.-based journalist or news outlet concerned about your safety or under attack for your work, reach out to the Journalist Safety Urgent Care Helpline, and we’ll connect you to individualized, trauma-informed support from PEN America, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), Reporters Committee for a Free Press (RCFP), Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), and Aegis Safety Alliance (Aegis).
What is the first line of defense when a journalist faces online harassment?
PEN America: Online abuse can be profoundly isolating, exhausting, frightening, and even traumatizing. Remember: you’re not alone. Find your support network and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Draw on your fellow reporters, trusted managers, close family and friends, and your wider online community of fans and followers.
Allies can help you monitor your mentions, report abuse, take screenshots, amplify your work, lock down your accounts, and tighten your privacy and security settings on social media. They can also help you document abuse by taking screenshots, saving hyperlinks, and storing abusive emails and voicemails. Documentation can be critically important if you’re seeking support from an employer, law enforcement, or a lawyer.
What are three tips for securing personal data?
PEN America: There’s a great deal you can do to reclaim power and control over your safety online. We recommend that journalists take some time to do the following:
Account Security: Make a list of your top ten most sensitive accounts; think personal and professional email, social media, cloud storage, and banking. Then take the three steps below to protect your most sensitive accounts from abusive tactics such as hacking and phishing.
- For each account, set up a long, complex, unique password with at least 16 characters. Think of your password as the first lock on your front door.
- For each account, turn on multi-factor authentification (MFA) using an authenticator app like Duo or Authy. MFA requires you to use a pin to prove you’re trying to log into your account rather than some hacker. Just remember to save your MFA backup codes somewhere safe so you can still log into your accounts even if you lose your cell phone. Think of MFA like the second lock on your front door.
- Set up a password manager to help you keep track of all of your passwords and MFA backup codes. Here are three good options: 1password (which provides free accounts for journalists), Dashlane, and Bitwarden.
Social Media Safety & Privacy: Make a list of all of the social media platforms you use (think X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky but also LinkedIn and Venmo). Log into each account and tighten the privacy and safety settings; many journalists don’t realize that platforms default your settings to be as public as possible. And review what content is publicly visible on your platforms. Do you want everyone to see your birthday, which a hacker can then use to authenticate your identity? Are you sure you want to share your home address or the name of your child’s school, which can be used to dox you and your family?
You can find step-by-step guides for cleaning up your social media accounts via our Digital Safety Snacks and the New York Times’ handy checklists.
How can editors and newsroom leaders best support a journalist experiencing safety threats on the job?
PEN America: Newsroom leaders have a responsibility to support staff and freelancers who are under attack for their work, online and off. A simple place to start is to make space to discuss safety and harassment during regular check-ins, whether one-on-one, team, or all-staff meetings. Ensure that reporters have at least three distinct channels to report online abuse and other safety challenges; these could be their manager, HR, and a designated email address or Slack channel focused on safety.
Consider revising your newsroom’s social media policy to acknowledge online harassment and clarify how journalists are expected to navigate it. Better yet, develop a protocol that clearly spells out what kind of safety support reporters can access within their newsroom and how they can access it.
If a reporter is facing harassment, check in privately to see how they’re doing and what they need. You can offer to help monitor their mentions and report abusive content on their behalf. In the case of death threats, doxing, or other physical safety risks, you can provide access to a physical security expert, help report the incident to law enforcement, or subsidize a short stay in a hotel until the threat has been investigated.
In the case of legal risks, you can provide access to a lawyer. You can regularly remind reporters about which subsidized mental health care resources they can access, either through an EAP, a healthcare plan, or in-house counseling or peer support. And you can consider making a private or public statement of support, provided that the targeted individual would be comfortable with that.
Finally, consider adjusting how your newsroom moderates comments on stories to reduce abuse by, for example, having a visible content moderation policy spelling out what kind of commentary is unwelcome and/or leveraging automated tools, such as Perspective API or Coral, to help human moderators filter and review content.
In addition to PEN America’s Journalist Safety Urgent Care Helpline, what are some resources journalists can use when being harassed, bullied, or attacked online?
PEN America: There are many different types of resources available to journalists, depending on their needs, including free multimedia guidance online, hands-on individualized support, and free or low-cost training.
Free multimedia resources online
- Field Manual Against Online Harassment (PEN America): comprehensive guidance on how to navigate online abuse—available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Swahili.
- Digital Safety Snacks (ONA, IWMF, & PEN America): bite-sized videos providing step-by-step guidance to defend against doxing, hacking, and other abusive tactics.
- Coalition Against Online Violence Response Hub: searchable database of resources on all aspects of dealing online abuse.
- Pirth’s Online Violence Support Platform: service that escalates online abuse directly to social media platforms and also provides tailored tips.
Hands-on personalized support
- Journalist Safety Urgent Care Helpline (PEN America, CPJ, IWMF, FPF, RCFP, and Aegis)
- CPJ’s Emergencies Program
- IWMF’s One-on-One Safety Consultations
- RCFP’s Legal Hotline
- Vita Activa’s Digital Safety and Mental Health Helpline
- Journalists Trauma Support Network (Dart Center & CPJ): culturally competent care from trained psychologists.
Free or low-cost training is available from PEN America, IWMF, FPF, CPJ, RCFP, Aegis, ACOS, and many other nonprofit organizations.
Watch: Bellamy-Walker recently joined an Institute webinar on how to handle (and prevent) online threats as a journalist.