Journalists have been making the news related to the protests in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and not just for the bylines and live shots that have come out of these events. A number of them have been arrested or harmed by law enforcement while out on the job, throwing freedom of the press, coverage safety, and journalists’ legal rights into the spotlight and prompting a lawsuit from the First Amendment Coalition against the Los Angeles Police Department and the city.
We talked to several experts about journalists’ safety, their legal rights, and general tips for protest coverage. Below is what they told us.
Preparing to cover a protest:
It’s important to make sure that as a member of the press, you don’t dress to blend in with the crowd, said Jennifer Nelson, senior staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press. It can be helpful to distinguish yourself as a journalist, she said, but in some protests, that can also make you a target.
Take Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi, who was shot with a rubber bullet while doing a live shot. Nelson pointed out that journalists can’t assume when they’re clearly press that they won’t be targeted.
“That’s why keeping your wits about you, keeping your sense of your surroundings is really important,” Nelson said. She also recommended having your press credentials somewhere on your body, because police will want proof you’re a member of the press if you’re stopped.
It’s also good to wear some sort of eye protection, said Frank Smyth, the founder and CEO of Global Journalists Security, a hostile-environment training firm that works with reporters and others. Smyth recommends racquetball glasses because they’re as strong as ballistic glasses, but less costly, and can withstand a direct hit in a person’s eye.
Establishing a regular check-in routine with an editor or other journalists covering the protest can also be a good idea, said JeJe Mohamed, managing partner for Aegis Safety Alliance, another organization that focuses on safety training for the press. That can be as basic as planning that a reporter on the ground will reach out to their editor on an hourly basis to say they’re alright, and to come up with a plan if a reporter misses one or two of those check-ins.
Journalists going to cover a protest alone can also buddy up with another journalist to be each others’ “back-watchers,” Mohamed added.
It’s also helpful to spell out your reporting goals for yourself ahead of time.
“You want to know what is the minimum thing that you want to get out of here,” she said, like a number of interviews or photos. Having those goals “can also help you stay safe because then it allows you to do the work while focusing on your safety at the same time,” she said, like allowing you to act on a weird feeling you might have and leave.
Covering the protest itself:
It’s important while out covering the protest to think about your location. Experts recommend journalists try to cover the action from off to the side instead of in the thick of it. And look for places to exit should you need to.
“You can report on a melee away from the line of fire,” Judith Matloff, a safety training expert for journalists, said in an email. “If you don’t want to be hurt or arrested – and the risk of both is extremely elevated right now – then stand on the side and not in the middle of the clashing parties.”
She said she knows journalists getting video or photos want to be right in the middle of what’s going on, but it’s easy to get trapped. Instead, “try to get to an elevated vantage point where you can see what’s going on without being in the line of fire or the middle of a clash,” she said.
Smyth also pointed out that if journalists have line of sight to something, they’re also in the line of fire. He cautioned journalists to not be behind the protestors facing the police or the other way around.
If things go south or you get arrested:
Smyth also noted that journalists still are required by law to follow police officers’ orders, like if a law enforcement official instructs a journalist to move. He recommends that the journalist make the officer direct them to the point where they’re satisfied with where you’ve gone. Similarly, journalists also have to comply with police-instated curfews.
“You’ve got to at least make an attempt to demonstratively comply,” he said.
That being said, the police can’t instruct you to go home or to leave, Smyth said. They can only direct you to leave a specific area, he noted.
Should you end up getting arrested, make sure officials allow you to make a phone call, Nelson said. She said reporters should call their editor or attorney, but know that if they call the former or another non-lawyer, it’s best to assume the police will listen in as the exchange isn’t protected by attorney-client privilege.
Nelson said it should be enough for journalists — in order to protect their rights — to inform the police that they’re journalists and what they have with them is their journalistic work product, as well as that they want to utilize their right to remain silent and for a lawyer to be there.
The RCFP also has temporary tattoos journalists can wear while covering protests that display the committee’s legal hotline for journalists, which is 1-800-336-4243, Nelson added.
How you write or say it:
Like any story, the language a reporter uses to tell it matters.
“The words you’re choosing to describe something shapes a narrative,” Mohamed said, adding that some of the descriptions members of the media have used to cover the protests in Los Angeles haven’t been true and that she’s noticed a shift from the media in explaining why these protests are taking place.
“People are out for a reason, so ignoring the reason of why someone is out, I don’t see it as fair reporting,” she said.
And be careful about repeating what people in powerful positions are saying, she added, as opposed to verifying what’s going on and using context.
Even though there have been incidents in recent years of journalists covering protests becoming the story themselves because of altercations with police, experts still recommend that journalists share with their readers or viewers if they’ve been harmed or arrested.
Handling the aftermath of protest coverage:
A reporter’s psychological safety is equally as important as their physical, legal, or digital safety, said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. And protecting your mental health is part of why it’s essential to plan in advance for how you’ll approach protest coverage if something does go awry while out reporting, he said.
“Anything that gives you a little more safety, a little more agency, a little more control, a little more connectedness with colleagues is also going to have deep psychological benefits on the far end,” he said. It’s also a good idea to add more self care to your routine, he added.
If a journalist is targeted by a police officer, hit with a rubber bullet, arrested, or even just witnesses violence, “it’s really normal to feel jittery and distressed for a while after that,” Shapiro said. “Some people will, some people won’t, but it’s not a sign of a long-term mental health problem if you feel distressed, upset after an assault or after an arrest.”
Some issues that could arise like having nightmares, or feeling numb or sad often go away over the short term. But get professional help if they’re longer-lasting, he added.
And if you’re reporting on events involving people you know or people from a community you identify with, following these care tips is going to be all the more important, Shapiro said, given you’ll be at a greater risk of feeling distressed.
The biggest risk factor for feeling burnt out or developing PTSD is isolating yourself from others, he said.