Jan Cibulka works for Czech public service broadcaster Czech Radio as a data journalist, responsible for creating stories from data, charts and interactive visualisations, supporting newsrooms with analytical and technological knowledge and more.
Jan said that common online crime is phishing and the takeover of media personality accounts which could harm the newsroom. “A lot of people leaving journalism because of threats” – Threats and harassment online are mostly focused on female reporters and it is hard to prosecute and avert.
So how to avoid these situations? Training and educating people in the media with multilevel training about working securely and creating a culture of trust in the worksplace.
Matthieu Beauval, Head of Innovation at Radio France considers another dimension of security, that of investigative journalists and whistleblowers. He emphasizes the necessity of “providing secure spaces for investigative teams and the people they work with”. They must be given the stable promise of anonymity and security by the media outlet they cooperate with.
To enable this Radio France launched a service for whistleblowers with the idea of providing a “public service for public service”. On the multi-lingual (French/English/Arabic) platform alerter.radiofrance.fr sensitive information can be submitted, and investigative journalists take up these provided clues to make sure, that only verifiable and further investigated stories go public.
The results are promising and since Dec. 2022 80 stories have been submitted with 1 of these stories being already on air.
