Safety of Journalists: Measures and Policies of News Organisations in Nigeria

Abstract

Journalists frequently encounter dangers or threats when working in the field, for which they may need to be prepared. Lack of training or awareness of safety procedures can make the planning and implementation process exceedingly tricky for journalists. To protect journalists, media organizations must play a crucial role in the types of policies and safety measures they promote. This paper set out to investigate the types of safety measures journalists engage in, the existence or non-existence of safety policies in media organisations and the adequacy of the available safety measures. The Theory of Safety and Security with special focus on the model of participation, was adopted for this paper. The descriptive study design was used in this paper. It employed the use of qualitative data drawn from purposively selected media organisations located in three geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The sample size was five respondents with a purposive sampling technique. The interview guide was used to gather data and then thematically analysed. The findings revealed that journalists majorly engage in personal safety measures with no clearly delinieated safety policy in their organisations. The existing safety measures were found inadequate and the need for documented safety measures with increased collaborations was recommended.