This week's conference of the Journalists Matter campaign revealed increasing levels of threats against journalists. Participants like Wim Hoonhout, team leader and coordinator of the Netherlands Central Police, called for more safeguards to protect journalists from threats – on and offline – which he said have increased over the last six years. The Dutch Police regularly meets and cooperates with journalists, prioritising cases of threats against them and setting up protection measures.

Brigadier Ernst Albrecht, from the Austrian Interior Ministry's Special Police Operations, assessed the sometimes “difficult relationship between police and journalists,” calling for more effective communication between media and police.

Ukrainian journalist Svitlana Zalizetska provided dramatic testimony on challenges faced by reporters working in war zones. She told the conference how Russian forces broke into her parents’ home, holding her father hostage and demanding that she stop her reporting.

Related to her story, the conference displayed a photo exhibit, Executed Free Speech, by Ukrainian photographer Yevhen Zinchenko, to raise awareness of Ukrainian journalists held captive by Russian forces. Conference participants viewed the Oscar-winning documentary by Pulitzer Prize winning Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov, 20 Days in Mariupol. The documentary tells the harrowing story of a team of the last remaining journalists, as they become trapped in the besieged city during the Russian invasion and is a testament to the importance of journalism in conflict zones.

In addition to outlining challenges faced by journalists, the conference included practical presentations for journalists who could face war zone reporting, from understanding different types of weapons they could encounter and how to avoid mines, to survival techniques, such as how to act in case of capture.

German journalist Clemens Lotze shared a film about his experience in Saxony, facing attacks by far-right wing demonstrators that became so serious that reporters could not rely on the police, often creating a chilling effect to doing their work. To help prepare journalists for such situations, new approaches and initiatives put in place by media organisations, civil society and other actors were shared at the conference.

Presentations from participants like journalist Pauline Ades-Mevel, a media safety trainer, provided practical tips, such as the need for access to legal counsel and protecting privacy online, encouraging journalists not to publish anything personal on their social networks. State authorities also shared different trainings and protocols. 

Additional resources, such as online protection programmes, are offered by private sector actors like Cloudfare, a digital partner of the Council of Europe. The conference, which took place on 29 and 30 October, was the first of four major events for the Council of Europe “Journalists Matter” campaign, starting with a focus on protection. 

 Protecting journalists from threats and violence

 Journalists Matter, the Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists

 Events and activities of the Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists

 Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists