The safety and welfare of our employees is our highest priority, especially during these recent months of COVID-19 and protests across the nation. We have had numerous discussions, training sessions, and initiatives on safely reporting in the midst of the pandemic and unrest. During the summer, we held specific training sessions about how to safely report during protests and what to do if you are detained. We encourage all of our frontline newsroom employees to review the training session in advance of the upcoming election. And we constantly reassess and update safety measures on behalf of all of our properties.

This conversation is specific to editors/managers. What we covered:

• Ensuring the buddy system;
• Designating editors to monitor the whereabouts of employees during coverage and equipment best practices;
• Simple and effective systems to monitor/check in;
• How editors can assess threat conditions, especially in fluid/dynamic situations

If you have other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Garett Jaco or email security@gannett.com.

Other useful resources:

How to Safely Cover Street Protests – tip sheet by Judith Matloff

Covering Street Protests – a compilation of reporter-to-reporter guidance

Leading Resilience – a guide for editors and news managers

Reporters Exposed to Traumatic Events – tips for editors and managers

Handling Traumatic Imagery – a tipsheet for managing graphic content

Dealing with Hate Campaigns – a toolkit for journalists and newsrooms targeted