Lisa Brooten

My research focuses on journalists working in authoritarian contexts -- specifically in Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand -- who often find themselves under attack. I am interested in the efforts of those journalists and advocacy groups to improve the media landscapes in their countries and similar contexts, and focus especially on those journalists and media change advocates working to make the practice of journalism safer. Many of those I work with are journalists in the alternative media, or smaller, non-state, non-commercial outlets focused on public service, although some also work for major outlets. In the contexts in which I work, much of the hard-hitting investigative reporting, and the outlets that delve into a country's most difficult issues, are found in the alternative media sector. For this reason, these media are often targeted. Their journalists are the victims of varying degrees of trauma, from harassment to death threats to death itself (red-tagging in the Philippines, forced disappearances and self-censorship in Thailand, outright attack in Myanmar). My work looks at the constraints and opportunities facing these journalists, and the strategies they and their allies use to continue their work, often despite being targeted, in precarious contexts.

Definition of journalists' safety

Safety for journalists should include a secure work environment, in which they are adequately compensated and trained for their jobs. Journalists need the backing of organizations committed to freedom of expression and press freedom. They need to know that their organizations will protect them physically, emotionally and legally, should they face troubles in their work. Safety for journalists also means freedom and protection from online harassment. Safety for journalists means work structures and cultures that respect the need for both physical and mental health care, and open recognition of the various forms of trauma journalists face, especially as witnesses to violence and abuse, but also when they are members of the affected communities they are reporting on. This requires recognizing and valuing the work of those now called "fixers" – whose contributions to global news production are rarely recognized. These local journalists often take great risks to help visiting foreign journalists -- they share their contacts, at times putting local people, their own networks and themselves at risk, etc. These local journalists need greater recognition and compensation for the often dangerous and difficult work they do, yet rarely receive credit for. Safety for "journalists" MUST include these local journalists.

Future plans for research on journalists' safety

I am currently working on three manuscripts -- one that lays out a theoretical framework for understanding the work of journalists and other media workers in precarious contexts under authoritarian leaders, focusing on Myanmar, Thailand and the Philippines. Another examines constraints and opportunities navigated by those journalists and other advocates working to improve media in the Philippines. A third manuscript assesses efforts to decentralize, democratize and diversify media in Thailand.