Vita Activa - Support Centres

Vita Activa works as a helpline and a solutions laboratory for women journalists, activists and women’s rights defenders who are facing online violence and want to change the ways they face and combat perpetrators and attacks. Responders trained in psychological first aid, conflict resolution and strategic thinking work with women journalists who have faced harassment to build solutions tailored to their cases.

E-mail: apoyo@vita-activa.org

ECPMF Alarm Centre for Female Journalists under Threat - Support Centres

On 8 March 2016, the ECPMF has created a special Women’s Reporting Point to address and raise awareness on increasing threats against female journalists.

Threats can be reported via encrypted messaging. The secure emails will only be opened by female staff at ECPMF headquarters and their contents will remain confidential. To provide appropriate legal assistance and solidarity to female journalists or media workers who report their cases, ECPMF is partnering with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Italian branch FNSI.

The rationale of this support measure stems from the consideration that female journalists are not only attacked because of their profession, they are also threatened because they are women, as pointed out also by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Gender-based threats, such as sexual and abusive comments, threats of rape or publishing pictures and phone numbers on sex and dating websites target women more often than men.  

ECPMF encourages all women to report attacks in order to seek help, but also to make the dimension of attacks against journalists visible: the reported cases will be collected in a database – with details of the woman’s identity removed in order to protect her – as basis of an analysis to show the scale of the problem across Europe.

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) - Support Centres

ECPMF offers several support programmes for journalists at risk.

- Journalists-in-Residence programme: The ECPMF’s Journalists-in-Residence (JiR) programme offers temporary shelter for journalists facing harassment and intimidation as a direct result of their work. Journalists get the chance to rest and recuperate in a safe and discreet place, and also to continue their investigative work at their own pace and use their time in Leipzig for networking and finding solidarity. The JiR programme lasts for either three or up to six months, and includes a rent-free furnished apartment in Leipzig, as well as a monthly stipend to cover basic living costs. It also covers travel and visa expenses, health insurance, psychological counselling, and journalism-related training sessions on topics like digital security, mobile reporting and social media management. More info here .

- Legal support: ECPMF offers and coordinates legal support on matters related to free speech for individuals and organisations working in countries located geographically in Europe. More info here .

- Helpdesk: he Helpdesk is ECPMF central tool for responding to the individual needs of journalists at risk and under threat. ECPMF supports media professionals across Europe in order to find a place of safety in emergency cases and we assist exiled journalists in Germany, irrespective of their origin. More info here .

- Women’s Reporting Point: it aims to deepen a gender-specific aspect of the safety of journalists and encourages female media workers to report it if they are subjected to harassment or they witness it in their journalistic work. Reports received are given priority, treated confidentially and are only handled by women staff. More info here .