In four individual presentations the former participants of the Berlin Scholarship Program, Joëlle-Marie Declercq from Brazil, Jonathan Dagher from Lebanon, Adnan Aamir from Pakistan and Sofia Mapuranga from Zimbabwe will report on the difficult situation of press freedom in their countries. They will also elaborate on strategies and tools they have used in order to resist threats within the digital field in their journalistic practice since their return.
Marie Declercq is a Brazilian journalist covering gender and youth issues in her country. She faced doxxing attacks as wellas hate speech on social mediaafter reporting far-right groups spreading hate through social media. In her talk, she explains the how she is dealing with thesethreats and what the right-wing government means for independent journalism.
Even in Zimbabwe's post Mugabe era journalists are facing massive repressions and censorship. One of the few independent media outlets is London-based ZimEye. For ZimEye, Secure communication is crucial as the identities of correspondents and their source insides Zimbabwe have to be protected. In her talk, Sofia will give an overview about the digital threats to independent journalism and the possible counter-measures.
The Digital Helpdesk is the new interactive training tool by RSF threatened journalists can use to get informed independently on topics such as encryption, anonymization, account security and reacting professionally to hate speech and fake news.Benjamin Güldenring from RSF Germany will explain, what practical use the Digital Helpdesk has for journalists who are not IT-spezialistsbut want to improve their digital security nevertheless.
After the conference we invite you to the anniversary event of the Reporters Without Borders Germany's Emergency Assistance Desk. Journalists in exile give an insight into their experiences and discuss the topic "After the flight - perspectives for journalists in Germany" with media representatives.
