The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) called all journalists, both in the mainstream media and student publications, to take precautionary measures in safeguarding themselves from the cyber security risks that pose threats to their jobs.
Jhoanna Ballaran, Philippine correspondent for Jiji Press, said in an interview on Sunday that now is the time to maximize efforts to protect the journalists against any form of digital threat, as cyber security risks pose a continuing threat to media companies.
“We should take digital security seriously. It is a growing concern that if ignored, would compromise our physical safety, affecting the people around us, including our family, the media organization that we serve and even to our sources that we are dealing with,” Ballaran said.
Ballaran was one of the speakers during the Digital Security Training for Media Practitioners and Student journalists, organized by NUJP and Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom advocate group.
During the workshop, several tools and techniques were reintroduced to the attendees from different student publication and media organization that would be beneficial in their work.
“These key tools would really help in gathering data for their stories and to protect themselves to potential risks especially if you’re under surveillance,” Ballaran said.
According to her, safety for journalism has been a long-time advocacy which was pushed even before the modern digital advancements.
However, Ballaran said that harassments against media are now also being done online.
“The attacks against media have become sophisticated, since harassment on journalists are now made through trolling online,” She added, “Specially now in the time of post truth, considering the political landscape in the country, we, as journalists, had become more vulnerable. That is why we should be more careful.”
The forum comes after a series of disruption made by new internet-based business models, content digitalization and enablement for different platforms.
Among the issues in the technological advantages are the data security breaches that has become a major challenge for media companies.
Recently, Philippine Daily Inquirer journalist Julie Alikpala was harassed through a pro-military Facebook page, “PhilLeaks”.
Alipala was tagged by the page as “a paid propagandist of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf after she reported on the alleged massacre of seven peasants by the military last September 13.”
Two weeks later, she reported, as released on NUJP’s Facebook page, that she had been tailed by unidentified men.
NUJP itself has not also been spared from the attacks, as its website had been attacked by unidentified hacker.
