Acknowledging the crucial role that accurate data plays when it comes to understanding the complex nature of safety threats to journalists and to ensure the effective protection of media workers, the Centre for Freedom of the Media and the press freedom organisation Free Press Unlimited are currently carrying out research into improving the monitoring of attacks against journalists.

Bringing together interdisciplinary research expertise from the departments of Journalism Studies, Computer Science and Economics at Sheffield University the research project takes stock of the extensive knowledgebase developed over time within civil society organisations concerning the monitoring of abuses against journalist.

The project aims to contribute to the advancing of data collection by non-state actors in the framework of monitoring progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.10.1 and proposes to address the current need for systematic and methodical collection of data on a wide range of abuses against journalists through the designing of a comprehensive methodology for monitoring.

The paper ‘Monitoring violence against journalists: A methodology for comprehensive and systematic data collection’ and proposal  ‘Strengthening national monitoring of violence against journalists – a proposal for improved data collection’ were presented by CFOM PhD Researcher Sara Torsner and Leon Willems, Director of Free Press Unlimited during the World Press Freedom Day Conference on Journalism Safety in Accra, Ghana in May 2018