CFOM publishes commentary pieces focused on media freedom, journalism safety and the issue of impunity from researchers across the globe on areas that they study. If you are interested in writing a commentary for us please email cfom@sheffield.ac.uk.
Terrorism and authoritarianism: lessons from the Middle East region
By Dr. Omar Al-Ghazzi With recurrent terrorist attacks in Europe, it has sadly become commonplace for political figures to repeat the defiant statement “we won’t let terrorists change our way of life”. In addition to the violence and suffering these attacks inflict on...
How to build a methodology to measure the risk to journalists’ safety in the round?
By Sara Torsner It is increasingly understood that journalism safety is a multi-layered problem that must be addressed with reference to a wide range of threats and hostile environments facing a very diverse community of journalists. Yet current methods of...
The dynamic tension between the press and authority in the UK
By Jonathan Grun Guy Black – Lord Black of Brentwood – was addressing last week’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies conference on threats to press freedom in the Commonwealth when he felt compelled to mention the “elephant in the room” of British press freedom:...
The dispute over digital terrestrial television licensing in Greece: curiouser and curiouser
By Dr. Irini Katsirea Since launching 25 years ago, private television stations in Greece have operated under ‘temporary’ licences. The Council of State (the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece) held that the unlicensed operation of a station did not justify the...
Journalism in Danger: We must engage journalism students with issues of safety and impunity
By Dr. Lada Trifonova Price According to figures from UNESCO’s Division on Safety of Journalists and Impunity, 101 journalists were killed in the pursuit of a story in 2016, which on average constitutes one casualty every four days. This problem is widely recognised...