Online privacy has become a matter of status for regular Internet users for several years. Protecting our personal information is very important , especially when it contains crucial data about our work.
In the case of journalists, the case is much more delicate and the protection of information has a life or death importance. Not only because of the fact that it can reveal controversial data about a news event, but also because of the constant threats that currently threaten press freedom .
If you are a journalist, you should take your work to spread the truth more seriously, and more importantly, protect it above all else. That’s why today we’ll show you everything you need to know about Internet privacy for journalism professionals worldwide .
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Press vs. Institutions; a war for freedom of expression
Throughout history, journalism has been seen as a direct enemy of politics and institutions. For most of the last century, journalists faced censorship, at a time when dictatorships put jaws on freedom of expression.
With the arrival of the 21st century it was believed that this would change, but beyond that what it did was evolve. While there are not so many dictatorships, we see how government cabinets in the United States prohibit access to press conferences that were always free , or how government agencies in Venezuela even refuse to provide real data on the situation of the country.
This also makes it clear that, regardless of ideology, politicians will always be “enemies” natural journalists, since both in the United States and Venezuela, perhaps the most representative countries of the capitalist and communist ideologies of the west, apply indistinctly measures to torpedo journalistic work and misrepresent the truth .
Victimization is not a solution either , since these measures have been supported by certain specific failures of journalists who precisely failed to protect their data, and crucial information leaks occurred for very sensitive cases. That is why the best weapon in this scenario is to be as professional as possible , something in which the privacy of our professional information plays a transcendental role.
Privacy of journalistic information Why is it so important?
Normally we are very jealous with our right to privacy, but in the professional field this takes a much more serious tone , since the information handled by a journalist not only affects his life, but precisely the privacy of another or other people.
Arming a journalistic investigation case is a multi-stage task, which is developed slowly and during which important evidence and data are collected until the complete case is completed. If at this time some type of information leaks, the whole process would fall apart , especially if it has not been confirmed and turns out to be false.
While every journalist has the right to give his errata, the image of a professional whose name is involved in a case of slander is often very stained , and not only his own but the of all the media for which he works and even splashes the entire guild.
According to the Criminal Code of Spain, for a journalist who engages in these irregular behaviors, he could even be awarded a heavy penalty with jail included, provided it is demonstrated that he was aware of the falsehood of the data, and not that it was manipulated by its source to give false news .
In any case, all these problems can be easily avoided if the professional has strong security habits that guarantee the protection of the data that comes in each case. Thus giving crucial importance to privacy for journalists, especially when it is online.
What are the most important aspects of a journalist’s privacy ?
While the Internet has completely changed the way in which journalists around the world do their job, making it easier in certain aspects, the privacy priorities for a journalist remain the same for a lifetime , with the difference that you will now have to apply new methods to guarantee it.
Source protection
Source protection is undoubtedly one of the main concerns of any journalist, as this could make their work valuable or not . A person who provides us with important information in a case must have all the guarantees that his identity will be completely anonymous and that his life will not be affected by the information he is providing.
This is especially important in cases of corruption, drug trafficking or organized crime, where revealing the name of the source could directly compromise your life and that of your family members.
Data verification
Journalists encounter more than one obstacle to carry out our work. The world is full of cases of “false sources” that work to create misinformation and offer wrong information to sabotage cases of the utmost importance. This not only happens in politics, but also in almost all sectors.
For many years and very reliable as a source, a journalist must always verify each and every one of the data that comes to their hands through whoever it is. In this way you protect your work and you guarantee that everything you have done well will not fall apart because of an injurious data .
Information coding
Previously, journalists used notebooks to make notes and these were usually done in code, so that no one other than the journalist could understand them if they fell into the wrong hands. In fact, even now the journalists of the “old school” still apply these mechanisms.
Currently with the arrival of smart devices and cloud storage solutions and other technologies , new ways of encoding information are created so that no one other than ourselves can even reach view it.
Work tools
The Internet offers journalists a wide range of tools to facilitate their work. In these tools there is often a lot of data about our work , including contact information with sources or clues about new cases to develop.
Therefore, when choosing online applications and programs to carry out our work, it is important to use those that offer us the highest level of privacy possible, ensuring that no third party can enter them or violate their security in any way .
Anonymity
Being 100% anonymous on the Internet is almost a utopia, practically impossible, but at least we can reach a point where to be discovered we must be tracked by a true computer genius. Therefore, everything that helps maintain our online anonymity is a plus that we are obliged to do .
VPNs can assure us that our IP address cannot be discovered, so that it is not known on which web portals we have recently browsed . In addition, it is also important to constantly delete our browsing history, as well as use a browser like Tor that gives us greater guarantees than Google Chrome or Mozilla.
Storage of information
Analog recorders and notes have been left in the past and it is a fact that more than 80% of the worldwide journalists’ guild use technology to store their information. In that sense, there are multiple methods that a press officer can apply to protect his research .
Essentially there are three methods to store information currently, and all have their strengths. For a journalist it is important to consider all three:
- Local storage : This method is the most used by all Internet users, and is composed of the physical disks of your main work computer. It will always be the most important research data so you can access constantly without much hassle.
- External disks : External storage systems consist of a physical disk in which the information is saved as a backup to recover if it is lost from the main disk. This usually uses removable USB sticks and similar devices.
- Servers or the cloud : Cloud storage is one of the safest since there is no physical way to access the information, and this is stored in digital servers. It is an efficient way to make backup copies and, above all, to be able to access data from any device.
Tips to protect the identity of your most important sources span >
Source protection is the top priority of every journalist. This is a complex process that even begins long before you even determine who your informant will be, since you must put together certain mechanisms so that he can contact you with the guarantees that his anonymity will remain intact .
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Devise secure channels to establish contact
In a very controversial case, don’t expect the answers to come to you alone. You must follow your nose and scrutinize until things come to light, this is how this work works. Once you uncover enough pots, there will be people interested in hiring their version of the story and for that you must leave them a safe way to be contacted without being discovered .
Telegram is one of the safest messaging applications that exist, with complex encryption methods to protect the privacy of its users. In fact, they have confronted US entities so as not to disclose information about them and they have won .
Another safe way is to use temporary emails, since these are deleted after certain days and everything that is spoken by them at that time will also disappear.
Journalistic professional secret
Professional secrecy is a right to privacy and the protection of information and the way in which it is obtained, which a journalist has about his work. No one, absolutely no one in the world can require you to openly disclose your informants’ personal data , even if it is suggested that the information they reveal to you is false.
This right is not exclusive to journalists, it also occurs with psychologists, who cannot reveal their patients’ confessions, even if they declare having committed a crime, as well as in Catholic priests and bishops strong>.
Interprets the information impartially
One mistake that many journalists make is that when they receive crucial information from a source about a case, they focus solely on seeing the points that favor their investigation. It is important to always keep lucidity and analyze what each data means and how it affects the general interpretation of everything .
An error of interpretation is serious, since it could also be argued as injury, which would put all the work down and make all the risk that your source ran to inform you of the subject will be lost .
Choose the media well
In the past, a media outlet was responsible for ensuring full protection of the data provided by its journalists in an investigation case . However, the role of newspapers has been significantly distorted. The Internet has allowed anyone with a computer in their home to found a “Digital newspaper” .
Many of these digital newspapers are seen more as a business model than as a true channel to defend the truth and make it known to the public, so they do not understand the true meaning of protecting a source , since their goal is to make money and sell advertising, and if they have to sell their soul to the devil for that, they are delighted.
This puts journalists in a real minefield where an error could reveal all the secrets of their work. Therefore, when making a complaint journalists use their independent media or social media accounts to publicize the truth , instead of trusting the information to any modern media.
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Secure your mobile phone
Edward Snowden is a name you will read a lot in this article. He is a former NSA employee who developed an iPhone device that detects any vulnerability and information leakage. The name of this is Introspection Engine . The announcement of this hardware that will be open source was announced in 2017, and is expected to be ready by the beginning of 2022.
What this tool does is that it performs a meticulous analysis of the entire system and detects if an application is running that transmits data via GPS, Bluetooth and other functions that may pose a risk to users. mobile data.
Methods to verify crucial data and discard slander and “fake news»
At this point you know how to manage to get a source and guarantee their anonymity but What guarantees do you have that the information they are providing is true? This is when the real challenge of a research work, especially when it is one of great importance and controversy.
Analyze your source’s intentions well
The main thing when you have a source is to evaluate your intentions, and especially interpret the information you are providing to confirm that it is not including personal judgments but pure and hard information. It is normal to meet characters who try to use journalists by providing false data to control public opinion, so you should always protect yourself from this.
Contrast the information
You will not be able to assemble a case with only one source, you will need several of them to create a solid and informed explanation of the facts as they are. Contrasting the information from one and the other is important to find inconsistencies in the version of any of them . The golden rule in the media of yesteryear was that no information would be considered true without first being confirmed by two or more sources of weight.
This should not only be done with a research paper, but with any news or information that you want to inform the public. So whether you’re investigating embezzlement in your local government , or making a report about breast cancer, contrasting all the information that comes into your hands is important >.