Critical New Tools in the Fight to Protect Journalists, Mitigate Risks Covering Dangerous Stories

An Irish-based technology company developing a new system to protect people working in dangerous situations has offered to make the method available to members of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA) and to American journalists to help mitigate reporting risks.

The system, called Vertex Pro, was one of many new ideas, innovations and solutions explored when the AFPC hosted the 2023 Press Freedom Forum with media, business, government, UN, and NGO leaders in May in New York City—marking World Press Freedom Day and raising awareness about expanding tools to help journalists covering perilous stories. 

“Vertex Pro would tailor to the basic needs of journalists when facing high-risk situations,” said Sam Levy, a global security expert and director of Yubix Ltd., the company that created the system to help enhance security for corporate executives, government officials and global organizations.

The AFPC and Yubix are partnering to find new ways to mitigate risks for journalists covering hazardous stories, conflict and wars, or working in authoritarian countries. Levy has offered to make Buzz Now—and its unique features—available to AFPC members for free.

The collaboration will begin with a Webinar hosted by the AFPC at 10 a.m. (EST) Thursday, July 20, “Critical New Tools in the Fight to Protect Journalists, at which Levy will describe the Buzz Now tool and the Vertex Pro system and how they can help journalists better protect themselves in difficult and dangerous environments. 

“We would provide a unique platform and a service solution to help with the safety and well-being of journalists,” Levy explained. “Buzz Now would allow the rapid sharing of critical information through Hints, Tips, Spots and Alerts for journalists to mitigate risks in real-time.

“The platform would communicate critical elements of information pertaining to their safety, security and vital interests,” he added, “in a very efficient way of sharing that would serve as an educational tool. The tool also promotes community engagement that is so critical for journalists. In addition, the service works internationally and has incredible features.”

Vertex Pro uses cutting edge methods and real-time data to provide security for individuals working in high-risk field situations as well as a feature for evacuation planning and possible escape routes, should the dangers grow too great too quickly.

“High-risk situations, as you know, require immediate response and immediate targeted reactions, because journalists could fall into very serious scenarios that could endanger their lives,” added Levy, speaking on The Foreign Press Podcast AFPC series dated May 3 marking World Press Freedom Day. He emphasized the system was designed for “both prevention and response,” noting that, ideally, it is best to prevent an emergency situation, but if one occurs, this system can deal with that as well.

Levy has extensive experience in counterterrorism, intelligence, crisis management and operational behavior in high-risk areas, and he has served as a leading security consultant for the past 25 years to various organizations around the world.

He participated in a panel at the AFPC’s Press Freedom Forum in May to discuss his company’s system, its potential to be an invaluable tool for journalists working in dangerous areas and his hopes that it could one day be a useful training tool for reporters and editors at major newspapers, TV networks, digital news outlets and foreign press organizations.

The product has a risk-identification and mitigation module which identifies threats and irregularities that help individuals detect situations that could endanger their safety. The system also offers an emergency module for multiple scenarios to provide real-time options for key decisions on safety, escape or extraction routes, if needed, and a media module to send and receive images and video to and from authorities or the home office.

Just in the present global moment, it could be useful for reporters covering Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine, journalists facing threats of kidnapping and murder in Mexico, or media workers trying to do their jobs in risky authoritarian countries like Russia, China or Iran. 

One prime example of the dangers journalists face was the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia while on assignment, and the false allegations of espionage he faces that have left him languishing in a Russian prison since he was wrongfully detained March 29. 

Another was the brutal murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, a Saudi national based in the U.S. who had written critically about the government of Saudi Arabia. A UN investigation found the murder "constituted an extrajudicial killing for which the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible" and said there was “credible evidence” that warranted an investigation of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other top kingdom officials.

One of the key features of the Vertex Pro system is it could be used to help alert reporters with early warnings about developing threats. It could also help detect whether they are being followed or even surveilled by governments and other actors, and if so, provide journalists with some preventative options and risk-mitigating strategies. And the system’s emergency module can assist with information and data that might help reporters better decide if they need to pull the plug and escape a hazardous environment and how to do so more safely.

The system would also be useful for American and foreign reporters covering dangerous stories in the United States, including the ongoing horror of active shooters. These technologies also could be helpful for schools, universities, retail stores and other organizations trying to mitigate risks. It could also be helpful for journalists covering crime stories or violent demonstrations.

The killings of journalists rose to a new high last year, with 67 lost globally, along with attacks on press freedom by governments using criminal justice systems to expand criminal and civil defamation measures, or others using intimidating lawsuits aimed at stifling free expression. The numbers of reporters imprisoned around the world also set a record last year — 363 as of Dec. 1 — and that risk continues to threaten a free press. 

Roundtable discussions at the AFPC Press Freedom Forum outlined a variety of ideas and solutions to keep reporters safer, and they included supporting more training of journalists in security and hazardous environment courses--especially freelancers—teaching them how to assess risks and avoid particularly dangerous situations and how to deal with trauma. 

The AFPC is working to support journalists fighting for #PressFreedom around the world, and the risks have hardly ever been greater. The Association of #ForeignPress Correspondents marked #pressfreedomday by singling out Mexico investigative journalists with a $10,000 grant to support their work at Quinto Elemento Lab #quintoelementolab -- hosting @quintoelab Co-Founder Alejandra Xanic, and #washingtonpost Senior Associate Editor Lally Weymouth, #UNESCO Assistant Director General for Communications and Information Dr. Tawfik Jelassi and other experts working for solutions at the @foreignpressusa Press Freedom Forum in New York.