Surveillance of Journalists

The IFJ surveillance of journalists expert group is a body of officials and activists from affiliate unions who monitor and work to combat the covert surveillance of journalists.

We publicise examples of media workers being surveilled, encourage journalists to adopt defensive practices, and lobby governments and international bodies to create conditions where such surveillance is not lawful, not possible, or both.

The group is chaired by Tim Dawson, of the National Union Of Journalists In Britain and Ireland. He can be contacted via the IFJ.

At a meeting on 27 July 2021, and in reaction to recent revelations about the use of NSO’s Pegasus software to spy on journalists, the expert group adopted the following statement. It is seeking its adoption by journalists unions all over the world and will present this statement to national governments and international bodies in the Autumn of 2021.

IFJ Surveillance Expert group statement

“At the heart of much important journalism is the ability to guarantee sources that they may share information in confidence. It is by this means that reporters uncover inefficient bureaucracy, undetected criminality, and the corruption that undermines good governance.

Sophisticated tools of surveillance have the potential to undermine this, either by design or accident.

Digital technology provides multiplying possibilities for state agencies and others to undermine bonds of trust between journalists and their sources. Telephone records may be accessed. Electronic communications can be monitored. Historic information stored on digital platforms can be copied. Facial recognition technology can be used to link individuals in each others company. Artificial intelligence can be deployed to recognise patterns of contact.

The rights of whistleblowers should be defined in law. National and international law should also afford journalists the means to ensure discretion in their work. Where are state agency seeks to compel a journalist is legally required to disclose sources of information or other professionally obtained material, application should be in public and subject to judicial oversight.

Journalists must redouble efforts to safeguard their own data. This must include using multiple phones, including ‘burners’ that are less susceptible to Pegasus’ hacking, as well as adopting ‘tradecraft’ to ensure that their phones do not have the potential to betray their every move and provide a ringside seat for their most sensitive meetings.

The IFJ will urge affiliate unions to organise meetings/seminars of its members in coordination with other relevant professions to debate the right to know what kind of information their government is collecting on its citizens including journalists, on what scale and based on what legality and the scope, meaning or constitutionality of surveillance laws in their country.

Governments must enshrine in domestic law the inviolability of journalists’ communications both abstractly and in the framing of specific laws and regulations such as those on domestic surveillance. Any dilution of such protections should be resisted.

As an expert group we will reach out to lawyers/barristers, the medical profession, social workers, accountants and all other professions that rely on professional confidentiality, and build a strong and coordinated global movement to rein in the unchecked surveillance powers of our governments. 

The international community must build a regulatory regime that allows the inspection and regulation of any and all organisations supplying products that have the capacity to undermine such critical freedoms.”

News

Italy: Petition against attacks on Domani newspaper, and for media freedom

Three reporters at the Italian newspaper Domani – Giovanni Tizian, Nello Trocchia, Stefano Vergine - are facing up to 9 years in prison. They are under investigation by Perugia Prosecutor’s Office for allegedly having requested and received confidential documents from a public official, and for allegedly breaching the secrecy of the investigation through the request and publication of information contained in those documents.

Credit: Domani

The investigation started on October 2022, after Domani published articles outlining a conflict of interest concerning Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto. We revealed that for years, before being appointed minister, he was paid by the arm industry as an advisor. The minister has never denied the information we published. Yet, he filed a complaint to the Italian judicial authorities with the aim of identifying our alleged source.

Following its adoption by the European institutions, the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) aims to strengthen the protection of journalistic sources and strictly regulate the possibility for the judiciary to investigate these sources, under the guidance of an independent judge, and only in the context of investigations into a limited number of crimes. 

In a complete break with the spirit of the EMFA, the decision by the Perugia prosecutor's office to prosecute our reporters to identify their sources risks criminalising journalism.

What is happening to Domani has already been stigmatized by the main journalists' trade unions and by organizations such as Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana (FNSI), Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), European Federation of Journalist (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), International Press Institute (IPI), ARTICLE 19 Europe and OBC Transeuropa. 

Without the possibility of verifying pieces of news, and without sources leaking secret information, investigative journalism would be hugely limited. Likewise, the freedom of the press would be limited, to the detriment of the public’s right to be informed about news of public interest that political and economic power tries to hide.

We fear that the current investigation on the reporters represents an attempt to breach the confidentiality of journalistic sources, and to silence our investigative reporting on members of the current government.

It is not the first time that members of the current Italian government act against Domani and other Italian media: SLAPPs, claims for damages and intimidations are becoming more and more frequent in our country. With this call for support, we ask the Italian judicial and political authorities to respect the right to report, the freedom of the press and the public’s right to have independent media.

SIGNATORIES
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

  • Amnesty International Italia
  • ARTICLE 19
  • Association of European Journalists (AEJ)
  • Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Centre
  • Civic Initiatives (Serbia)
  • Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ)
  • Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
  • Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
  • Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (dju) in ver.di
  • DİSK Basın-İş (Turkish Press and Printing Employees Union)
  • Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ)
  • European Centre for Press & Media Freedom (ECMPF)
  • European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
  • Federación de Asociaciones de Periodistas de España (FAPE)
  • Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI)
  • Foundation Atelier for Community Transformation (ACT)
  • Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
  • GCD (The Turkish Association of Journalists)
  • Greenpeace Italia
  • Human Rights Center Ghent University – Dirk Voorhoof, professor emeritus, Freedom of Expression
  • Index on Censorship
  • Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS)
  • International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
  • International News Safety Institute (INSI)
  • International Press Institute (IPI)
  • Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann (Catherine Dunne, chair, writer)
  • Justice for Journalists (JFJ)
  • Libera Informazione
  • OBC Transeuropa
  • Pištaljka (The Whistle)
  • PEN International
  • RECLAIM
  • Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
  • Peace Institute (Ljubljana)
  • Society of Journalists (Warsaw)
  • South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
  • Statewatch
  • The Good Lobby (Italia)
  • The Turkish Association of Journalists (GCD)
  • Trade Union of Croatian Journalist (TUCJ)

MEDIA OUTLETS

  • Are we Europe
  • Balkan Insight
  • Dagospia – Roberto D'Agostino, editor in chief
  • Daraj – Alia Ibrahim, co-founder
  • Defapt.ro - Cătălin Prisăcariu, co-founder
  • Delfi Estonia – Urmo Soonvald, editor in chief
  • Deník Referendum – Jakub Patočka, editor in chief
  • Disclose – Ariane Lavrilleux, reporter and press freedom defender
  • elDiario.es
  • Environmental Investigative Forum (EIF)
  • European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) - Stefan Candea, co-founder and coordinator
  • Expresso - David Dinis, editor in chief
  • Gazeta Wyborcza
  • HVG
  • InfoLibre - Daniel Basteiro, editor in chief; Jesús Maraña, editorial director
  • Internazionale – Giovanni De Mauro, editor in chief
  • Investigate Europe – Alessia Cerantola, editorial director
  • IrpiMedia – Lorenzo Bagnoli, co-editor in chief
  • L’Espresso – Enrico Bellavia, editor in chief
  • Le Soir - Christophe Berti, editor in chief
  • Libération - Dov Alfon, editor in chief
  • Lighthouse Reports - Daniel Howden, founder and director
  • Magyar Hang - György Zsombor, editor in chief
  • Mediapart - Carine Fouteau, president and publishing editor
  • Nacional - Berislav Jelinic, editor in chief
  • Petrolio – Duilio Giammaria and the news desk
  • Piazzapulita – Corrado Formigli and the news desk
  • Presadiretta – Riccardo Iacona and the news desk
  • Politiken - Amalie Kestler, editor in chief
  • Radio anch’io – Giorgio Zanchini
  • Report – Sigfrido Ranucci and the news desk
  • Reporters United - Nikolas Leontopoulos, co-founder
  • Shomrim - Eyal Abrahamii, editor in chief
  • SourceMaterial – Leigh Baldwin, editor in chief
  • The Insider – Roman Dobrokhotov, editor in chief
  • TPI (The Post Internazionale) – Giulio Gambino, editor in chief
  • VG - Gard Steiro, editor in chief
  • Voxeurop

For more information, please contact IFJ on +32 2 235 22 16

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 146 countries

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