Journalism Source of Safety, J-SOS, is now publicly accessible. J-SOS is an online toolkit that offers trauma-informed and identity-aware journalist safety checklists, tips, gear advice and other necessary security information for all journalists, including freelancers and students, with an emphasis on equity and ethics. It is currently available in English, but I hope to build out the tool to offer additional languages in future.
As I wrap up my RJI Fellowship, I am thinking of 24-year-old Spectrum News reporter Dylan Lyons who was shot and killed in Orlando on Feb. 22 while reporting on a shooting. Lyons — like so many journalists whose assignments require them to be in unsafe situations and places — was just trying to do his job of reporting for a community when that job turned deadly.
