Dealing With Death Threats

Survival Tips For Journalist
(Part 1 of 6 parts)

by RECTO I. VIDAL

This corner just attended a one-day seminar on “Reporting On Extra-Judicial Killings” sponsored by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines under the Inquirer Correspondent Nestor Burgos, the NUJP national chairman.

Due to the need, relevance and timeliness of said topic for the members of the Aklan Tri–Media, this writer saw it fit and proper to share and re-echo some lessons learned from the said workshop held in Iloilo City, last month. These tips could somehow help our media colleagues in dealing with any dangerous time. These are:

1. Write down the exact wording of the threat. Include details about how the threat is received. Doing
this enables one to provide
police a thorough report;

2. Threat should be taken carefully. Immediately inform superiors, colleagues, and family members regarding the incident;

3. Create a lot of noise about the threat. Seek support from press organizations and other media groups. Request news organizations to publicize it;

4. Save threat sent via text in your phone memory to have a support document when reporting to proper authorities;

5. If threats became imminent, consider temporarily moving to another place; and

6. Request for police protection only when absolutely necessary, recommend police officer in your area of your trust.

Inquirer correspondent Nestor Burgos confirmed with this writer that the NUJP will conduct a 2-day safety training workshop for Aklan and Capiz journalists in due time. Burgos is the new NUJP national chairman. According to him, the venue of the workshop is Aklan.

It is expected this kind of training will re-tool Aklan journalists. They will be better equipped with much improved skills in dealing with various kinds of harassments that have become prevalent and pervasive in the provinces.

(Next Issue: How to deal with surveillance. Watch out for it!) /MP