The journalists’ associations from the Western Balkan countries, supported by the European Commission, have established the platform Safejournalists.net to jointly monitor media legislation and practice in their countries and engage in advancing the legal and institutional
environment in which the journalists and other media professionals work.
The first qualitative research tool – Indicators on the level of media freedom and journalists’ safety, was first developed in 2016 and gradually fine-tuned over the years. It is composed of three groups of indicators: (A) Legal protection, (B) Journalists’ position in the newsroom, and (C) Journalists’ safety. Based on this monitoring tool, a total of seven assessments were published, the last one for 2022.
The quantitative research tool – Journalists’ Safety Index, was developed in 2020 and tested in 2021. It is designed to ‘measure’ the changes in the environment that have direct or indirect impact on how safe journalists and other media actors feel when practicing their profession. It is composed of four groups of indicators: (1) Legal and Organisational Environment, (2) Due Prevention, (3) Due Process, and (4) Actual Safety.Based on this tool, a total of three research cycles were implemented: 2020 (pilot year), 2021 and 2022.
Starting from 2023, the Safejournalists.net will combine the two (qualitative and quantitative) research tools into one single advocacy research project – Indicators on the level of media freedom and Journalists’ Safety Index. The platform monitors the situation in seven countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia.