By Alana Barton
Speaking at a recent panel about the safety of journalists in hostile environments, current IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer fellow Jenny Manrique of Colombia described how working as a regional reporter in a dangerous country can stifle a free press. Manrique reported from provincial areas like the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia and was based in Bucaramanga.
Regional reporters often lack the support networks and prominence of journalists from larger cities, she said. “In the provinces…the violence never goes away. Deaths are daily. Sometimes those corpses have the name of your friends, your sources, your colleagues.”
Threats against sources and family can be emotionally more difficult to endure than those against personal safety, she said, and it is impossible to protect oneself when writing about government corruption and paramilitary activity. “If someone is doing an investigation about the secret police (DAS), how can one trust the protection of bodyguards assigned by them?” she asked.
Armed Groups Know Your Family
“Every time I came back to the paramilitary topic, I received threats,” said Manrique. “Armed groups know who your family is, where you live, your daily routine.”
In that kind of environment many journalists censor themselves, she said. In Colombia, the warring factions make sure journalists know they are being watched. “[They] began calling me daily to describe the clothes I had been wearing.”
At one point, Manrique was forced to relocate to a “safe house” for six months to protect herself, she said.
Manrique credited press freedom organizations with allowing her and other reporters to continue their work, sometimes providing resources for journalists forced to relocate. When Manrique moved into the safe house, she received financial and strategic help from the Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (FLIP), which assisted her in travel planning and provided support materials to help her apply for security protection from the Colombian secret police. (People who receive death threats can ask for protection, but it can take months to process requests.) Manrique also received assistance from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which provided a housing stipend during her relocation.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
It is important to prepare journalists for potential danger with stress training and therapy, Manrique said. After developing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she said she learned the necessity, but also the inaccessibility, of mental health care for journalists. “There is not a single program which addresses the unassisted mental health of reporters and the importance of being trained in the coverage of trauma and violence,” she said.
Manrique attributed the lack of mental health care in Colombia to the isolation and danger of rural areas where journalists are most likely to experience trauma, as well as a cultural stigma associated with psychological challenges. “We have a culture of not talking about the issue,” she said. “A journalist should be able to say ‘I think I could need mental health assistance and I know where to look for it.”
Of all journalists killed while on assignment in recent years, “only one in four died covering war and other conflict,” said Rodney Pinder, director of the International News Safety Institute, who was also on the panel. “The majority died in peacetime in their own countries.”
Manrique is now in New York for an internship at The New York Times, which is part of her fellowship. Until recently she was a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for International Studies, which is another part of the fellowship.
She was featured on a panel held at the U.S. Congress and sponsored by the Center for Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy in observance of World Press Freedom Day.
Alana Barton is an intern at the International Women’s Media Foundation.