Here's Reporta, the mobile app designed to keep journalists safe
“Journalists covering conflict zones, working in repressive environments, or reporting on sensitive or highly charged issues are too often the targets of attacks.”
That is why the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) launched Reporta, a free personal safety app for for mobile devices that journalists working in potentially dangerous environments can utilize to quickly implement their security protocols.
Executive Director of IWMF Elisa Lees Muñoz disclosed this on Tuesday, when the app was launched in New York.
Reporta is available on iPhones and Android devices.
The app is designed specifically for journalists worldwide and available in six languages— Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Turkish.
“Reporta was developed with the goal to harness the power of the one piece of technology that most journalists use every day – a mobile phone,” Muñoz said.
“Now more than ever, it is critical to equip journalists with a free tool to help them stay safe and best positioned to continue to tell the significant stories of our time.”
Reporta was made possible by a grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation; and with support from Facebook, Al-Monitor and Inter-American Development Bank.
IWMF said it worked in consultation with journalists across five continents, global security experts, and other partners in developing Reporta.
Reporta was built by RevSquare.
How it works
Reporta empowers journalists to be proactive with their security protocols, making it easy to issue notifications containing photos, audio, or video to designated, pre-loaded contacts using the app’s three essential features:
An automated and customizable check-in system that allows journalists to provide key information about their location and status.
- A customizable alert function that allows journalists to let key contacts know when their safety or that of a colleague’s may be at risk.
- A SOS feature that can be used to send an emergency message with the touch of a button.
Reporta’s launch comes at a time when violence against journalists is on the rise. The last three years have been widely reported as the deadliest period on record. Too often, journalists reporting on corruption, conflicts, and other illegal or sensitive activities face threats of harassment, abduction, or even imprisonment.
Building on Reporta, the IWMF plans to launch ReportaPro, an enterprise-scaled platform with back-end capabilities specifically designed for media organizations using Reporta.
