Journalists depend on the Internet and digital communications for research, interaction and news distribution. The widespread use of Internet and social media for news distribution, interaction with audiences without basic digital safeguards has facilitated harassment against journalists in online settings by a variety of means, including by disseminating threats and disinformation, stalking and broadcasting private or personally identifiable information.

Bareedo Platform Somalia concludes two-day training for 37 journalists, bloggers and media personnel in Kismayo, Jubaland on December 21, 2020 to strengthen their digital security knowledge and help them defeat the growing digital threats and do their vital work safely and effectively and make their families and their sources considerably more secure.

Similar trainings were held in Mogadishu and Garowe last weeks and this is a response to the growing online harassment and censorship against journalists and social rights activists in Somalia.

Training was delivered by our digital rights team and an expert with competence and experience in digital security who have been involved in media capacity building and media literacy work for more than ten years and have trained hundreds of journalists and citizen media makers in 5 countries.

Bareedo Platform Somalia established a desk that will be working with journalists and media organizations after the training using secure communication methods to develop effective and resilient practices for digital security and collect the relevant data and information of online threats, censorship and abuse against journalists in Somalia to increase awareness around digital security issues in the face of shrinking online spaces.

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Note: Some participants are excluded from the pictures due to security reasons