Digital Security for the Present-Day Journalist

Workplace practices for journalists involve the collection or generation, processing, storing and sharing of data during the lifecycle of any news story. Today’s digital workplaces generate reams of data which are normally stored in a digital format on various platforms and devices by a journalist and media organisations. This digital data can be scraped programmatically from websites, apps, intranet, messaging applications and social media accounts by motivated individuals, organisations or state/non-state actors and agencies. New media has given tremendous power to third-party data brokers to collect myriad personal and non-personal data without the concept of ‘owner consent’ and this data available to threat actors can not only create a 360-degree profile of a journalist but can also put the journalist of today in grave bodily harm and/or financial and reputational loss. As digital engagement in workplaces increases and as convergence of personal and professional speeds up, it is important for a journalist in a digital data field world to understand how the new media technology works and how to engage with it responsibly. This chapter discusses the various facets of the new media world and the generation, collection, processing and sharing of digital data along with the various threats and threat actors a journalist may face during the course of his or her work. The chapter also discusses some best digital security practices and how to avoid the obvious pitfalls during the process of constructing a story.