Community-rooted journalism safety training takes shape in Mindanao
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 13 July) — Twelve journalists from various parts of Mindanao gathered in Davao City last week co-create a localized media safety curriculum that would help journalists in their reportage.
“This isn’t just a safety training. This is about co-owning a framework that responds to our own risks, in our own language, and in our own region,” said Dr. Jose Jowel Canuday, an anthropologist who heads the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn), the publisher of MindaNews.
Organized by the Media Impact Philippines project, the two-day “Media Safety Module Co-Creation Lab and Trainer Development Workshop for Journalists in BARMM/Mindanao,” held at Rogen Inn from July 4 to 6 brought together journalists, trainers, and safety advocates from various parts of Mindanao to review and improve existing safety training modules.
The workshop sought to embed regional context into journalist safety curricula. It also aimed to ensure that media safety goes beyond mere physical safety but also viewed from the psychosocial, legal and socio-cultural lenses.
The workshop was designed to integrate trauma-informed strategies, legal frameworks, and socio-cultural sensitivity, while preparing participants to lead future trainings for colleagues covering high-risk beats such as conflict, natural disasters, and gender-based violence.
Participants took part in an activity called Mapping Our Vulnerabilities, where they shared reflections on their lived experiences and newsroom risks. Facilitators from MIJ, along with psychosocial expert Dr. Rhodora Gail Ilagan, led sessions that surfaced common challenges such as trauma from covering violence, lack of support for freelancers, online harassment, and fears of legal retaliation.
Ilagan guided the participants in understanding from the psychosocial lens the emotional and mental impact of high-risk reporting; how trauma manifests in themselves, sources, and audiences; and the importance of peer support, regulation, and resilience in fieldwork.
(L to R) Journalists Queenie Casimiro, Vina Araneta-Pilapil, Ivy Mangadlao and Kath Cortez and JB Deveza, Bong Sarmiento and Rommel Lopez await instructions during one of the sessions of the Media Safety Module Co-Creation Lab and Trainer Development Workshop. MindaNews photo by ALYSSA ILAGUISON
Atty. Romeo Cabarde of the Ateneo Public Interest and Legal Advocacy Center (APILA) discussed journalists’ legal protections, the rights under the Constitution, international law, and key legislations such as the Anti-Torture Act (RA 9745), the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Law (RA 10353), the Anti-Terrorism Act (RA 11479), and child protection laws (RA 11188). Participants were encouraged to integrate these laws not only for legal literacy but also as tools for ethical reporting.
“We often think of laws as something that might be used against us. But this session reminded us that they can also be armor, to protect ourselves, our sources, and our communities,” said Rommel Lopez, Editor of PressOne PH.
Participants later worked in breakout groups to redesign six key safety modules: reporting in hostile environments, climate disaster coverage, ethical and safe reporting on children and youth, gender-based attacks and digital harassment, field simulations, and newsroom sustainability.
To make legal concepts more accessible and grounded, participants suggested using case studies as a teaching tool—while being careful not to disclose sensitive details that could retraumatize those involved.
Canuday challenged trainers to recognize the embedded risks that journalists face based on their gender, religion, language, or ethnicity. He emphasized how these identities shape both the threats journalists encounter and their ability to access justice.
Canuday said media safety should also consider community protection. He explained how the socio-cultural lens could help journalists respect and navigate local cultural practices- faith, language, kinship, gender roles; recognize that risks and responsibilities differ based on identity and avoid re-traumatization or harm due to cultural misunderstanding.
Participants later worked in breakout groups to redesign six key safety modules: reporting in hostile environments, climate disaster coverage, ethical and safe reporting on children and youth, gender-based attacks and digital harassment, field simulations, and newsroom sustainability.
Participants also highlighted the need for culturally sensitive facilitation, especially when training reporters working in Muslim-majority areas.
The focus shifted to newsroom policies and collective care. Participants co-developed debriefing tools, peer support systems, and a practical safety checklist tailored for freelancers—who are often excluded from formal institutional protections.
“Walang newsroom, walang HR. Kapwa mo rin ang bubuhat sa’yo,” said Vina Araneta-Pilapil, head of news and operations at PTV Davao. She emphasized how freelancers often have no one else to rely on but each other.
Facilitators also committed to developing a tip sheet for coverage before, during, and after assignments in volatile contexts.
The timing of the workshop was crucial. The first Bangsamoro parliamentary election, reset twice, will be held on October 13. Voters are supposed to elect 80 members of Parliament – 40 party-list representatives, 32 single district representatives and eight sectoral representatives. With 80 seats to be filled in a still-transitioning autonomous government, journalists are expected to play a vital role in informing the public and holding power to account.
Jill Palarca, Training Officer of the project, emphasized the importance of holistic safety, noting that in a region like BARMM, where the story is still being written, journalists must be protected not only physically but also emotionally, legally, and professionally.
The co-creation lab and workshop is a component of the Media Impact Philippines which is implemented by the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn), publisher of MindaNews, with support from International Media Support (IMS), the European Union, and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
The activity is part of a broader effort by MinJourn and IMS to build a foundation for training future journalists in Mindanao through locally led, community-based programs rooted in the realities of reporting in the region.
Participants are expected to roll out pilot training modules in the coming months, including trauma-informed and gender-sensitive safety tracks for journalists in conflict-affected areas.
As the event closed with laughter, reflections, and shared meals, the participants left not just with frameworks and outputs but with a commitment to make safety in journalism not just a policy or a checklist but a culture. (Marithe Franchesca Lalican & Zoe Hontiveros, MindaNews interns)
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