Summary of the Problem
Violence against journalists often
creates a culture of self-censorship,
journalists may choose not to report
on particular issues, organizations or
people, or may not visit certain places
for reporting.
Summary of the Problem
There are a wide range of national and international
journalist support organizations who collect information
about different kinds of violence against journalists. Many
of these organizations collect information independently
and without coordination, according to different data
standards, and according to their own organizational
priorities. They do so through a range of formal and
informal networks and regular review of media reports.
National level journalist support organizations share
information with international support organizations, but
often in an ad hoc or non-systematic way.
Summary of the Problem
• Journalists in the field may or may not know how to
contact national or international level journalism support
organizations to report incidents. Even when they make
reports they may provide only partial information that
makes it harder for journalist support organizations to
verify or prioritize cases.
• If journalists cannot quickly report incidents for
themselves or others because they don’t know how (or
are concerned about lack of security of comms) they may
lose motivation to report cases. This may lead to
journalists being attacked with no redress.
Summary of the Proposed Solution
• ACCESSIBILITY: The incident reporting tool needs to be
easily accessible to journalists in remote locations. Other
barriers to entry should be low, eg preferably should not
involve hard to use tools; any app or other download
required should be quick and simple. Many journalists
carry mobile phones and mobile networks are more
widespread than other communications, and so a mobile
+ web solution is desirable.
• SECURITY: The tool should allow journalists to report
information securely where that is important. Some
situations may not require secure reporting, but many
will.
Summary of the Proposed Solution
• DATA: The tool should facilitate journalists reporting
sufficient core data to allow quick or effective follow-up.
In addition to text data, the tool should allow photos and
other media files to be uploaded so that they form part of
the report and so that those files can be deleted from
local devices. The data collection will be based on a data
standard agreed by participating journalist support orgs.
• DATABASE: The reports with associated files will be
stored securely. The database will be common resource
for different journalist support organizations, but with
limited access.
Summary of the Proposed Solution
• ALERTS: The system will send an alert to relevant
national and international organizations based on data in
the report and preferences of support organizations.
• VISUALIZATION: The database could allow visualization
or other presentation of reports. The data collection
standard will include geo-data (where possible).
• PHASED APPROACH: Get a simple tool out there, while
working on a more systematic solution.
Martus:
Helping human rights advocates protect, manage,
and effectively utilize information
The Martus Workspace
Choose different
configurations based on the
needs of your organization
HQ
FD
FD
FD
Martus is highly customizable
Create charts in Martus
You can enter text as well as choosing attachments of any type on yo
phone.
More mobility: Mobile Martus
Martus for Android
• Write-only
• Interacts with other
mobile Apps
• Attach files
• Saves bulletins to
server
• Download saved
bulletins on desktop
More mobility: Mobile Martus
The main Martus screen allows you to create bulletins, select if you
want to use Tor, and set various menu and settings options.
Backing up to the servers
Secure
Martus Server
Mobile
Martus
journalist
app
Central Database
More mobility: Mobile Martus
Alternately, you can “Send to Martus” directly from most other
applications on your phone.
Text and attachments in the Martus bulletin are encrypted before
Below is an example of sending a photo to Martus from your Gallery.
sending to the Martus server.
Existing solutions or relevant links
There are a range of organizations collecting this data, they have greater or
lesser technical focus, but some could advise on the data they need,
modifications to data standards, and other features. Eg CPJ, IFJ, RSF, ICRC etc.
Human rights organizations that focus on other thematic areas that have
experience in data collection and incident reporting may have useful input.
Follow-on Actions
• Work with the UN Action Plan organizations so that this system can be
integrated into that work.
• Work with international and national journalist support organizations to
publicize the tool within their networks.
• Work with media development and security training organizations to
publicize the tool and use it as part of their training plans.
• Work with larger media organizations in target countries to make the tools
known/available to their employees.
• Seeks funds/support from donors/foundations for further development.