2024 Scheidel Lecture: Can Journalists Be Safe in a Violent World?

2024 Scheidel Lecture: "Can Journalists Be Safe in a Violent World?" with Dr. Silvio Waisbord

A long-standing tradition since 1998, this event honors Professor Thomas Scheidel’s lifetime of scholarship, teaching, and academic leadership by bringing distinguished scholars to the UW Department of Communication to meet and engage with faculty, students, and our broader UW and Seattle community.

The safety of journalists is one of the most formidable challenges for press freedom and democracy around the world. It is the result of the combination of various forms of violence intended to break journalists’ sense of security and autonomy – the ability to control their work. Threats to safety drive journalists to self-censorship – to use extreme caution in their work, including the selection of stories and sources. Here I propose that the problem of journalists’ safety is worse and more complex today than in the recent past. This explains both why the problem has received growing attention globally, and why it is harder to find solutions. A growing academic and grey literature continues to demonstrate the multiple dimensions of the problem, as well as the challenges for finding and implementing effective, sustainable solutions to confront a multidimensional problem in various contexts. Although there are no easy, proven approaches to reduce violence, it is necessary to step up actions to protect and support journalists, that require collective actions by news organizations, freedom of expression organizations, digital companies, and governments.

Silvio Waisbord is Professor at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. He is President and Fellow of the International Communication Association. He is the Editor of the International Journal of Communication. He is the author and editor of nineteen books, as well as articles on journalism and politics, communication studies, media policy, and communication for social change. He is the author of the forthcoming Introduction to Journalism (Polity) and co-editor (with TJ Billard) of Public Scholarship in Communication Studies (U of Illinois Press, 2024). He served as Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University (2020-2023). Also, he is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Communication and the International Journal of Press/Politics. Waisbord received a Licenciatura in Sociology from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and a Ph.D in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego.

This event will be held in the Walker-Ames Room of Kane Hall (KNE). Please mark your calendars and join us for a reception, talk, and Q&A with Dr. Waisbord.

Host or Publisher UW Department of Communication