Reuters will provide its journalists covering the upcoming general election with gas masks and helmets in case of unrest, according to the news outlet’s editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler.
Adler told the Press Gazette in the United Kingdom that his company, which has more than 2,500 journalists located in 200 places around the globe, is seriously concerned about their employees’ safety while covering the election in the U.S.
“Our concern about the safety of journalists in the U.S. is unprecedentedly high,” he said in an interview last week.
“My own observation, both here and around the world, is that wearing that big ‘PRESS’ on your chest is no longer as much of a protection as it might once have been.
“Sometimes the press are targets, or sometimes just the fact that they’re press is simply ignored. So while we’re certainly hoping there’s no violence, there’s been enough chatter about it that we’re going to be super prepared.”
The Press Gazette notes that dozens of journalists have sustained injuries, including two members of Reuters TV crew, while covering events in the United States in the last year, with one press photographer being permanently blinded in one eye, after reportedly being shot with rubber bullets by police while in Minneapolis.
“We have a very robust digital and physical security program in place,” noted Reginald Chua, the global managing editor of operations at Reuters. “And we’re doubling down on that ahead of this election.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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