Best Practices for News Organizations: How to Protect and Support Journalists Harassed Online

This guide distills two years of research, newsroom consultations, and expert input into a clear set of best practices for leaders, managers, and editors who want to protect and support their staff and freelancers facing online abuse.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A comprehensive overview of online harassment tactics — including doxing, impersonation, cyber mobs, and the ways abuse escalates.

• Guidance grounded in lived experience from women journalists and reporters from groups disproportionately targeted for their identity or the beats they cover.

• Practical steps news organizations can take to safeguard their teams — even with limited resources.

• Strategies to prevent self-censorship and burnout, ensuring journalists can continue to do their work safely and confidently.

• A framework for defending press freedom by strengthening your organization’s preparedness, protocols, and support systems.

• Contributions from 90+ organizations in the Coalition Against Online Violence (CAOV), pulling from global expertise, digital safety training, and real newsroom case studies.

This guide is designed for newsroom leaders, editors, HR teams, and managers—especially those committed to building safe, diverse, and equitable news organizations.

It was developed by the Newsroom Working Group of the Coalition Against Online Violence (CAOV), led by PEN America, and shaped through collaboration with more than a dozen press-freedom and civil-society organizations, including:

• ACOS Alliance

• International Press Institute

• WAN-IFRA

• 100 Days in Appalachia

• Women’s Media Center

• Columbia University’s Data Science Institute

• Canadian Association of Journalists

• Freedom of the Press Foundation

• Women in Journalism

• Vita Activa

• Stop Online Violence Against Women

• ARIJ (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism)

The guide reflects the collective expertise of industry leaders, digital safety specialists, and journalists who have faced online abuse firsthand.
It also incorporates extensive feedback from newsroom staff and freelancers who understand the urgency and impact of this issue.

At its core, the guide is built for organizations that believe protecting their people is essential to protecting press freedom.

This guide is designed to help newsrooms address online abuse in practical, flexible ways—no matter your size, capacity, or resources. Because every organization’s realities differ, think of this as a menu of best practices you can adapt rather than a rigid checklist. Start with what feels achievable, adjust recommendations to your context, and build over time.

Inside the guide, you’ll find:

• Two core sections:

  • Best Practices for Organizational Leaders (policies, culture, budgets)

  • Best Practices for Managers and Editors (direct support for staff and freelancers)

• Clear breakdowns for each best practice, including:

  • What the recommendation is

  • Why it matters

  • How to implement it

  • Cost and organizational size considerations

  • Resources and real-world examples

• Cost indicators to help you prioritize:

  • $ – free or low cost; may require modest staff time

  • $$ – moderate staff time and financial investment

  • $$$ – significant investment of time and resources

No matter where you begin, each step you adopt will help your newsroom better prevent, respond to, and mitigate online harassment—strengthening staff safety, improving retention, and supporting more resilient, equitable journalism.