James W. Foley Journalist Safety Curricula

The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation has developed journalist safety curricula for both undergraduate and graduate schools in order to better prepare our future journalists for their profession. Our goal is to integrate these resources into journalism and communications programs across the country and make them available online for educators, students, freelance journalists and other organizations that may find them useful.

We are grateful to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism for helping us develop our graduate materials, The James W. Foley Journalist Safety Guide, and Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication for helping us develop our undergraduate materials, The James W. Foley Journalism Safety Modules. We are also thankful for support from the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists Foundation in developing The James W. Foley Journalism Safety Modules.

THE JAMES W. FOLEY JOURNALISM SAFETY MODULES

The James W. Foley Journalism Safety Modules are intended to help educators at the undergraduate level create a culture that promotes safety for all journalism and communications students. In these 14 modules, students learn about completing risk assessments, responsibilities of newsroom managers, safety of female and minority journalists, covering civil unrest, emotional self-care, care of sources, interviewing hostile sources, understanding journalists’ rights, the importance of diversity in newsrooms, reporting on foreign conflicts, protecting digital data, dealing with online harassment, covering weather-related stories, reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic, specific risks of photojournalists and surviving hostage-taking or wrongful detention*. Each module is designed to be incorporated into part of a class period, a full class period, or multiple class periods, depending on the needs of the instructor. Instructors may use all of the suggested readings and videos or tailor the offerings to fit their specific course needs. Modules do not have to be followed in any linear pattern; rather, instructors should incorporate modules into existing courses based on how they mesh with the content of their course.

Addtionally, JWFLF developed a supplemental resources page for Lebanese universities implementing the James W. Foley Safety Modules into their journalism programs in the Fall 2023. These supplemental resources focus specifically on the MENA Region (Middle East and North Africa).

Arabic translation of the James W. Foley Journalism Safety Modules, developed by our partner the Samir Kassir Foundation’s SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom.

THE JAMES W. FOLEY JOURNALIST SAFETY GUIDE 

Designed for graduate students of journalism with five in-depth seminars, The James W. Foley Journalist Safety Guide explores lessons from the HBO documentary film Jim: The James Foley Story, conducting risk assessments, case studies from journalists in the field, covering civil unrest, and digital safety. Educators can download the full PDF version as well as individual seminars of the James W. Foley Journalist Safety Guide for planning purposes. In addition, the full Safety Guide is available for educators and students on the eThree platform (scroll down to access). On the eThree platform, the full curriculum is presented in an easy-to-use slide show format. This is perfect for use in the classroom, on laptops, and on mobile devices. 

Universities

In addition to Northwestern University and Marquette University, we are honored to work with the following universities who have implemented and/or expressed interest in our resources: 

Weber State University

Quinnipiac University

University of Central Missouri

University of Southern California

University of Central Florida

North Texas University

California State University - Long Beach

Stony Brook University

The City University of New York (CUNY)

Boston University John Carroll University

Middle Tennessee State University of Georgia

University of Minnesota University of Oregon

Western Illinois University California State University

DePaul University Elon University

Fordham University Morgan State University

Penn State University Purdue University

Samford University Stanford University

University of Michigan University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Utah

Questions about the curriculum?

Contact Tom Durkin
tom.durkin@jamesfoleyfoundation.org