2024 was an intense year for journalists.
Reporters covered elections in more than 60 countries, capped by the U.S. results that will bring Donald Trump back to the presidency in January. Russia’s war on Ukraine has continued, and Israel's war with Hamas expanded to Lebanon and deepened the humanitarian suffering in Gaza. Extreme weather events caused widespread destruction in Spain and the U.S., bringing home the growing costs of climate change. And in just the past month, the 50-year rule of the Assad family came crashing down as rebels swept into the country’s capital.
Journalists have responded quickly to report on these events even as they face increased repression from state actors, a collapse in public trust, and the rampant spread of disinformation online. Journalists’ jobs, to put mildly, have not been easy this year.
Through our Crisis Reporting Forum at IJNet, we hosted live training sessions and discussions to help journalists stay on top of these major global developments. In our “IJNet Conversations” series launched this year, we reached out to experts and writers in the IJNet network to offer their expertise and advice for journalists on the fundamentals of the trade.
Here are recaps of six crisis reporting sessions and recordings of four practical resources for journalists that remain relevant heading into 2025:
Crisis reporting resources
Journalists speak to the challenges of covering the Israel-Hamas war
The devastating Israel-Hamas war surpassed its one-year mark in October. Humanitarian conditions in Gaza have continued to deteriorate, especially in northern Gaza, where Israeli authorities have blocked some humanitarian aid while other aid that has made it into Gaza has been ransacked by armed groups, leading to warnings of famine. In the spring, pro-Palestine campus protests swept across U.S. colleges, and in the fall Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The Iran-backed militia group, Hezbollah, and Israel agreed to a ceasefire in late November.
In May, we spoke to three journalists from Israel and Palestine on the ways they’re keeping eyes on the conflict, the challenges they face, and their advice for reporting on it accurately and ethically.
Advice for journalists forced into exile
The start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to an exodus of independent newspapers and journalists from the country. Russian journalists who fled continue to report independently, joining a growing trend of “exiled media” globally finding ways to reach audiences in their home countries while reporting from abroad.
In June, we spoke with two journalists from the Network of Exiled Media Outlets (NEMO), with whom we partnered to create our Exiled Media Toolkit, about their advice for journalists newly in exile, including how to keep outlets financially viable, ways to reach audiences in their home countries, and more.
Key reporting advice from a year of elections worldwide
Over half of the world’s population voted in elections this year. In October, we brought together journalists from Germany, South Africa and Venezuela to share their reflections and advice from reporting on elections in their countries.
One major challenge journalists faced was striking a balance between accurately reporting on an antidemocratic party's platform and inadvertently amplifying its message, said Laura Goudkamp, who reported on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
“Our role is to inform the public so they can make informed decisions, and we need to find better ways to communicate effectively when a candidate or action threatens democratic values,” echoed Venezuelan journalist Dariela Sosa.
Toward an audience-centric future for journalism
As journalists strive to cover global crises, finding how to reach audiences — many of whom are turning to alternative sources of information in podcasts or simply tuning out of the news entirely — is paramount.
In July, members of the News Alchemists — a collective of journalists rethinking how to bring audiences back to the news — discussed how to create a future for journalism that places audiences’ content needs first.
“We need to have a more personalized and a more intense relationship with people, to be meaningful and to have a place in this media landscape in the future, to stay relevant for the next 100 years,” said Annika Ruoranen, head of digital services for the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Yle.
Guidelines for ethical reporting on children in conflict
Roughly one in six children live in conflict zones today. Despite comprising only 25% of the world’s population, children account for almost half of the world’s refugees.
Reporting on children in conflict zones requires journalists to take a trauma-informed approach so as not to re-traumatize them, for instance during interviews, when depicting them in images, and more.
“[When] we are working in very sensitive areas, crisis areas, our mission and our coverage shouldn't make children’s lives harder. It's already very hard and it's already very difficult,” said Hadeel Arja, founder of Tiny Hand and author of the Children First reporting guide, in our Forum session with the Dart Center.
Fundamentals of open-source intelligence for journalists
Investigative journalism plays an important role in uncovering war crimes and crimes against humanity, and holding governments to account. An important tool of the trade for investigative journalists is open-source intelligence (OSINT), or the gathering and analysis of publicly available information, which can be used to expose corruption, sanctions evasion, massacres and more.
Our October session with OSINT pioneers at Bellingcat dived into two case studies — a massacre allegedly carried out by Ethiopian troops against civilians in the country’s Tigray region, and stolen grain from occupied Ukraine bypassing U.N. sanctions — to show how journalists can use OSINT data to reveal stories that powerful actors want hidden.
“You don’t have to be a tech wizard or spend lots of money to conduct open-source investigations,” said Bellingcat’s Eoghan Macguire. “With simple online tools, we were able to do something really powerful.”
Practical resources
8 solutions for mitigating gender bias in AI-assisted news
AI has been a frequent topic of conversation in newsrooms since OpenAi’s launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. Debates have ranged from the negative, such as its potential to take journalists’ jobs or increase the spread of disinformation, to positive applications for streamlining news gathering and reaching new audiences.
AI today has at least one major flaw, according to IJNet contributor Luba Kassova: its results often quiet, distort and silence the voices of underrepresented groups, especially women and women of color.
Here is her advice to journalists using AI on how they can mitigate this bias, from an industry level all the way down to actions an individual journalist can take:
Breaking into journalism: how to get your first byline
Breaking into journalism can be hard. Whether you’re a student just out of college trying your hand at freelancing or someone making a mid-career switch to journalism, getting your first byline to build your career off of can seem an impossible challenge.
Frequent IJNet contributor Cristiana Bedei has some advice that can help. From building a portfolio outside of traditional media to finding your unique angle on a story, watch our session with key advice on getting that first “yes” to a pitch:
How journalists can decode ‘algospeak’ on social media
“Algospeak” is an ever-evolving, coded language, born from the need to circumvent the unpredictable moderation of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It’s not just a trend — and its use is reshaping how information is exchanged and understood online.
Independent journalist Iris Pase, who has encountered algospeak frequently in her own work, spoke to the Forum about what to know about algospeak, why it's important for journalists to be paying attention, and more:
Tips for journalists covering a conference
From the global COP conferences on climate change to smaller, issue-specific gatherings, conferences are an important venue for journalists to speak to sources, find new stories, and more.
On the Forum we spoke with South Africa freelance journalist Elna Schütz about how to get the most out of your time at a conference, tips to make the experience less overwhelming, and where to look for the hidden stories that might emerge from your experience:
This article was first published on IJNet.
Photo by Recep Tayyip Çelik via Pexels.