In 2024, RSF equipped over 640 journalists and 140 media outlets in conflict zones
In 2024 alone, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) provided equipment to over 640 journalists and 140 media outlets in areas with heavy armed conflict, where journalism comes at an exorbitant human cost. This comes in addition to RSF’s aid to media workers through support programs and press freedom centres. These projects respond to a growing demand for more protection from journalists in the world’s most dangerous zones
From protective equipment (helmets, vests, first-aid kits) to energy equipment (solar batteries, generators, charging stations) and professional equipment (cameras, computers, telephones), RSF is committed to providing journalists in armed conflict zones with the equipment they need to continue reporting the news.
RSF intensified its efforts in 2024, in response to the alarming escalation of attacks against journalists — particularly in conflict zones, where half of the journalist killings recorded this year took place. To better protect those who keep us informed, our organisation equips, trains, and supports them. Over 600 journalists benefitted from our support for their coverage of war zones this year. The inauguration of our new press freedom centres reflects our commitment to effectively addressing the urgent needs of journalists on the ground.
In Palestine, in hard-to-reach areas like Gaza — where over 145 journalists have been killed since October 2023 by the Israeli army — RSF supported journalists covering the war by providing, among other things, workspaces, professional equipment, and protective gear.
To help journalists covering the war in Gaza, which has spread to the wider region, RSF opened a press freedom centre in Beirut which distributes protective equipment and provides resources tailored to the specific needs of journalists in the area.
To help counter the brutal repression of journalists by Myanmar’s military junta, RSF launched a support program in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second-largest city, to support Myanmar journalists both in exile and within the country. The program provides professional material and energy equipment, and offers training in mobile journalism and physical, digital, and psychological safety. The centre also aids media workers facing particularly high risks.
Over 120 Ukrainian media outlets supported in a time of war
Since the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, the war in Ukraine has plunged the Ukrainian media into an unprecedented crisis. Among the many challenges now facing Ukraine’s media workers, Russian strikes on energy infrastructure cause regular power outages, forcing journalists to work in extremely difficult conditions.
In 2024, RSF distributed equipment to 142 media outlets in several regions, 91% of which were allocated to Ukrainian media. One hundred twenty-nine Ukrainian media received energy equipment and 13 media outlets were equipped with protective equipment (PPE). This equipment allows Ukrainian journalists to continue providing information from a particularly hostile zone where press freedom is constantly under threat.
More than 1,400 journalists were trained by RSF in 2024, including 380 in armed conflict zones
In addition to the equipment provided, over 1,400 journalists — including 380 in armed conflict zones — have been trained in physical and digital security, election coverage, legal security, fact-checking and disinformation, and standards for producing reliable, transparent information.
RSF organised a total of 85 training sessions in 2024. Physical security remains at the top of the needs RSF has identified among journalists, with nearly 50% of training sessions devoted to on-the-ground protection. Yet issues such as disinformation, producing reliable information and aiding journalists in exile have become vital as deceitful content and attacks on the press increase.
RSF has also provided special training sessions for areas of armed conflict — notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the security situation in the east of the country is particularly dangerous. In Sudan, where access to events happening on the ground is extremely limited due to violence and restrictions imposed on journalists, RSF launched a tailored online training program responding to the specific needs of Sudanese journalists. The program provided them with the tools to work safely while taking their security limitations into account.
The training courses and equipment donations are two integral parts of RSF’s mission to provide journalists with the tools they need to carry out their work in the safest possible conditions so they, in turn, can continue providing us with news.
