اتجاهات المصورين الصحفيين "الشباب" نحو إجراءات السلامة المهنية، دراسة مسحية

Abstract

Because of the areas many journalists work that have been identified as dangerous physically, professionally, and personally, the subject of journalists' safety has been of great interest in recent years. Within this context, some institutions have established professional safety rules for journalists, but most of the journalists do not abide by these rules, especially freelance journalists who work in developing countries. At the international level, Clark Matloff’s report in 2018, about the current challenges for safety and protection of journalists, pointed to the effort being made to improve existing occupational safety procedures and their basic rules, as well as establishing rules for the protection of journalists. The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate and UNESCO have organized several courses related to the subject of occupational safety in order to enhance the concept of the professional safety of journalists in general, and of photojournalists in particular. Based on the above and recent events in Gaza and areas governed by the Palestinian Authority, this study investigates attitudes of journalists towards occupational safety measures in an attempt to answer an essential question: To what extent do young photographers in the field accept the adoption of occupational safety measures? This includes the extent of their consent and awareness to it,and the capacity and extent to which they accept it? This descriptive study involved a survey questionnaire conducted on a sample of young photojournalists in Gaza, along with in-depth interviews. Diversity and educational level were taken into account in the selection of interviewees, without any discrimination according to the institutions they work at. The study sample is consisted of 120 respondents from young field photojournalists working for various media organizations in the Gaza Strip. Among the most significant results of this study was that most of the respondents were interested in knowing the availability of occupational safety measures indicating a demand for greater access. A big percentage of the respondents are aware of the importance of these procedures related to occupational safety, although there are differences between the respondents in their awareness of these procedures, according to the level of their training, and whether they were full-time or freelancers.