#IFJBlog: NWMI’s Guidelines for Safe Newsrooms

The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) has released a new set of guidelines designed to foster safer and more inclusive newsrooms nationally. Titled “Make It Right: NWMI’s Guidelines for Safe Newsrooms”, this comprehensive framework addresses critical issues including harassment, discrimination, misogyny, and precarious work, with the stated goals of creating fairer and equitable media work for all.

Journalists watch election results on a television screen in a media newsroom in Mumbai on June 4, 2024. Credit: AFP

The media industry in India is grappling with a troubling reality – many newsrooms are plagued by toxic environments. As chronicled in the IFJ’s annual South Asia Press Freedom Report: Artificial Independence, journalists in Indian newsrooms continue to face sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, and sexist structures. Discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community, disabled people, Dalit or Adivasi journalists, or those belonging to other marginalised groups may struggle to receive the same opportunities, face harassment, or be denied accommodations. A pervasive culture of abuse continues, often cascading from media owners and editors to senior staff, juniors, interns, and freelancers.

From a labour rights perspective, the implementation of new Labour Codes legislation, widely condemned for their threats to workplace conditions and rights around organising, as well as the decline of the Wage Board system, have allowed precarious work, unsafe conditions, and illegal and unfair contracts to flourish in media houses across the country. Journalists often face barriers to joining trade unions or professional associations, in contradiction to constitutional rights to organise.

In 2024 alone, the media industry in India witnessed a series of troubling incidents highlighting the urgent need for reform. In February, three journalists – Satish Nandgaonkar from Hindustan Times, Pankaj Khelkar from India Today and Gautam Kamble from Times Now – lost their lives due to cardiac arrests within two weeks of each other, with Nandgaonkar reportedly facing the worst of a toxic outlet leadership before his death. Their deaths have sparked a widespread discussion through media communities about the challenges facing journalists, and the urgent need for change.

In response to these challenges, the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), an influential advocacy group and media collective, has developed a comprehensive set of guidelines, ‘Make it Right: NWMI’s Guidelines for Safe Newsrooms’, which aim to provide actionable strategies for media organisations. Produced in consultation with over 700 of the collective’s members, the guidelines will serve to inform improved workplaces across the country. Read the full list of guidelines below:

Guidelines for Safe Media Newsrooms

The Network of Women in Media, India believes that newsrooms need to be professionally and equitably run, with all employees treated with respect and fairness so that they enjoy safety and job security in their workplaces and are thereby enabled to perform at optimal levels. We believe the following conditions are necessary to ensure that media workplaces are as free and fair as their output is expected to be:

1. Adherence to legally sanctioned hours of work. A working journalist can be expected to work for a maximum of 144 hours over four consecutive weeks with at least one day off every week, according to the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; working hours exceeding this limit need to be recognised as overtime.

2. Provision of decent and regular salaries that reflect the professional nature of employment and are commensurate with the education, skills and experience required of journalists; salary structures that are benchmarked against remuneration for work requiring similar qualifications and talent in comparable industries and are also linked to cost of living and inflation levels; overtime as provided under the law; and job postings/advertisements that are transparent with regard to the financial compensation that can be expected.

3. Provision of a minimum of 30 days of paid leave every year, including earned leave or Privilege Leave (PL), Casual Leave (CL), Sick Leave (SL), and Festival Leave (FL) as per the law, with mental health, menstruation and other health conditions to be covered under SL. Maternity, paternity and childcare leaves to be provided as per existing law. Transparent guidelines regarding when/why leave can be granted or denied must be available to all employees and team leaders; matters of leave to be handled by the HR team, not the editorial leadership. Extra days off for elder care and/or as reasonable accommodation of the special needs of persons with disabilities in leave policies would be welcome.

4. Availability of independent, professional human resources management departments/teams that include leaders on par with leaders in editorial departments/teams; clear HR policies regarding what is and what is not acceptable behaviour in media workplaces.

5. Provision of training for all employees and leaders on active bystander intervention against bullying/harassment in line with HR policies, along with policies to explicitly protect bystanders who intervene from retributive action from colleagues, team leaders, seniors and/or members of the management/governing board.

6. Establishment of clear, transparent, nonarbitrary processes for internal performance appraisals; proper documentation of such processes; clearly defined Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) and deliverables against which performance is measured so as to avoid arbitrary and/or inconsistent criteria for appraisals, promotions and/or pay raises; access to all staff of post-appraisal reports outlining the average percentage of salary hikes in different departments in the interest of organisational transparency.

7. Provision for exit interviews that can provide departing employees with opportunities to explain their reasons for quitting. This will enable organisations to address problematic workplace issues that are flagged during the interviews.

8. Establishment of grievance redressal mechanisms to address complaints of toxic behaviour in newsrooms, with provisions for confidentiality as well as neutral, objective fact-finding exercises if and when necessary; clear communication from the management about a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour and the fact that disciplinary action will be taken against anyone found flouting the rules, irrespective of position, power and popularity.

9. Setting up of legally mandated Internal Committees to deal with sexual harassment, with representation from across departments as well as an impartial external member without personal or professional connections to the organisation or its management (as required by the law).

10. Regular communication to new and existing employees regarding appropriate behaviour at work and about systems and mechanisms in place for voicing concerns about unwelcome workplace practices; periodic training on related policies and procedures for all employees, including senior leaders in the editorial department as well as in the management.

11. Acknowledgement of the fact that inadequate staffing is an institutional problem and that vacancies must be filled as quickly as possible so that the burden of extra work is not shifted onto other employees for long periods; increased transparency about shortage of staff and circulation of information about existing vacancies.

12. Sharing of anonymised diversity data about staff – including age, gender, caste, disability and sexuality – to increase transparency within the organisation.

13. Provision of safety training and safety kits to journalists on the ground; organisational support to reporters going into the field to cover dangerous situations, including wars, riots and other violent conflicts, as well as disasters – natural or human induced.

14. Provision of paid-for legal aid to journalists – staffers or freelancers on assignment – facing legal cases or police action such as detention or arrest, until the matter is closed.

15. Provision of necessary, paid-for healthcare for journalists – staffers or freelancers on assignment – who are injured in the course of their work; such healthcare must cover mental health problems diagnosed as arising from trauma encountered while covering disturbing events such as bomb blasts, violent conflicts, pandemics and disasters, as well as psychological distress caused by toxic behaviour in the workplace, such as sexual harassment or bullying.

16. Recognition of freelancers/independent journalists as media professionals with an equal right to respectful, harassment-free work environments; availability in the public domain of organisational policies and procedures for freelance work, including information about contacts to which pitches can be sent, average expected timelines for decisions on pitches and between submission and publication, average remuneration for assignments, availability of allowances for commuting/travel expenses, provisions for kill fees, and so on.

17. Provision of group health insurance coverage by industry bodies for freelancers/independent journalists with reasonable premium rates.

18. Availability in the public domain of organisational policies concerning the employment of persons with disabilities and information about reasonable accommodations for the disabled, as per the law – including disabilities that are recognised globally but not under India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, such as some forms of neurodivergence, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and Long Covid, among others.

19. Acceptance of the right of unions and/or associations dedicated to employees’ welfare to be allowed to operate in accordance with existing laws.

20. Introduction of annual reports with anonymised data on interventions aimed at keeping the workplace safe and secure on various counts, as well as on cases reported and resolved. 

The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) is a collective that serves as a forum for women in media professions to share information and resources, exchange ideas, promote media awareness and ethics, and work for gender equality and justice within the media and society.

Access the list of guidelines via the NWMI’s website here.

Written By

IFJ Asia-Pacific

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 140 countries.
For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +61 2 9333 0946
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