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Your Job Is (More) Safe with JESS

Columbia Journalism Review · Mike Laws · last updated

A coalition of tech-minded journalists and security trainers built an AI chatbot for safety advice, targeted at small newsrooms and freelancers. 

Between ICE raids, extreme weather, online harassment, and legal threats, the work of journalism has come to feel especially precarious. Today, a new app called JESS, which stands for Journalist Expert Safety Support, is available as a resource for journalists’ safety advice and planning. JESS functions like a chatbot on your laptop or phone. When prompted with details of a reporting assignment, it produces tips on physical safety, digital security, legal risks, and other precautions in the field. Covering a hurricane? JESS can provide a list of precautionary measures about flooding, or even suggest you plan to fill your gas tank. Reporting from a protest? JESS can recommend tactical gear. 

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