"Safety first, story second": Dr Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar trains Nigerian journalists on safe conflict reporting • City St George's, University of London

City St George’s academic shares safety precautions journalists should take when reporting on conflicts.

By Eve Lacroix (Senior Communications Officer), Published Wednesday, 30^th July 2025

Dr Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar, the Director of the Journalism PhD Programme at City St George’s, University of London, has trained Nigerian journalists to cover conflicts safely.

In the training programme he ran in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, Dr Tasiu combined lectures with practical exercises to show journalists the safety measures they should employ in covering conflicts.

Nigeria is witnessing various conflicts, ranging from the Boko Haram insurgency, Biafra militancy and farmer-herder clashes. Journalists need to equip themselves well to cover them safely and responsibly, he said.

Twenty-six reporters and editors participated in his latest training programme. He had previously trained 45 journalists from 20 news organisations in the country in programmes jointly organised by legacy City and Nigeria’s charity Daily Trust Foundation.

Dr Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar delivers journalism safety training

After the latest training session, Dr Tasiu participated in a national television programme that focused on safety of journalists.

He spoke alongside veteran journalist Ben Shemang, a former director of news at the Voice of Nigeria, to Daybreak news anchor Lilian Ogazi on the Nigerian broadcaster Trust TV.

Dr Tasiu Abubakar explained that journalists have the societal responsibility to cover conflicts to help citizens stay informed and hold governments to account to enact changes that could help end the conflicts.

Physical danger and reporting on conflict

Journalists risk their lives and liberty to cover various conflicts in Nigeria. They face many physical dangers, threats and intimidation in doing so, he said.

When one bomb is set off, journalists may be tempted to run towards the scene to report on it, but Dr Tasiu Abubakar warned them to wait as a second bomb may be deployed soon after.

In figuring out whether a journalist is bravely breaking a story or recklessly endangering themselves, he advised them to always prioritise their own safety.

Citing the veteran journalism trainer Al Tompkins’s maxim “Safety first, story second”, Dr Tasiu urged journalists to stick to it “because you can only report when you’re alive.”

He noted that unlike first responders and security staff, most journalists don’t receive adequate emergency response training, and that they should undertake first aid training as this could help save lives.

Rigorous risk assessments should always be conducted before journalists are sent out on the field to report on dangerous events.

“You will take different safety measures going into a conflict zone compared to if you’re going to an emergency issue,” he said.

For example, in a conflict zone, journalists might want to wear protective clothing such as flak jackets and helmets.

When covering a riot, he advised journalists to avoid touching tear gas canisters thrown onto demonstrators which can lead to stinging and burning hands and eyes, and to carry a bottle of water with them, which could mitigate the effects of tear gas.

“Have your own telephone fully charged and maintain contact with your newsroom so that they know what your situation is, in case they need to intervene for support,” he added.

Dr Tasiu provides Nigerian journalists with safety training for reporting on conflicts

Dr Tasiu discussed how the Nigerian Union of Journalists was working to build up insurance cover for journalists, which he said was a good initiative that should be implemented.

He believes that preparation on conflict reporting and personal safety needs to start right from journalism schools.

He called on journalism institutions to integrate trauma education and safety training in their curricula to prepare their students well for the tasks ahead.

Dr Tasiu also called on the government and security agencies to provide adequate protection to journalists to enable them to cover conflicts safely.

The mental toll of reporting on conflict

Reporting on conflicts and violent protests not only poses physical threats to journalists, but it also exposes them to potential longterm psychological difficulties, he said.

Dr Tasiu discussed research which found that journalists can experience secondary and tertiary trauma from witnessing events like violent riots and people being killed.

He said news organisations needed to provide counselling to journalists after covering traumatic events.

"Being part of a journalists’ union and having that solidarity of being around other journalists helps," he said. "Taking these collective measures for our wellbeing as journalists benefits the wellbeing of society at large."

Safety Of Journalists Covering Conflicts | Daybreak | TrustTV 38:14

Journalism at City St George’s

Dr Tasiu teaches media ethics and broadcast journalism. He is the Director of the Journalism PhD Programme at City St George’s.

His current research explores how journalists navigate hostile environments to report on dangerous events and the coping mechanisms they deploy to deal with the physical and emotional challenges they encounter in their work.

Prior to becoming an academic, he worked for the BBC World Service as a producer in London and as its Abuja Bureau Editor in Nigeria.

He covered conflicts and major events in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cameroon for both the BBC and the Nigerian news outlets he had worked for, especially the Champion and Daily Trust newspapers.

City St George’s Journalism Department is highly regarded and committed to training the next generation of journalists. It consistently ranks top in the UK for its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

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