Reporting Elections, Safety and Security of Journalists or do not know closely. Facebook isn’t a contest, and having more friends doesn’t make your account more complete. Safety of journalists Another major primary concern during elections is that journalists covering elections must be able to work as safely as possible if they are to get their stories out. This means being able to survive, avoid injury and incarceration. The most important thing is to remember that if the situation turns ugly do not be a hero. The assumption is that you will not be fired for refusing to do a job which puts your life at risk. Precautions • The news editor should always be briefed unstintingly on the dangers of a given assignment. • The journalist’s whereabouts should always be known to the news editor or a close family member for easy contact in case of an emergency. • You should always have your cellphone at hand. In Zimbabwe it is advisable to possess two • handsets of different networks because of the unreliability of the network services. • Journalists should rally behind one another especially where it concerns the unlawful arrest, detention, assault and torture of colleagues. • Never venture into hostile environments alone, you should always hunt in packs during election time. • When venturing into volatile political areas, 56 https://zimbabwe.misa.org