Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1544866
the health impacts, working with our station to create kits that included hazmat suits, goggles, masks and water. "We continued to remain proactive when it concerned the hazardous area so many neighborhoods had become in the wake of the wildfires. Backyards had broken branches. Power lines were down and snaked along the streets. Electric car batteries were melted into the ashes and rubble. It was about watching where you walked, where you turned, what you touched. Managers at our station knew that, too. They kept a watchful eye, and if we didn't see something that could pose a risk, they did — they called us and advised us to move locations. It was about teamwork, and continues to be, to ensure safety." CLARITY, DOCUMENTATION AND DISCIPLINE JJ Green, National Security Correspondent for WTOP "Disinformation is not abstract. It is kinetic. "In heated political seasons, lies do not simply distort facts, they weaponize audiences. When a journalist is falsely labeled a traitor, partisan operative, foreign agent or enemy of the people, that narrative does not stay online. It migrates. It hardens. It radicalizes. And eventually, it can show up in a parking lot, outside a home or at a crowded public event. "We have seen the progression. Smear campaigns escalate into coordinated harassment. Harassment metastasizes into doxxing. Doxxing produces stalking. And stalking can become violence. The risk matrix for journalists now includes physical surveillance, targeted intimidation, online swatting attempts and threats amplified by algorithmic outrage cycles. Disinformation collapses the distinction between rhetoric and action. "For national security reporters, especially those covering intelligence, war, extremism or political corruption, the danger compounds. False narratives are designed to delegitimize professional reporting. They seek to isolate the journalist from the public, to frame truth-telling as treachery, and to create a permissive environment for intimidation. "The first countermeasure is narrowing the firehose, refusing to react to every provocation and denying manipulators oxygen. The second is discipline and 48 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2026 | sagaftra.org documentation, maintaining rigorous transparency in reporting to inoculate against narrative distortion. The third is threat awareness, monitoring online chatter patterns, recognizing coordinated amplification and understanding when rhetoric crosses into credible risk. Finally, resilience, both psychological and procedural. Calm is a defensive tool. Emotional reactivity is an exploitable vulnerability. "Disinformation thrives on fear, anger and spectacle. My defense is clarity, documentation and discipline. "Because in a season where lies travel faster than light, survival, professional and physical, depends on refusing to let them control the battlefield." ● J ournalists have always faced challenges in the field, but safety has become a greater concern as public demonstrations became more commonplace, said SAG-AFTRA Vice President, Broadcasters, Bob Butler, a veteran reporter in radio and television. "I worked at KCBS Radio in San Francisco for 42 years," said Butler, who retired in 2023. "As a reporter, I never had to worry about my personal safety until the Oscar Grant riots in 2010 and Occupy Wall Street Demonstrations in 2011. The most difficult times are during protests and demonstrations, especially when [people] start marching. The danger came mostly from being in crowds that were hit by police tear gas." In the field, Butler's Golden Rule was to employ the buddy system with himself and his fellow crewmate, often a photographer, or, when working alone, to stay with other journalists in a group. In the newsroom, bringing attention to safety risks led to advocating for more safety precautions. "The AFTRA local staff instituted safety briefings that included news reporter members, management, photographers, leadership from the technical unions and law enforcement. These meetings led to best practices designed to keep crews safe," said Butler. "A couple of the steps that were taken here in San Francisco were for television stations to hire security guards for their news crew [and] purchase cameras with tracking devices." Still, Butler points to a need for the concern for broadcasters to be shared across the board. "Broadcast journalists face a number of challenges from political leaders, ambivalent managers and an increasingly skeptical electorate. Adding threats to our personal safety makes our job of providing information to keep the public informed even more difficult." MAKING CHANGE WHERE HISTORY IS TOLD B o b B u t l e r 's S t o r y "We continued to remain proactive when it concerned the hazardous areas so many neighborhoods had become in the wake of the wildfires."