Safety Through Solidarity: Chicago’s Approach to High-Risk Reporting

Over the past year, cities including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago have faced escalating challenges reporting on ICE and law-enforcement activity. This feature session focuses on Chicago, where a group of local, independent newsrooms responded by forming a flexible, cross-newsroom safety collaboration to navigate increasingly volatile reporting conditions. The session will examine how this informal yet coordinated approach strengthened reporting capacity, mitigated risk, and provided critical support-particularly for freelance journalists-during high-stakes coverage. Drawing on direct, on-the-ground experience, panelists will share practical strategies and candid lessons for leading teams through unpredictable and dangerous situations.

The Chicago collaboration offers a timely model for local news ecosystems seeking to prioritize collective care, demonstrating that for small and independent outlets, safety is not an individual responsibility but a shared one.