Session 3: Journalism Across Borders: Navigating through Transnational Repression, Censorship and Digital Attacks

The first speaker, Noura Al-Jizawi, brought deep insight rooted in both personal resilience and academic rigor. Currently a Senior Researcher at the Citizen Lab, University of Toronto based in Canada, Noura began her journey as a Syrian student activist, imprisoned and tortured for her role in peaceful resistance during the Syrian uprising. Forced into exile, she later redefined her role as a digital security advocate, documenting and analyzing the very surveillance systems she had once been a victim of. She began by stating, “I didn’t choose to become a technologist, I became one out of necessity,” reminding the audience that digital expertise in repressive contexts often emerges from survival, not privilege.

Al-Jizawi`s presentation traced the anatomy of Digital Transnational Repression (DTR), a growing practice where authoritarian regimes target exiles, journalists, and human rights defenders beyond their own borders. Drawing from Citizen Lab’s extensive fieldwork involving 85 interviews across multiple continents, she outlined how spyware tools like Pegasus have been deployed against exiled journalists. Even in so-called liberal democracies, people remain vulnerable due to a false sense of safety and lack of digital hygiene training.

She described an ecosystem of repression enabled by phishing, SIM swapping, account hijacking, and online defamation campaigns. Some victims were tracked via WhatsApp messages containing infected links, while others found their intimate images manipulated and leaked. These attacks are not just technical; they deeply affect mental and emotional well-being. Many interviewees showed signs of PTSD, anxiety, and social withdrawal. Several began using pseudonyms or avoiding online communication altogether. “Digital attacks don’t stay online, they invade every aspect of a person’s life,” Noura Al-Jizawi emphasized.

What emerged clearly from her talk was that security is not an individual task, but a collective one. Noura Al-Jizawi introduced Citizen Lab’s Security Planner, a free multilingual tool that tailors safety strategies to users’ risk profiles. But more than tools, she called for new mindsets, ones that value community-oriented threat modeling, mental health support, and intersectional resilience strategies. “If your colleague is compromised, so are you,” she said, underscoring the interconnectedness of digital risk in media networks.

Following Noura Al-Jizawi, journalist and White House Correspondent Se Hoon Kim offered a parallel yet distinct perspective from within a democratic stronghold, the United States. As the Managing Editor of Global Strat View, Kim spoke candidly about the paradox of press freedom in advanced democracies. While no police may knock on your door for reporting, journalists, especially those from diasporic or minority communities, face more subtle mechanisms of silencing. Editorial decisions may be shaped by access concerns, lobbying pressure, or unspoken diplomatic sensitivities.

Se Hoon Kim recounted how reporting critically on U.S. foreign policy, particularly in East and South Asia, can often lead to implicit pushback. At times, journalists are warned not to jeopardize relationships with allied governments. In other moments, racial bias affects credibility or gatekeeping within mainstream media. “Even in D.C., the politics of access can determine what gets published and what gets shelved,” he said.

Se Hoon Kim addressed the global phenomenon of narrative laundering, where oppressive regimes hire PR firms or use international forums to whitewash human rights abuses. These narratives not only shape public perception but often reframe dissenters as threats, creating an environment where legitimate journalists are treated as suspects. Kim argued that fighting repression must also mean interrogating the structures of media legitimacy. Who gets called an activist? Who is labeled as a journalist? And what truths are deemed palatable?

Crucially, he called for solidarity across geographies. Diasporic media outlets and journalists in exile often carry the burden of truth-telling in the absence of domestic press freedom. Rather than working in silos, Kim urged the development of cross-border editorial collaborations, especially between local reporters and those in exile. “We must move beyond hero narratives and towards networked resistance,” he concluded.

The Q&A session unfolded as a rich continuation of the conversation, filled with both urgency and intellectual rigor. A participant from Pakistan asked how to counter deepfake videos and AI-generated disinformation, particularly those targeting female journalists with gendered violence. Noura Al-Jizawi responded with concern, stating that such tactics are among the most psychologically destructive. She emphasized that in addition to technical support, survivors need community solidarity, legal advice, and trauma-informed care.

A Latin American participant raised a fundamental question, how to cultivate media literacy when state-run media is the main purveyor of falsehoods. Al-Jizawi pointed to grassroots alternatives: community radio stations, informal storytelling circles, and youth-led civic education efforts. “Narrative sovereignty often begins in the margins,” she said. “When official systems fail, people create their own.”

Another pressing issue concerned algorithmic bias and AI hallucinations. A student from Central Europe asked how journalists could respond to AI-driven misinformation and manipulated content. Noura Al-Jizawi emphasized that AI is not neutral, it encodes the values of its designers. Without ethical intervention and diverse input, it will continue to mirror structural injustice. Media literacy today, she argued, must include AI literacy, a critical understanding of how platforms filter, prioritize, and sometimes distort truth.

Participants also voiced concern over Interpol misuse, border restrictions, and diplomatic coercion. These tools, while bureaucratic on paper, become instruments of transnational suppression in practice. One attendee shared the story of a journalist unable to travel due to a politically motivated “red notice.” Another described how content takedown requests from authoritarian governments were honored by global platforms, effectively erasing dissent.

As the conversation neared its end, both speakers returned with powerful closing thoughts. Se Hoon reflected on the evolving nature of democratic backsliding, noting that even in White House briefings, the tone of press engagement has changed. “Sometimes, what is not said tells you more than what is said,” he remarked. He encouraged attendees to remain vigilant about the slow erosion of press freedom in even the most ‘free’ environments.

Noura Al-Jizawi`s final words were resonant. “We don’t just need better news,” she said. “We need better narratives. We need to rethink how stories are told, who gets to tell them, and what kind of futures those stories make possible.” She reminded participants that digital repression is not only a technical issue but an existential one, it seeks to fragment our sense of truth, safety, and possibility. Resisting it, therefore, is not just about encryption or legislation; it’s about defending the civic imagination. From Central Asia to North America, from young journalists to seasoned editors, participants left with new knowledge, deeper solidarity, and the tools to defend journalism, not only as a profession, but as a lifeline of democracy.