Reuters is equipping journalists covering the U.S. election with flak jackets, helmets, and gas masks

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 2 November 2020

Reuters is taking an unprecedented step to protect its reporters stationed in the U.S. this Election Day.

The news agency has more than 2,500 journalists stationed in 200 locations around the world, the U.K.'s Press Gazette reports. And with many of those reporters covering conflict zones, Reuters is no stranger to issuing protective gear and taking other measures to keep its employees safe.

But this year, "our concern about the safety of journalists in the U.S. is unprecedentedly high," Reuters' editor-in-chief Stephen Adler tells the Press Gazette. "My own observation, both here and around the world, is that wearing that big 'PRESS' on your chest is no longer as much of a protection as it might once have been," Adler went on. "Sometimes the press are targets, or sometimes just the fact that they're press is simply ignored." So Reuters is taking an admittedly "odd" step and distributing flak vests, helmets, and gas masks, as well as COVID-19 protective equipment, to reporters, Adler said.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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