Philip Di Salvo

Dr. Philip Di Salvo is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) Switzerland. Philip’s main research interests are investigative journalism, Internet surveillance, the relationship between journalism and hacking, and black box technologies. At HSG, Philip is involved in the Human Error Project, dealing with the fallacies of algorithms in reading humans. Previously, he was a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)’s Department of Media and Communications (2021-2022) and he held different research and teaching positions at Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI)’s Institute of Media and Journalism (2012-2021). Philip received his PhD in Communication Sciences from USI with a dissertation about the adoption of encrypted whistleblowing platforms in journalism in the summer of 2018. Philip has also worked as a Lecturer at NABA - New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Italy (2018-2020). Philip has authored two books: "Leaks. Whistleblowing e hacking nell’età senza segreti" (LUISS University Press, Rome, 2019) and "Digital Whistleblowing Platforms in Journalism. Encrypting Leaks" (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2020).

Definition of journalists' safety

Journalists' safety is a set of practices and conditions that enable journalists' work in different contexts. Safety applies to the physical world, as much as to the digital one. Safety makes sure that journalists are in the condition required to report without interference and without taking to many risks related to their freedoms and well-being. Safety is a pre-requisite for journalism to exist and consequently for democracy to function. When it comes to the digital world, safety refers to avoiding that journalists and their communication can be put under surveillance through the potential use of different technologies capable of jeopardizing various journalistic principles, including source protection. On a broader term, safety in the digital context also means making sure that the digital ecosystem and infrastructures where journalists have to operate aren't used against journalists through various forms of digital abuses.

Future plans for research on journalists' safety

Currently, I am woking on a research project dealing with how journalists make senso of artificial intelligence (AI) errors and algorithmic profiling. Overall, the project is aimed at shedding light on how journalists conceptualize various forms of black box technologies and their implications on society. Although not directly related to the safety of journalists, these issues are pivotal for the understanding of contemporary society technological power dynamics and imbalances that, on a broader level, can also be used in non-democratic way or to interfere with various rights and freedoms.