Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
Use of Data
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Operated by Forbidden Stories (Freedom Voices Network) · Paris, France · Technical partners: Freedom of the Press Foundation · Reporters Without Borders
The SafeBox Network is the technical and operational backbone of Forbidden Stories — the encrypted digital archive that makes the organization's mission structurally possible. The concept is straightforward in its human logic, even if the execution requires sustained technical and organizational sophistication: a journalist investigating a dangerous subject — cartels, government corruption, surveillance states, environmental crime — can deposit their working materials into the SafeBox at any point in the investigation, knowing that if they are killed or imprisoned before they can publish, the materials will be held securely and can be retrieved by the Forbidden Stories network to continue the work. The SafeBox transforms the act of keeping records into an act of institutional insurance against the suppression of journalism by violence or imprisonment.
The SafeBox was created by Laurent Richard in 2016–17 alongside the founding of Forbidden Stories itself — it was not an afterthought but a foundational component, the answer to the question of how the organization would actually possess and protect the materials needed to continue silenced investigations. Richard created it during his Knight-Wallace Fellowship year at the University of Michigan, developing both the organizational concept and the technical infrastructure simultaneously. It is operated in partnership with Freedom of the Press Foundation and Reporters Without Borders, both of which bring specific technical and institutional expertise: FPF through its work on SecureDrop and journalist digital security; RSF through its global network of relationships with journalists working in high-risk environments.
A journalist wishing to use the SafeBox contacts Forbidden Stories through the secure intake process described at forbiddenstories.org/safebox. They receive instructions for depositing materials through an encrypted channel. The deposited materials — which may include notes, documents, databases, video, audio, source identities, and any other materials relevant to their investigation — are stored in an encrypted archive accessible only to Forbidden Stories staff with the appropriate credentials. The journalist retains control over what is deposited and may update their materials as the investigation progresses.
The conditions under which Forbidden Stories may access and use the deposited materials are set out in the SafeBox Charter — a publicly available document that governs the relationship between the depositing journalist, any identified sources, and Forbidden Stories. The Charter specifies that access is triggered only under defined conditions: the journalist's imprisonment, disappearance, death, or explicit silencing. It commits Forbidden Stories to editorial standards, source protection obligations, and the requirement to seek the depositing journalist's prior consent — or, in the event of their death, to act in accordance with their stated wishes. The Charter is intended to give journalists confidence that depositing materials does not mean surrendering editorial control or exposing sources prematurely.
The system has been used by journalists operating in environments where the risk of sudden imprisonment or violence is real and documented — in Mexico, where reporters covering cartels face assassination; in authoritarian states where investigative reporters can be arrested without warning; and in conflict zones where journalists may disappear into detention. In some cases, the existence of the SafeBox has been used by journalists as a deterrent — making clear to those who might threaten them that killing or imprisoning them will not suppress their story but will guarantee its publication.
The SafeBox's specific technical implementation is not publicly described in detail, in keeping with security best practice for systems protecting journalists and sources. What is publicly known is that it uses end-to-end encryption, that access is controlled through credential management limiting who within Forbidden Stories can access which materials, and that it has been developed with technical input from Freedom of the Press Foundation — whose experience building and maintaining SecureDrop gives it specific expertise in the engineering challenges of secure journalistic source-protection systems. The partnership with Reporters Without Borders provides geographic reach and trusted relationships with the organizations through which high-risk journalists are most likely to first encounter Forbidden Stories.
Journalists facing threats who wish to deposit materials into the SafeBox can initiate contact through forbiddenstories.org/safebox. The SafeBox Charter governing the terms of deposit and use is publicly available at forbiddenstories.org/policies/safebox. Journalists who do not yet face an active threat but wish to learn more about the network can also contact Forbidden Stories through the website. The organization has an existing relationship with the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and other press freedom organizations through which at-risk journalists may be referred to the SafeBox.