Building Navigator: AI-Powered Support for Journalists Under Attack

The Challenge

Journalists around the world face unprecedented digital threats—from doxxing and swatting to coordinated harassment campaigns and death threats. When a journalist is under attack, they need immediate, trauma-informed guidance on:

Assessing their safety situation
Understanding legal options across different jurisdictions
Taking platform-specific actions
Accessing mental health and professional support resources
Navigating complex safety planning

Traditional support models meant journalists had to:

Wait for human advocates to be available
Navigate fragmented resources across multiple organizations
Struggle to find jurisdiction-specific legal information
Face language barriers when working across borders

For TrollBusters, a journalist advocacy organization, the challenge was creating a tool that could provide just-in-time support 24/7, regardless of where a journalist was located or what time they needed help.

The Solution

TrollBusters contracted Josh Wolf to design and build Navigator, an AI-powered assistant that provides comprehensive, trauma-informed support for journalists experiencing online harassment and digital threats.

Using Pickaxe, Josh built Navigator to offer journalists eight key areas of support:

Digital Resilience: Digital hygiene lessons and strategies for protecting online identity and personal information
Legal Resources: Information on civil and criminal options for harassment, defamation, and threats—tailored to specific jurisdictions
Platform-Specific Actions: Detailed guidance on reporting, blocking, and using platform oversight boards across social media platforms
Counternarratives: Strategies for responding to misinformation or attacks with facts, transparency, and peer endorsements
Physical Security: Measures for securing one's home and being prepared for potential offline threats
Mental Health Support: Emphasis on seeking counseling and trauma-informed therapies
Professional Considerations: Options like taking leaves of absence or changing jobs when facing severe harassment
Global Perspective: Information on laws protecting journalists from online harassment in various countries

What makes Navigator unique is its ability to:

Provide situation-specific responses based on the information journalists feel comfortable sharing
Deliver comprehensive action plans with direct links to relevant resources
Generate detailed reports that journalists can email to themselves for future reference
Work across geographies, understanding jurisdictional differences in legal frameworks
Offer trauma-informed, compassionate guidance that feels supportive, not robotic

The Results

Navigator has proven to be a game-changer for journalists under attack, offering not just practical help but also a sense of being understood and supported in tough situations.

During beta testing from May 2024 to November 2024:

Helped over 500 different journalists who used the tool
Beta tested at major journalism conferences including:
- Radio Television Digital News Association (RTNDA) with 75+ attendees
- International Association For Women in Radio & Television (IAWRT)
- Coalition Against Online Violence (CAOV)
- ACOS (A Culture Of Safety) Alliance annual meeting
Awarded the prestigious Anthem Award for responsible technology design by the International Association of Digital Arts & Sciences

Real-world impact:

Navigator | USA was deployed just before the 2024 US elections, providing real-time support during a period of increased threats
The tool was used by journalists at The Haitian Times who faced doxxing, swatting, and other attacks after the presidential debate
Output from Navigator conversations is packaged into educational videos deployed on social platforms to help other journalists

User feedback highlights Navigator's effectiveness:

Navigator UK is a game-changer for journalists under attack, offering not just practical help but also a sense of being understood and supported in tough situations. The chatbot provided comprehensive, actionable suggestions along with direct links to relevant resources—all presented with an empathetic and supportive tone.

Why It Works

Navigator succeeds because it addresses the real, urgent needs of journalists in crisis.

The tool's knowledge base includes deep understanding of technological challenges in cross-border journalism work, jurisprudence from multiple countries (UK, USA, and expanding), and real-time updates based on user feedback.

Navigator's design philosophy centers on responding to as little or as much information the user feels comfortable sharing, giving power back to journalists by providing actionable guidance, and offering valuable support even with limited information—all while never replacing human interaction, serving as a triage and guidance tool rather than a replacement for professional help.

The Takeaway

Navigator demonstrates how AI tools can provide critical support in high-stakes, sensitive situations when built with the right platform and approach.

Josh Wolf designed Navigator using Pickaxe, which enabled:

Rapid prototyping: From idea to working tool in a 15-minute phone call
Iterative refinement: The team reviewed all 502 conversations, validating information and tweaking prompts to ensure professional, compassionate, trauma-informed responses
Global deployment: Navigator | UK and Navigator | USA versions tailored to different legal frameworks
Seamless production: What would have required custom API development became a production-ready, award-winning tool

Navigator continues to evolve, with plans to add jurisprudence from additional countries and track litigation efforts and challenges to press freedom. As technological threats continue in real time across the globe, Navigator will continue to learn and guide users to safe havens and best practices—no matter where in the world, or online, they may be.