Cyberattacks vs women journalists spilling into ‘real world’

Amid the rise of disinformation and orchestrated attacks meant to stifle critical journalism, a new global survey of journalists found that online violence against women journalists are increasing, spilling into the “real world.”

The preliminary findings of the International Center for Journalists and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s joint survey were released last week, to mark the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

Of the 1,210 media workers included in the survey, nearly three-quarters said they had experienced online abuse, harassment, threats and attacks.

Of these, 20 percent reported offline attacks they believed were linked to the online harassment they were facing.

“This finding is particularly disturbing. It underlines the fact that online violence isn’t contained within the digital world. Frequently associated with orchestrated attacks designed to silence journalists, and fueled by disinformation tactics, it also spills into the physical world—sometimes with deadly impacts,” the study’s researchers said.

Often, the risk also extends to women journalists’ families, sources and audiences “as a means of extending the ‘chilling effect’ on their journalism,” they added.

“In combination, misogyny and online violence are a real threat to women’s participation in journalism and public communication in the digital age,” they concluded. “It’s both a genuine gender equality struggle and a freedom of expression crisis that needs to be taken very seriously by all actors involved.”

The findings also come amid the pandemic, during which journalists in general face escalating levels of hostility and violence because of populist or authoritarian regimes “who have frequently doubled as disinformation peddlers.”

The study suggested that news organizations must craft better gender-sensitive policies, guidelines and training to protect their women staffers.

Such actions, the study added, must also be “connected and holistic such that they bridge physical, digital and psychological threats and address them accordingly,” the researchers said.

“We need to be very cautious about suggesting that women journalists need to build resilience or ‘grow a thicker skin’ in order to survive this work-related threat to their safety,” the study said. “The onus shouldn’t be on women journalists to ‘just put up with it.’” INQ