International Press Institute (IPI)’s research on online harassment of journalists has clearly highlighted that attacks targeting female journalists are not only more frequent but also more vicious and often adopt a highly sexualized language that is difficult to counter through rational arguments and professional tools and results. Therefore, they affect the person beyond their professional identity, leaving a sense of vulnerability.
In extreme cases these attacks lead to self-censorship or worse: They may cause women to retreat from the public sphere, leaving the male-dominated field of journalism with even fewer female voices. IPI has worked with the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) as part of its #SOFJO (Safety of Female Journalists Online) project to analyse specific challenges women face in this area and the newsroom practices aimed at addressing them. IPI works in three areas:
- Reports and documents examining and framing online harassment of female journalists and putting forward recommendations so as to create a basis for a solutions-oriented approach.
- Interviews with experts provide in-depth analyses of specific aspects of the problem and suggestions on how to address them.
- Interviews with journalists targeted by online harassment campaigns illustrate the consequences of this phenomenon on journalists and journalism.
More resources at – Building an effective protocol for newsrooms to address online harassment – On The Line
