"This research aims to examine how sexism and gender discrimination impacts women journalists in Pakistan. The International Federation of Journalists (2018-19) ranks Pakistan as the fourth most dangerous country for journalists. The Coalition for Women in Journalism declares Pakistan as the sixth-w
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orst for female journalists (2019). In 2018, the Global Gender Gap Report highlighted Pakistan as second from bottom, ranking it 148 out of 149 countries. Given these numbers, the country is an ominous space for women in news media. This study collects the data from women journalists working in the three largest cities of Pakistan, that is, Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The aim is to investigate the issues faced by female journalists due to discrimination at the workplace including glass ceiling, pay gap, and lack of female leadership. Following the mixed-method approach, around 102 women journalists were surveyed, and 10 were interviewed. Findings indicate the rampant existence of sexism in Pakistani media and its detrimental effects on the growth of a gender-balanced news media industry." (Abstract)
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"This study explores forms of social media fatigue described by professional journalists, including frustration with the perception of their increased affective labor, dissatisfaction with communication environments on particular social media platforms, and increased anxiety about the possible impac
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t of social media use on both their professional reputations and personal well-being. We argue that these forms of social media fatigue have influenced new professional practices on social media practice that include strategies of disconnecting from, but not necessarily terminating, social media use. Using a comparative analysis of semistructured interviews with Australian and American professional journalists, this study illustrates that experiences of social media fatigue over time have resulted in a careful renegotiation of professional and personal boundaries around journalists’ social media use, influenced by the technological, social, and cultural affordances of specific media platforms, organizational and institutional constraints, as well as the online literacies and behaviors of journalists themselves." (Abstract)
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"As a consequence of the endemic anti-press violence, Mexican journalists work under dangerous conditions. The constant assaults have eroded the practice of free journalism and thus, the people's right to know. Drawing on a set of semi-structured interviews with news workers from the most violent st
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ates across the country, this study emphasises that this phenomenon has a threefold impact at the individual, organisational, and societal levels. That is, those attacks affect the victims, the newsrooms they work for, and society. The findings also point that journalists throughout the nation share similar perceptions regarding these implications, because there is a generalised risk that they have to constantly face." (Abstract)
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"In journalism, there are still growing concerns about the ratio of men to women, even though women's presence in the newsroom have increased progressively. The issues of gender stereotyping and discrimination against women have emerged over time and still remain an issue of great concern. In view o
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f this, using the gender theory, this chapter aims to interrogate the issues of female representation in the practice of journalism in Ghana, in terms of numbers, portrayals, and discriminations. To achieve the aim, the study employs a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews. The study reveal that men still dominate the journalism profession in Ghana. Also women in the newsroom are portrayed on one hand as capable and hardworking and on the other hand as emotional and immoral. Furthermore, women in journalism in Ghana are discriminated against in terms of salary structure and job roles. It was also revealed that female journalists in Ghana are employing strategies like apathy and rebelliousness to deal with the negative portrayals and discrimination against them." (Abstract)
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"Utilizing a constellation of conceptual tenets drawn from critical digital technology theory, field theory and concepts of digital democracy, this article argues that the post-coup period in Zimbabwe has solidified digital journalism practices in three main ways. These are: (i) the consolidation of
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a digital leak journalism culture, (ii) an increasingly ferocious form of digital guerrilla journalism, and (iii) the rise in popularity, of small digital-based news platforms that, arguably, are increasingly eclipsing already established mainstream (digital) news platforms as sources of news. These practices’ nascent roots have their genesis in the early 2000 period. In the post-coup context, they have assumed a new and wider meaning, and have become part of the mainstream. This solidification of digital journalism practices has consequently enabled journalists to “speak back” to power by providing robust forms of investigative journalism, and simultaneously avoiding being ‘swallowed’ by the state. While we admit to various gradations of digital journalism practices before the coup, we use the coup as our point of departure in order to factor in the incrementally disruptive and repressive political environment that has forced journalists to adopt digital journalism practices more than in any period of the country’s history." (Abstract)
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"Media sector, in Nepal, has been vibrant and it is flourishing across all media outlets with about 1,000 newspapers, 600 radio stations, about five dozen television channels and more than 2,200 online news portals currently in operation across the country. Despite such an impressive figure, the rel
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uctance of media houses to spend on embracing the key dimensions of gender sensitivity including professional safety of women journalists at workplace has had a dropping effect on the entire sector. Women remain cut out of the key decision-making levels in media. Media houses do not have any comprehensive prevention, support, complaints, and redress system with regards to sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace. This chapter assesses the state of gender sensitivity in newsrooms of Nepal with reference to professional safety of women journalists. Observations indicate that media houses should give due priority to professional safety of women journalists." (Abstract)
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"Journalists, across the world, are ever more at risk of surveillance from state and non-state antagonists. However, to work safely in a monitored environment is a substantial challenge for journalists. In such regimes, journalists and media organizations are often prone to attacks by the state auth
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orities. Surveillance, no matter real or implied, the presence of state panopticon power is felt strongly by the journalists, especially in competitive authoritarian countries like Pakistan. While international organizations monitoring media freedom and journalists’ protection do regularly highlight the increasing surveillance of Pakistani journalists, it is imperative to investigate the way they experience it in their real lives and its implications for them. Thus, informed by the theoretical approaches of panopticism, post-panopticism and competitive authoritarianism, this study aims to address the journalists’ lived experiences of surveillance and its impacts on their professional and personal lives in Pakistan. To accomplish these aims, this study uses the qualitative methods of document review and in-depth interviews, and offers a thematic analysis of the gathered data." (Abstract)
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"This research analyzes the media landscape in Georgia from a gender equality perspective to identify the existing stereotypes dominant in Georgian media organizations. Georgia (country) faces the challenges related to femicide, domestic violence, employment of women, early or forced marriages, sexu
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al harassment, blackmailing of female journalists, and there is a lack of awareness regarding gender equality. The study answers research questions: What sociocultural context and basic psychological motivators drive females to choose journalism as a profession? Is there any gender inequality regarding the workplace and positions in Georgian media (TV, print, radio, and online media) and if ‘yes' how does it present? Are there any predefined topics/themes covered specifically by the male or female journalists? What gender-related stereotypes (if any) dominate/take over in Georgian media?" (Abstract)
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"Between 2012 and 2016, UNESCO registered 530 deaths of journalists. They also published a statistic showing that television journalists were the most killed, followed by print media, radio and online journalists. Hinted in this statistics is the need to understand the relationship between the mediu
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m through which and in which the journalists produce news and the threats and dangers posed to them. In this article, we discuss this interlinkage and call it medium-specific threats. As examples of this interlinkage, we describe the cases of community radio journalists in the Philippines, photojournalists in Afghanistan and online journalists in Venezuela. Based on these examples from independently conducted studies from very different parts of the world, we make the broader case that while recognizing the prevailing political-economic and socio-cultural factors and forces at work in these media systems-in-flux, investigations of medium-specific threats to journalists are needed for more nuanced understanding of and thus mitigation of journalists’ insecurities." (Abstract)
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"Despite the fact that Nigeria's transition from military rule to democracy is over two decades, violence targeting journalists still remains a recurring issue. On this basis, this paper aims to examine patterns of violent attacks targeting journalists in Lagos, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach:
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This study was descriptive and cross-sectional in design. Social disorganisation theory was deployed as theoretical framework. Data were principally elicited through the in-depth interview method. Multistage sampling techniques were used for the selection of 25 journalists across six media organisations in Lagos. Findings: The results showed that assault on journalists is a common phenomenon in the city, with more cases usually recorded during period of general elections. Three major factors were identified by respondents as underlying violent attacks on journalists. Also, security personnel and political thugs were mentioned as the major perpetrators of violent attacks on journalists. Originality/value: This research not only provides a unique and significant insight into the issue bordering on violent attacks that are being directed at media practitioners in Nigeria it equally puts forward some useful and far-reaching recommendations that can be adopted to effectively address the problem." (Abstract)
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"Due to continuing threats and attacks on the media, journalist safety has been the subject of increasing scholarly research in the Philippines. A gap in the literature, however, is research on safety issues affecting Filipino women journalists in particular, despite reports on specific challenges t
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hey face. In a country where not only women in media but females in general are subjected to catcalling, sexually offensive remarks, and harassment, there is a need for more focused research in order to bring such issues to public attention and propose relevant protection policies and mechanisms. This case study research reveals the types of threats and attacks Filipino women journalists experience, as well as their responses and policy recommendations for media owners and editorial managers." (Abstract)
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"This chapter examines Zimbabwean print journalists’ everyday newsmaking experiences during the 2008 disputed harmonized elections. The article is sequel to our article (Tsarwe and Mare 2019), which exclusively relied on qualitative content analysis of a state-owned weekly (The Sunday Mail) and tw
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o private-owned weeklies (The Financial Gazette and The Zimbabwe Independent) to show how news articles were framed in ways that could have escalated political polarization and hatred among different political groups. While the three newspapers remain our sample as in our previous paper, in this chapter we rely exclusively on verbalized personal accounts (in-depth interviews) from journalists who reported on the various stages of the electoral conflict, with specific focus on how newsmaking cultures and other structural forces (such as influence from owners and politicians) may have driven Zimbabwean journalists to behave in the manner they did. The chapter, thus, provides compelling evidence on how various micro- and macro-structural factors contributed to the dissemination of hate speech, propaganda and “war” journalism discourses in a highly polarized Zimbabwe. We argue that although journalists from the three weekly newspapers have the agency to avoid the use of “war journalism frames”, they are embedded in socio-political, organizational and institutional structures, which militate against the realization of conflict-sensitive journalism." (Abstract)
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"Free speech and freedom of the media are essential to the functioning of democratic systems. However, recent decades have brought phenomena that pose a threat to media freedom. The author analyzed threats to media freedom and journalist’s security regarding resolution 2317 (2020) of the Parliamen
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tary Assembly of the Council of Europe. All Council of Europe Member States must effectively guarantee the safety of journalists, create an environment conducive to freedom of the media and prevent the misuse of laws or normative provisions that may affect this freedom, without which there is no democracy. The right of journalists to protect their sources must be guaranteed; police violence against journalists must be condemned, and sanctions against any infringement of the freedom of the media must be dissuasive. Although it is only “softlaw”, the PACE resolution may inspire the Member States to take more effective measures in this regard." (Abstract)
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"The Nigerian media scene is notably vibrant, which can be perceived as a democratization of communication and liberalization of the press where anyone with the means to own a media establishment can do so. Thus, the challenge with the Nigerian media is no longer the issue of access but, rather, tha
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t of accountability, which, undoubtedly, is the strong anchor for good media practice. This chapter examines the field of media accountability (MA) in the country, focusing on the structures that define accountability among media practitioners in addition to taking a look at emerging innovative practices that encourage MA. The authors argue that MA exists in Nigeria but is in a continuous struggle with such militating factors as ownership, insufficient press freedom, poor or inadequate remuneration for journalists, a hostile working environment for journalists, lack of formal education/training on the part of some journalists, weak self-regulatory mechanisms, and biases in political and cultural environments. These factors tend to limit the extent to which media practitioners can be committed to accountability." (Abstract)
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"The study revealed the macro and micro media threats that come to light in the digital and physical media environments prior to and following elections. The media environment observed during the 2021 self-government elections was representative of the reality seen through the eyes of media workers,
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and it was revealed that, compared to previous years, the media environment has changed for the worse. The study confirmed that political polarization and public crises have a negative impact on the media environment and the safety of journalists in Georgia, while changes in the political landscape can have a positive impact on the media environment. It has also been demonstrated that the media themselves can reduce or enhance the effects of polarization.
The study confirmed that media threats in Georgia increase self-censorship and fear, reduce media credibility and weaken the viability of the media institution. The study revealed an additional effect of political polarization, a new tactic to combat critical media: “Use the media themselves against the journalists”, which leads to media polarization in itself, inciting conflict between journalists and exposing this macro-threat across the media field. In this regard, polarization in Georgia is an obstacle to solidarity. On the other hand, polarization has a so-called demonizing effect that can be manifested through the stigmatization of journalists by politicians, political labelling, and demolition of credibility, which ultimately harms the media.
The research confirmed that the ruling political force in Georgia uses all the components and mechanisms required to create and strengthen self-censorship of journalists. These mechanisms are: fear, impunity for crime, ridicule, discrediting, insecurity, dissemination of misinformation, etc. Enhancing journalists' self-censorship creates an invisible field of censorship in newsrooms when, for security reasons, the journalist is forced to avoid covering specific topics, sources, or facts. Critical questions are replaced by silence." (Conclusion, pages 51-52)
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"The physical and digital safety of journalists is an important parameter to assess basic conditions for a plural media environment. If one examines the situation in Germany based on the given categories, it becomes clear that there are problems in various areas. At the same time, however, ideas alr
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eady exist that could help to tackle the identified issues." (Abstract)
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"Journalist's mental health could predict their job change. This study aims at determining the prevalence of mental health issues and their association with perception of aptitude for covering emergencies and difficulty in seeing a corpse, and also to determine the mental health factors associated w
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ith job change. An ad hoc survey, GHQ-28 (Somatization, Anxiety-Insomnia, Social Dysfunction, Depression), MBI-P (Burnout, Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, personal accomplishment) and Brief scale to diagnose Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicide Risk were applied to 196 journalists (female = 51.6%). Descriptive analysis, correlations (Pearson and Spearman), T-test and binary logistic regression were performed. It was found that one third part of journalists perceive themselves as having low aptitude to cover emergencies and difficulty in seeing a corpse, 17.3% would consider changing jobs and 42.1% could only access free mental health services. The most frequent mental health problems are: low personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion and post-traumatic stress disorder (11.2 to 17.3%). People who want to change jobs present more: social dysfunction, depression, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, low personal accomplishment, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide risk. The two mental health factors associated with desire of changing jobs are high emotional exhaustion, and low personal accomplishment. These results guide the psychosocial risk prevention processes for journalists, as well as the training needs that universities could consider to protect the mental health of this vulnerable group." (Abstract)
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"Journalists around the world face immense threats for doing their job. Although compared to other regions, the situation in Europe is considerably better; many challenges need to be addressed here as well to ensure conducive conditions for the conduct of journalistic work. The present working paper
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identifies the main issues that prevent journalists from doing their job freely and safely, in particular, physical attacks, online hate speech, surveillance, smear campaigns, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), insufficient protection of journalistic sources and whistle-blowers, impunity and precarious economic conditions. It discusses the impact of these issues on journalists, but also their repercussions for media freedom and pluralism more broadly. By providing a snapshot of the situation in Europe and more detailed country case studies (Austria, France, Germany), the working paper aids our understanding of the scope and nature of the most pressing problems. It also collects evidence-based best practices and policies from the newsrooms and the state, which could help to formulate further recommendations for key stakeholders." (Abstract)
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"The 2020 law for “global security” and the National law enforcement plan (Schéma national du maintien de l’ordre), presented by the Minister of the Interior, meant to address, among other questions, the issue of the safety of journalists during demonstrations. Considering growing defiance an
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d recent cases of violence against journalists during several Yellow-vest demonstrations, this is an important issue. Various organisations criticised the law for not addressing the question of police violence. The latest version of this regulation took into consideration some of Reporters without borders’ recommendations on the protection of journalists during demonstrations. Worrying declarations by the Minister of the Interior that journalists covering demonstrations had to be accredited by prefectorial authorities created an outcry. Such provisions do not appear in the law." (Abstract)
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"This article focuses on state-media relations and the shifts in the overall media landscape in Kenya. Drawing on a political economy approach to media operations in Kenya, it argues that while there are competing meanings over what constitutes "news values", "editorial independence", and "critical
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media", changes in political regimes and unclear media regulations contribute to political and/or corporate interference on media coverage of corruption and political impunity. This renders media operations problematic at the normative and operational levels. The discussion situates these arguments within the contexts of "policy laundering" and "critical junctures", seeking to establish whether the shifting media landscape is a function of increased information and communication affordability or, instead, an indication that critical media are on the decline. Overall, the article provides an assessment of key temporal periods that have shaped media regulatory frameworks to show how political and/or corporate interests have influenced journalistic practices and editorial independence over time and space." (Abstract)
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