"This chapter examines the digital surveillance and harassment experiences faced by female journalists in Zimbabwe in the 2023 pre-election period covering the year 2022 up to August 2023. The examination is based on interviews conducted with seven purposefully selected female reporters and editors
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in Zimbabwe. It suggests that within our information-driven society, both personal data and physical bodies are subject to surveillance; for female journalists in particular, this surveillance materialises as instances of harassment occurring both online and offline, including within newsroom settings. Evidence shows that there is both the physical and psychological intimidation of female journalists and periods of political unrests are particularly unsettling. Female journalists are subject to unique forms of hostility absent in their male counterparts’ experiences. To cope the journalists, adopt various survival strategies, from cyber defence techniques and keeping a low online profile to outright evasion or extreme cases of leaving the country. The female journalists advocate for thorough protection measures, including legal reforms, strict penalties, and holding online platforms accountable. They emphasise the importance of mental health support, training, and guidance from media organizations, in addition to institutional and legislative action. The chapter employs a feminist perspective to highlight the importance of power dynamics in surveillance. Feminist politics within media call for women not only to be visible but also heard, which can only occur if they have representation in decision-making processes that shape news coverage and can write stories without fearing harassment. Drawing inspiration from the Panopticon theory of surveillance, this chapter explores the idea that individuals may be monitored without their awareness. With this framework in mind, three key questions are addressed: Did journalists experience any form of digital or physical surveillance? Were they subjected to any type of harassment stemming from such monitoring? And did they receive support from media organizations during these incidents?" (Abstract)
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"Communication the world over is a vital cog in communities. The sender and the receiver play different and complementary roles in information dissemination. Be that as it may, many contemporary information senders are faced with different forms of harassment. The advent of social media has seen a r
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ise in independent journalism and this form of journalism is not immune to harassment as such many independent journalists are harassed online. This chapter as a result unravels the emotional implications of online harassment on journalists and its repercussions for a democratic society and press freedom. Using a case of four selected Zimbabwean journalists, the chapter untangles the vocabulary used by cyber-bullies and how that affects the emotional makeup and professional outlook of different journalists. The qualitative research methodology was used as the research unfolded. The Democratic-Participant Media Theory and the Symbolic Interactionism Theory were used to analyse the operational values of independent journalists and how their audience reacts since communication is a two-way traffic. Data gathered were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The chapter found that five major emotions are triggered by online harassment of freelance journalists on different media platforms in Zimbabwe which are surprise and or betrayal, fear, anger, happiness, and disgust. The study thus concludes that there is a need to monitor and provide counselling sessions to journalists to mitigate the negative impact of online harassment on the form, structure, and content of news articles in Zimbabwe." (Abstract)
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"Amid increasing threats and assaults against journalists across the globe, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in northwest Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Whereas online harassment is increasingly affecting journalists, experiences of online harassment
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of KP journalists have not been previously examined. This study explored the experiences of online harassment of regional KP journalists, the psychological ramifications of their exposure, and the association between online harassment and their ability to effectively perform their jobs in digital news environments. Of the recruited 299 journalists, nearly two-thirds reported experiencing online harassment. The experiences were generally infrequent, and were associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and occupational dysfunction. This study underscores the importance of understanding online harassment of journalists in conflicts zones, and how it may impact their ability to perform their professional duties, and proposes possible solutions and directions for future research and interventions." (Abstract)
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"This article discusses online harassment against women journalists exploring self-reported incidents, effects, and trust in safety mechanisms. Drawing on twenty-five semi-structured interviews of women journalists in Portugal, we use a feminist and critical realist framework to explore the causal s
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tructures and generative mechanisms that explain their vulnerability to online abuse. We identify three overarching themes: increasing visibility in a context of higher hostility towards journalism and insufficient safety mechanisms; intersectional gender inequality and cultural mores that foster it; and (individual) responses to harassment. These themes show that women journalists’ actions are both constrained and enabled by existing structures and cultural attitudes. While they tend to deny harassment is caused by their gender, seeing it mainly because of their job, they admit the sexualised and gendered nature of the insults, seeing this as an added offence not experienced by their male counterparts. They also see harassment as a continuation of inequality and prevailing sexism and find the protection mechanisms insufficient and ineffective. As a result, they assume an extra burden of emotional labour to deal with online bullying, admitting self-censoring and the need to develop resilience strategies." (Abstract)
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"In the digital era, journalists are targeted with online abuse including serious threats of violence. These censorship tactics are a direct threat to media freedom. Although the UK Government intended to tackle online abuse of journalists in the Online Safety Act 2023, provisions fit for that purpo
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se never materialised. This paper reveals why that was the case and what can be done about it. It finds that there is ongoing tension in the press industry about press regulation, with implications for journalist safety; that the Government carved out special privileges for the press’ online content but did not similarly protect journalist digital safety; that journalist safety was largely ignored in Parliament; and that repeated Government disintegration and shifting policies stripped away provisions that could have been improved to better protect journalists. This paper concludes with suggestions for how journalist safety can be better protected in the OSA regime." (Abstract)
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"Criticism towards journalists has increased significantly since the internet created easy and anonymous communication and has turned more abusive and threatening in recent years, becoming a regular feature of journalists’ work environment, particularly for women. This article presents survey data
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about the amount and nature of online and offline abuse, threats and violence experienced by journalists at Aotearoa New Zealand's largest news media company, Stuff. All respondents had experienced abuse, violence and/or threats, which they widely considered to be part of the job, but women received more identity and appearance-based abuse and men experienced more in-person threats of, and actual violence. Gender plays a part in how the journalists cope with the abrasive abuse received because of their job, with many more women and particularly Maori women considering leaving the profession. In line with calls for more intersectional analysis of journalists’ workplace experiences, our study considers the complex and nuanced ways that ethnicity intersects with gender to shape Maori and Pakeha journalists’ encounters with abuse, threats and violence. For instance, our subset of Maori women journalists experienced the highest rates of offline threats and violence." (Abstract)
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"This study examines digital media criticism—publicly shared evaluations and judgements of journalistic text and actors on various digital platforms—as a risk to journalism. It specifically interrogates how journalists negotiate the diverse nature of criticism in digital spaces and in a comparat
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ive context. Through qualitative interviews with practising journalists, the paper identifies the following four main journalistic responses to digital media criticism: consolidation (ringfencing journalistic discourse); filtering (cleaning up journalistic discourse); rationalisation (acknowledging criticism or non-responses) and counter-discourse (counteracting anti-media discourses). These responses, referred to as forms of digital discursive resistance, show that journalists are both defensive against and accommodating of risks to journalistic authority, but usually aim to reinforce and expand journalistic discourse in digital spaces." (Abstract)
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"Concerns about the disproportionate levels of online gender-based abuse experienced by female journalists when compared to their male counterparts have attracted sizeable scholarly attention in the last few years. Extant studies have highlighted that female journalists experience online forms of ha
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rassment such as name calling, body shaming, trolling, verbal abuse, sextortion, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, manipulation of photos, cyberstalking, doxing, hacking, receiving unwanted, offensive sexually explicit emails or messages, and inappropriate advances on social media platforms, in the line of duty. Although these findings are true in some of the newsrooms in the global North, there is a disconcerting absence of systematic studies looking at the experiences of female journalists in selected newsrooms in Africa in general and Namibia in particular. This article seeks to fill this lacuna by empirically investigating the extent to which online gender-based violence is deep-seated social problem in selected Namibian newsrooms. It deploys the intersectional approach to analyze the online gender-based violence experienced by female journalists in Namibia. Drawing our data from interviews with female journalists in selected Namibian newsrooms, overall, our findings suggest that cases of online gender-based violence against female journalists are still negligible when compared to other contexts, it is happening, nonetheless. This emerging phenomenon is largely underreported. Furthermore, it is occurring in an environment devoid of legislative, institutional, and newsroom-specific mechanisms aimed at ensuring the safety of female journalists. Namibian female journalists are facing unique online gender-based violence, which contributes immensely towards self-censorship and retreating from the public sphere." (Abstract)
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"This report draws on insights from the workshop, along with recent academic and journalistic publishing. It highlights three major issues: How generative AI can make disinformation campaigns faster, more targeted, and more persuasive. How newsrooms’ adoption of AI tools can lead to inaccuracies a
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nd other risks. How AI may threaten the viability of professional journalism, including through automation and content generation that replaces human journalists. In response, journalists are developing investigative practices to expose disinformation campaigns, experimenting with AI tools to make their own work more efficient, and developing ethical guidelines and labour protections to defend professional journalism. Likewise, the news industry, policymakers, and platforms are considering responses that range from workforce training to newsroom innovation to new professional guidelines to AI regulation. Through this report, CSDI hopes to contribute to important public conversations about the impact of new technologies on journalism and our information environments. Ultimately, the responses developed by journalists, policymakers, technologists, and citizens will shape our efforts to understand the world and act as democratic citizens." (Abstract)
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"Revelations from the 2021 “Pegasus Project” investigation into the use of spyware have confirmed long-held concerns about the proliferation of the technology as a surveillance solution to monitor the activities of journalists around the world. Spyware is a particularly malicious form of malware
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that can potentially expose a target’s entire digital life, sometimes even leaving victims powerless to prevent an attack. As such, spyware appears to be the ultimate tool of oppression that can be used against journalists, and its proliferation is currently taking place with extremely limited transparency and according to "black box" dynamics. The aim of this paper is to shed light on how spyware technology can affect the work and security of journalists by analyzing what threats spyware poses to the practice of journalism. Qualitative and exploratory in nature, and theoretically grounded in surveillance studies and the growing body of literature on information security in journalism, the article is based on a series of qualitative interviews with technologists and reporters conducted to deepen the understanding of the threats posed by spyware and to provide an overview of potential resistance and neutralization practices that journalists can put in place, as well as their effectiveness. Overall, the article aims to contribute to the study of the impact of surveillance on journalism and its implications for press freedom." (Abstract)
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"The artificial intelligence (AI) tools in editorial departments have become common practice within news organisations, which poses challenges for digital journalism. It treads new terrain for both media professionals and their audiences, and it is safe to assume there is no going back to the way th
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ings were. These advances in the field require new frameworks and codes of ethics that include ethical principles to mitigate the use of AI in journalism. The fast incorporation of AI into media production processes is marked by a tendency towards the loss of citizens’ trust in the information that media offers, political polarization, and the increasing impact of misinformation. This article analyses the perception of communication professionals in this new scene through the analysis of 99 codes of ethics and 14 international press associations. In addition, audience perception is addressed through a survey taken by nearly 2,000 people. The results indicate that both the public and journalists are worried about misinformation that AI might cause and the potential erosion of trust between journalist and the public . Overwhelmingly, people are advocating for external regulation of its use to preserve the values, the ethical principles, and good practices of journalistic work." (Abstract)
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"Technology-facilitated abuse and violence disproportionately affect marginalized people. While researchers have explored this issue in the context of public-facing social media platforms, less is known about how it plays out on more private messaging apps. This study draws on in-depth interviews wi
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th women and queer journalists and activists in Lebanon to illustrate their experiences of infrastructural platform violence on WhatsApp. Specifically, we distinguish between identity-based violence propagated on platforms, and violence propagated by platforms due to infrastructural neglect of vulnerable populations. Our results document how perpetrators employ the affordances of WhatsApp in harmful ways. We highlight the individual emotional and reputational toll of doxxing and harassment campaigns. The study also showcases the societal ramifications of silencing and self-censorship, as well as infrastructural platform failures. Findings underscore the need to shift attention in platform studies toward populations and geographies whose safety has systemically been neglected by technology companies." (Abstract)
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"This paper presents an exploratory study aimed at systematically mapping the public actions taken by OSCE participating States to combat online violence against female journalists. Adopting a qualitative large N research design, the study examines national policies and initiatives across all 57 OSC
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E participating States. Through extensive desk research of official government documents and gray literature qualitative data is collected. The analysis thereof is guided by three research aims: (a) identifying actions implemented by participating states, (b) examining the roles of public sphere actors, and (c) assessing the approaches adopted to combat online violence. The paper discusses best practices identified in eleven OSCE participating States, shedding light on strategies for addressing online violence against female journalists. However, the findings highlight significant disparities in policy implementation and acknowledgment of the issue, with only a minority of states demonstrating proactive measures on the safety of journalists (11 states; 19.3%). Of these 11 States, only 7 participating States (12.28%) were found to have a gendered approach. 47 (80.7%) participating States lack information and/or targeted action on violence against journalists. Challenges including the legal gray area surrounding online violence, limited response from tech platforms, and the complexities of transnational collaboration are discussed. Finally, based on these insights, policy recommendations are proposed to enhance to address the multifaceted challenges more effectively. These include working towards multinational definitions and approaches on online gender-based violence against journalists, and developing international multi stakeholder cooperation and peer education." (Abstract)
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"This study examines the perceptions of Egyptian journalists of the effectiveness of professional training in digital journalism and determines the training-needs of journalists to adapt to innovative journalism practices. The study applies mixed descriptive methods based on The Motivation–Hygiene
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theory of what motivates employees. Data analysis is based on an online questionnaire with a snowball sample of 134 Egyptian journalists from different media outlets and in-depth interviews with 10 journalists and professional trainers, between June 2019 and August 2020. Findings reveal that the impact of hygiene factors is stronger than that of motivation factors. This study shows that hygiene factors negatively influence professional training and inhibit any positive impacts of motivation factors. The findings of this study are significant to media organizations and professional training providers." (Abstract)
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"Online harassment of journalists is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. Many attempts have been made to investigate the prevalence of the phenomenon. Unfortunately, findings prove that online harassment of journalists is indeed on the rise. What is lacking, so far, in the literature is an in
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quiry conducted from the perspective of journalists on why they are targeted. This study attempts to shine a light on this question. This we did by examining Nigerian journalists’ perceived motivations for the online harassment that they experience and their suggested ways of controlling the phenomenon. Through online and face-to-face semistructured interviews of 30 journalists in Nigeria, we show that journalists in Nigeria believe that audience perceived journalistic wrongdoing and unethical behaviour, and polarization of politics in Nigeria are the chief reasons their audience harass them online. We further uncover that journalists suggested preventative measures, such as media sensitization campaigns about online harassment and political polarization, procedural, and prosecutorial measures such as improved security, ensuring adequate punishment for offenders, provision of security and enacting safety laws for journalists as avenues through which online harassment of journalists can be controlled. We then delineate the practical implications of the study." (Abstract)
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"In India, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) employs a digital army of right-wing supporters to harass journalists who are critical of the party's Hindu-nationalist ideology. As a result, the country's press freedom rankings have significantly declined over the past decade. While scholars have
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examined the discursive strategies used by online Hindu nationalists against journalists, how reporters cope with these attacks remains unknown. This study investigates how Indian media professionals perceive the personal and professional consequences of harassment for themselves and the coping strategies they use to combat digital hate. In-depth interviews with 24 journalists reveal that they employ mechanisms such as strategic social disconnection, formation of alliance networks, and working for non-profit news sites and international media organizations to overcome the effects of social media harassment. The analysis also highlights that commercial media that are subservient to the Modi government failed to protect their reporters, while independent media outlets provide much more support to their employees. The findings underscore the need for social media companies to promptly respond to content flagged by journalists and allocate additional resources to moderate hate speech in India's local languages to safeguard journalists from sustained online abuse." (Abstract)
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"This research examines whether and to what extent journalists are harassed online and the effects of online harassment on their professional roles. The study classifies online harassment against journalists into five types: insults, threats, privacy intrusion, sexual assault, and cyber-hacking. The
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findings reveal a positive correlation between online harassment and various adverse outcomes for journalists, including increased self-censorship, reduced public engagement, and heightened skepticism toward journalism. With regard to a specific type of online harassment, journalists’ gender plays a role as a moderator: The relationship between insults and self-censorship, disengagement with the public, and skepticism toward journalism was found to be stronger for women journalists than men journalists." (Abstract)
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"This study examines the perceived relevance and implementation of competing normative ideals in journalism in times of increasing use of digital technology in newsrooms. Based on survey and content analysis data from 37 countries, we found a small positive relationship between the use of digital re
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search tools and “watchdog” performance. However, a stronger and negative relationship emerged between the use of digital audience analytics and the performance of “watchdog” and “civic” roles, leading to an overall increase in conception–performance gaps on both roles. Moreover, journalists’ use of digital community tools was more strongly and positively associated with “infotainment” and “interventionism." (Abstract)
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"This study examines the online harassment faced by political journalists in Pakistan on Twitter, specifically focusing on the actions of users affiliated with various political parties. By selecting the 12 most active journalists on Twitter, we combined both content and textual analyses to examine
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comments posted on their tweets. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of the practice-based theoretical approach, the findings reveal that these journalists predominantly encountered negative comments encompassing personal abuses, culturally sensitive expressions, and attacks on their professional lives. Commenters associated with the populist political party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf, were more likely to engage in uncivil comments compared to those affiliated with traditional political parties. Interestingly, both male and female journalists received a comparable number of comments on their tweets; however, the nature of the comments differed significantly. Male journalists were primarily criticized for their perceived lack of professionalism, whereas female journalists were subjected to gender-targeted offensive comments. The study highlighted how socio-cultural conditions were exploited by political parties and netizens to suppress critical journalists. Overall, this research sheds light on the multifaceted dynamics of harassment faced by journalists in the digital age, emphasizing the need for effective measures to safeguard freedom of expression and counteract online abuse within the Pakistani media landscape." (Abstract)
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"Journalists are regularly exposed to online hate speech their profession. Because discrimination often harms targets and can prompt self-censorship in journalistic content, undermining journalism’s public duty, it is essential to understand factors explaining why journalists become victims of onl
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ine hate speech. Using Routine Activity Theory, an online survey of journalists in Germany (N*=*497) revealed that conceptions of their roles as interpreters or adversaries were associated with more frequently being targets of online hate speech. Moreover, women journalists and journalists with migration background were additionally targeted by respectively sexist and racist online hate speech. Participation in active content moderation, a presumed destructive motivation, and audiences’ weak trust in media also raised journalists’ likelihood of being targets of hate speech online. Newsroom support, however, was positively related to such victimization, possibly as a result of sharing past experiences." (Abstract)
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