"Despite the pervasiveness of workplace sexual harassment, the connection between sexual harassment and job satisfaction in the news industry remains insufficiently researched. This 16-country and one state study (N*=*1583) sampled news personnel from Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Arab
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region. The results expand current knowledge by examining understudied countries, measuring the impact of sexual harassment on job satisfaction, and evaluating differences in how people perceive gender equality in the news industry. Results show that both verbal and physical sexual harassment are common, underreported, and impact job satisfaction—challenging common misconceptions that there are only few cases of “real” sexual harassment with negative consequences. Sub-Saharan African countries had the lowest job satisfaction and the highest experienced sexual harassment. Southeast Asia had the highest job satisfaction and the lowest experienced sexual harassment. Men had higher levels of job satisfaction and gender equality perceptions than women. The results also highlight power imbalances that reinforce gendered hierarchies." (Abstract)
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"This article examines how online abuse is experienced and tackled by journalists in Portugal, and addresses the prevalence of online harassment and violence against women journalists and their perceptions of the issue. Theoretically, the article bridges the research on online harassment and gender
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in journalism. Empirically, it draws on a nationwide survey of journalists combined with data from semi-structured interviews conducted with 25 women journalists to explore the gendered experiences of online abuse. Journalists feel an increasing hostility aggravated by the digital environment. Half of the surveyed professionals experienced online abuse, including sexual harassment. Journalists evidenced low trust in protection mechanisms and feelings of resignation towards online abuse, seen as intrinsic to the job. The interviews further revealed a perceived connection between gender and online abuse: women recognized the sexualized nature of online abuse, which they linked to the broader cultural context of gender inequality." (Abstract)
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"Overall, our study found that many journalists and media workers from minority backgrounds were experiencing online harassment and abuse from members of the public, and that often, this behaviour was considered ‘part of the job’ in the modern, digital environment. While we found some employers
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were making good efforts to assist their employees from diverse backgrounds, too often issues such as industry complacency and in-built (systemic, institutional) racism and discrimination were impacting on organisations’ ability to properly protect diverse media workers. Our data also demonstrates that, sometimes, journalists from diverse backgrounds were operating in what they considered to be hostile work environments. Further, we found that while many were aware of both informal and formal reporting mechanisms, they found most comfort and support from friends, family and other diverse co-workers rather than from any of the supports that existed. The research suggests that while some were familiar with formal reporting mechanisms, many were not; and many also had little faith in the ability of formal mechanisms to achieve change. There was a strong sense that people from diverse backgrounds did not want to be identified as the ‘difficult’ person in their organisation and that acceptance, adaptation and sometimes silence were used as ways to navigate the environment, rather than formal complaints mechanisms." (Executive summary, pages 4-5)
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"The public’s increased access to journalists via social networks is arguably the defining shift in audience-media relations over the past two decades. While some laud this potential for dialogue, the reality is that many journalists face targeted hostility, with women often subjected to particula
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rly challenging content. Underpinning this project is the question of how contemporary social media dynamics, and particularly negative or hostile interactions, affect journalists in Ireland. Drawing on interviews with 36 national-level female journalists, this project documents their experiences in their own words, analyses how they handle negativity, and explores how they think those with power should respond. The project also includes focus groups with 40 student journalists who are grappling with the expectations around social media use moving forward in their careers." (Abstract)
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"Female journalists often face a dual challenge when reporting on elections, grappling with routine attacks both as women and as professionals. This study aims to explore the safety concerns of female journalists covering elections in Lagos state, Nigeria, and investigate their attitudes towards the
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se concerns, their awareness, and utilization of available safety measures. Using an explanatory sequential method, we conducted a questionnaire survey with 40 female journalists and followed up with in-depth interviews of two senior female journalists. Findings revealed that sexual harassment emerged as a common offline threat (87.5%), while libelous comments (75%) and stalking (75%) posed significant online concerns. Despite these alarming safety statistics, female journalists agreed that safety is a concern (x*= 3.72); while expressing that safety concerns would not significantly affect their election coverage (mean = 2.70). Furthermore, there is a disparity between high awareness (mean = 4.00) and low adoption (mean = 3.12) of available safety measures among female journalists. In addition, the interviews underscored the absence of substantial support from media organizations during election coverage, exacerbating the vulnerabilities faced by female journalists. This lack of institutional backing warrants immediate attention to foster a safer reporting environment." (Abstract)
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"This article contributes to our understanding of the notion of mob censorship from the Ugandan context by examining the nature and consequences of harassment targeting women journalists on social media. Drawing on research about online harassment and censorship, we link mob violence in physical spa
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ces to harassment encountered on social media from the perspectives of women journalists. We illustrate that the different forms of harassment enabled by online platforms present serious challenges for individual journalists, and the journalism profession. Our findings suggest that online attacks on reporters include comments that denigrate women’s bodies, and discredit journalists’ reportage. The harassment compels women journalists to engage in online hibernation and censorship." (Abstract)
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"Freedom of religion or belief is an essential human right. Not a superordinate right, but not a marginal right either. It is closely intertwined with other rights such as freedom of opinion or assembly, or the right to be protected against discrimination. And that is the objective of my efforts: to
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embed this right firmly at the centre of the human rights agenda. There is still a long way to go to achieve this [...]
This report is about advancing the debate and it also enters new territory. It builds on the work done by my predecessor, Markus Grübel, but there are also some aspects where the report has been developed further. This is also reflected in the number of focus countries, which has been increased from 30 to 41. The German Parliament, the Bundestag, had asked for the country section to be expanded, and we were happy to comply with that request. Enlarging the range of countries covered by the report provides an opportunity to do two things at once: offer a regular report on developments in individual regions, and expand the focus in the light of new challenges. Among the focus countries that have been added this year are Armenia, Belarus, Guatemala, the Central African Republic, Lebanon, the Maldives and Syria. For some of them, the decision to add them was taken in the light of recent developments. With these aims in mind, the report will continue to be submitted at regular intervals as intended by the Bundestag, building on a solid basis of data and information.
The report explores new ground above all with its thematic focus on the freedom of religion or belief of Indigenous peoples. There are about 5,000 such groups of people worldwide, with an estimated total population of more than 470 million. With this focus our report ties in with a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, developing the topic further. In the process of drafting the report, I realised that we are doing pioneering work, because there was and still is the belief that Indigenous spirituality has nothing to do with freedom of religion or belief. The report provides an opportunity to look in a different way at conflicts over land and infrastructure that involve Indigenous communities. And to develop an understanding that often such conflicts are not just about resources but in fact have to do with Indigenous peoples’ belief that all natural things have a spirit or soul. My personal learning curve on this topic is closely connected with Indigenous communities in Guatemala and my experiences with conflictual infrastructure projects. When I visited Guatemala many years ago, I had difficulty understanding why people staged fierce and violent protests against small-scale hydropower plants that were actually environmentally friendly. Today I know that the areas surrounding a small river were regarded as important spiritual places, with Indigenous communities believing that the forest had a soul, and that interfering with nature there without giving any thought to the spiritual implications was not acceptable." (Preface, page 2)
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"The objective of this guide is to help teachers, volunteer teachers and librarians, and community leaders set up libraries where there are none and promote the use of community libraries that already exist. This guide helps community librarians set up libraries while engaging the full community in
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the process. This guide also provides community librarians ways to encourage children to read, to build children’s listening and reading comprehension and social and emotional skills, and to help parents and caregivers learn how they can support their children’s literacy." (Introduction)
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"The Namibia Media Trust (NMT) has launched a project to empower persons with disabilities in Namibia. The project aims to help enable them to actively participate in democratic processes and develop critical media production and literacy skills for self-advocacy. The NMT believes that decisions con
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cerning persons with disabilities are legitimate only if those affected by them have an equal opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. The project will establish an inclusive and accessible information-sharing platform to help beneficiaries exercise their rights to access information. Over a period of three months, the NMT plans to create a newsletter run by persons with disabilities, in which they can share multimedia content, address relevant issues, and advocate for the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities in Namibian society. The project focuses on skills development and aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform for promoting access to information and self-advocacy." (Page 1)
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"Risk and crisis communication (RCC) is a complex constellation of multiple actors, platforms, and voices. It involves institutional actors but also laypeople. Participation by social media users can both facilitate and obstruct effective RCC. The present study draws on in-depth interviews with Swed
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ish Facebook users, and explores motivational factors for lay participation in RCC in the context of vaccination utilizing Peter Dahlgren’s (2011) model. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, it identifies three dominant clusters of participation motivations: personal interest, information brokerage, and persuasion. Second, the results show that Facebook sociality is characterized by asynchronous communication, loops, and widespread hostility. Third, degrees of content visibility set up “zones of peace” (backstage, safe communication spaces) and “zones of fight” (frontstage, open sub-arenas where various views on vaccination are debated). Moreover, the study finds that these forms of sociality and levels of visibility can both strengthen and undermine user motivations." (Abstract)
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"This article examines, with ethnographic lenses, the emergence of shared networks in the Tseltal and Zapoteco communities in Chiapas and Oaxaca (Mexico). ‘Shared networks’ are first-mile signal-sharing practices that articulate interconnection infrastructure and values of coexistence to, in the
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cases studied, extend the internet to areas where the services of existing larger internet service providers are unsatisfactory or unavailable. It argues that by infrastructuring their own local networks and interconnecting to the global internet, Tseltal and Zapoteco people are effectively internet codesigners, building Latin-Centric Indigenous networks and shaping internet governance from below. When comunalidad values, supported by unlicensed frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, towers, radio antennas, houses’ rooftops, routers, and cables, intersect with the values of the internet service providers and their policies, hybrids emerge. Shared networks are a result of what these hybrids enact and constrain, as well as evidence of the vivid struggles for a more inclusive and pluriversal internet." (Abstract)
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"The past decades have seen efforts to increase digital inclusion for women worldwide, with the ultimate aim to advance gender equality. However, progress is slow, despite important advances in moving beyond a focus on ‘digital access’ (as measured by network coverage and hardware) towards a mor
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e holistic understanding of inclusion that considers abilities, awareness and agency. Here, we propose a further theoretical shift that draws on social system theories (e.g., Luhmann, 1984) and on the theory of ‘intersecting inequalities’ (Kabeer, 2010). We propose to understand the gender digital gap, particularly in mobile and internet usage, not merely descriptively but dynamically – since even factors like agency and awareness change over time – by applying concepts of feedback loops, low-equilibrium traps, multi-dimensional exclusion and systems analysis. This paper highlights how women may become locked in a state of low-inclusion unless the feedback loops between digital, social, economic and political exclusion are addressed through policies that tackle multiple dimensions. The paper reviews research on gender digital gaps with particular focus on developing countries, and with direct implications for policy-making." (Abstract)
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