Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
The report, The Chilling: Global Trends in Online Violence against Women Journalists, launched as part of UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event, is ground-breaking because of its size and scope. It records 73% of the women surveyed as having experienced online violence (including death and rape threats). Twenty percent of women journalists said they withdrew from social media interaction because of the threats and vilification from being called “witch”, “hag”, “whore”, “bitch”, and “presstitute” (“press” plus “prostitute”).
A team of 23 international researchers from 16 countries, led by Julie Posetti (global research director), Nabeelah Shabbir, Diana Maynard, Kalina Bontcheva and Nermine Aboulez wrote the 94-page report. (Disclosure: I led the Africa region research and the full book on the international study will be published in June 2021.)
11 May 2021 - Glenda Daniels
The online attacks on women journalists are bound to populist politics, disinformation and intersectional discrimination, says Unesco.
The report, The Chilling: Global Trends in Online Violence against Women Journalists, and themed “Information as a Public Good”, is ground-breaking because of its size and scope. It records 73% of the women surveyed as having experienced online violence (including death and rape threats). Twenty percent of women journalists said they withdrew from social media interaction because of the threats and vilification from being called “witch”, “hag”, “whore”, “bitch”, and “presstitute” (“press” plus “prostitute”).
A team of 23 international researchers from 16 countries, led by Julie Posetti (global research director), Nabeelah Shabbir, Diana Maynard, Kalina Bontcheva and Nermine Aboulez wrote the 94-page report. (Disclosure: I led the Africa region research and the full book on the internatio
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Launched on World Press Freedom Day, BETC s innovative prints raise awareness for journalist Maria Ressa who faces lifetime imprisonment in the Philippines
On World Press Freedom Day 2021, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the #HoldTheLine coalition have launched an innovative campaign of solidarity with journalist Maria Ressa, who faces a possible lifetime in prison in the Philippines. A new website features hundreds of videos from prominent supporters around the world - with a call for public contributions - that will stream on a continuous loop until all charges are dropped against Ressa and the media outlet Rappler.
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It has not been an easy year for journalists, journalism and press freedom in Southeast Asia. The already difficult condition for news organization has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hundreds of journalists across the region have lost their jobs as news outlets’ revenue continue to decline and many more suffered pay-cuts with no job security. UNESCO also highlighted the widespread harassment and intimidation of women journalists online in a new report entitled “The Chilling” launched in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day in 2021.
Yet against these odds, journalists, media workers, and press freedom advocates have come together once again in solidarity on this 3 May to commemorate World Press Freedom Day with the global theme “Information as a Public Good.”
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UNESCO releases pioneering discussion paper on online violence against women journalists
The 30 April online panel, moderated by Kenyan investigative journalist Catherine Gicheru, brought together celebrated journalists and experts to discuss the findings presented by ICFJ Global Director of Research Dr Julie Posetti (Australia).
The laureate of the 2021 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, Maria Ressa (CEO of Filipino news website Rappler), and the US NBC journalist Brandy Zadrozny, testified that the intense online harassment they recently went through was a response to their investigations into disinformation and populist networks.
The goal is to impose silence, to manufacture consensus and to seed metanarratives such as ‘this journalist is a criminal’… Tearing down my credibility is a way to attack the media I founded.