Publishers Are Getting Organized to Protect Female Reporters from Digital Harassment

The digital transition has proven bittersweet for many female journalists, as some of the same qualities that make the internet such a valuable tool for reporting, such as the intimacy it affords, can also make it a haven for harassment. According to an April 2021 report commissioned by UNESCO, nearly three in four female journalists (73%) have experienced online violence, an epidemic of abuse that jeopardizes half of the industry and threatens to silence critical reporting. Publishers have been divided in their response to this crisis. Many organizations, particularly legacy titles, view digital harassment as the responsibility of the journalist, according to the UNESCO report. Other organizations, including Defector Media, Vice Media Group, BuzzFeed Inc. and Reuters, have adopted policies that treat digital harassment as a workplace hazard, holding the employer responsible for protecting reporters from abuse they incur while in the line of work. These publishers consider protections against digital harassment a necessary safeguard, one that reporters need in order to properly do their job. 5 Steps Anyone Can Take to Improve Inclusion in the Workplace “There are issues that women face, both online and on the ground, that a professional organization cannot ignore,” said Subrata De, evp and global head of programming at Vice News. “When we send people into a hostile environment, we give them personal protection. We need to have the same approach when they are publishing sensitive stories from their desk.” Embracing education efforts Digital harassment ranges widely in nature, from a single derogatory email to an orchestrated campaign of sustained abuse. The UNESCO study, which surveyed 901 woman-identifying journalists from 125 countries, found that 25% of respondents have experienced threats of physical violence, including death threats, and 18% have received threats of sexual violence. One-fifth say that they have been attacked or abused offline in connection with online violence they had experienced. While the majority of female reporters have experienced abuse, it is not felt equally. Because misogyny intersects with other prejudices, Black, Indigenous, Jewish, Arab and lesbian women experience both the highest rates and most severe effects of online violence, according to the report. For female journalists and people of color, dealing with harassment is part of our job.Taylor Lorenz, digital culture reporter, The Washington Post As a result, publishers should offer a variety of protective tools but assess each situation on a case-by-case basis, said Yemile Bucay, head journalist safety and privacy at BuzzFeed. Efforts to shield journalists typically begin during the onboarding process. After being hired, reporters at BuzzFeed receive training about simple measures they can take to safeguard their digital identity, and editors are taught how to identify and flag stories that could provoke harassment before they are published. “We try to do a one-on-one training with every journalist before they have their first by-line up,” Bucay said. “A lot of people will never have a crisis, but this way, everyone knows that they have security and they have resources at their disposal.” Reuters also relies on education to combat digital harassment. In collaboration with the UNESCO report, the publisher created a guide detailing how its journalists should respond to online harassment. The document cautions reporters against sharing personal details on the internet in an effort to prevent doxxing, a tactic where an abuser uses sensitive information to harass someone. It also coaches them through the process of preparing family and friends for collateral abuse and responding to online harassment. Digital tools to help prevent abuse Some news organizations also use a variety of digital services to protect their journalists. BuzzFeed Inc. gives reporters the option of using a Google Voice number, while Defector uses Delete Me, which periodically scans and deletes reporters’ personal information from the web. When a reporter does experience abuse, publishers can respond in a number of ways, depending on the nature of the attack, Bucay explained. In one-off encounters, the surveillance team can log the details of the abuse and monitor the situation. In more severe cases, employees can elect to hand over their social media logins to the security staff, who will delete hate messages and can escalate the situation if necessary. Having female leadership in newsrooms is critical in terms of improving how we deal with harassment as an industry.Subrata De, Vice News Taylor Lorenz, a digital culture reporter for The Washington Post, has become a prominent figure in the fight against online violence, partly because her beat often covers fringe internet figures with passionate followings. If digital publishers expect female reporters to cover sensitive topics and share their work on social media, then those organizations need to protect those journalists from any related abuse, Lorenz said. “For female journalists and people of color, dealing with harassment is part of our job,” Lorenz said. “It is directly tied to our work.” Publishers have also taken steps to address the mental health toll that online abuse can have. Vice Media has partnered with the Dart Center at Columbia University to provide mental health resources to its journalists, and BuzzFeed launched a peer network for reporters who have experienced online violence. These initiatives can help journalists navigate online abuse, but newsrooms need to make digital harassment a priority in their organizational decision-making to enact real change, De said. “Having female leadership in newsrooms is critical in terms of improving how we deal with harassment as an industry,” De expressed. “In order for journalism to be sustainable, these issues have to be front-of-mind for a newsroom and part of leadership’s skill-set.”