A discussion paper pioneered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) points to a sharp increase in online violence against women journalists and reveals how these attacks are now inextricably bound up with disinformation, intersectional discrimination, and populist politics. 

Academics who interviewed over 1000 female journalists in 15 countries found the vast majority of journalists who took part had suffered from online abuse and threats.

They urged social media companies to overhaul algorithms that have been found to drive hate against women and for perpetrators of gender-based online violence to be de-platformed and penalised.

The authors of The Chilling are calling for governments, as well as the news industry and giant tech corporations, to do more to tackle what they say is "a crisis of online violence against women journalists".

The report illuminates the evolving challenges faced by female journalists dealing with prolific and sustained online violence around the world. It calls out "the victim-blaming and slut-shaming that perpetuate sexist and misogynistic responses to offline violence against women in the online environment, where patriarchal norms are being aggressively reinforced".

Among the interviewees was award-winning investigative Guardian and Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr, who exposed how personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users was secretly collected by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, largely for political advertising.

The team’s analysis found that Cadwalladr was the target of 10 400 separate instances of obvious abuse between December 2019 and January 2021.

It found that the abuse was highly gendered and designed to "humiliate, belittle and discredit" the journalist on both a personal and professional level.

OFM News