Safety Issues for Female Journalists

The Coalition For Women In Journalism advocates for women and LGBTQ+ journalists facing threats and abuse. Since 2019, the organization has supported over 2,000 women and non-binary journalists in 128 countries through advocacy work, legal aid, evacuations, and mentorship.

CFWIJ’s Press Freedom Newsroom monitors and reports on press freedom violations for women and non-binary journalists. Its daily, monthly, and annual reports are drawn from research that offers a landscape view of what press freedom looks like with a gender angle. It also offers mentorship for mid-career journalists and peer support to help journalists develop skills, ensure safety, and build networks. The organisation strives to amplify voices of women journalists exposing injustice at personal risk and strives to create a safer environment for journalists to do their critical work.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) have conducted a global survey to assess the scale and impacts of online violence targeting women journalists, and to help identify solutions to this pernicious problem.

It is the most comprehensive and geographically diverse survey ever undertaken on the theme, having been offered in five languages and receiving responses from 714 women journalists* across 113 countries.

The survey is part of a broader UNESCO-commissioned study to examine online violence against women journalists in 15 countries, with an emphasis on intersectional experiences and the Global South.

Additional Reports:

• New Research: Online attacks on women journalists lead to ‘real world’ violence

Although digital technologies have created new opportunities for women journalists and activists to communicate and organise, they have also reproduced patterns of harassment and abuse that women journalists face throughout their journalistic or public interest activities, in a wide range of digital forms.

Newsrooms that once preached “don’t feed the trolls” are being forced to grapple with a daily deluge of smears. “Even the most open-minded media organizations are still run by men who don’t fundamentally understand the misogynistic nature of these attacks,” says one reporter.

Newsrooms that once preached “don’t feed the trolls” are being forced to grapple with a daily deluge of smears. “Even the most open-minded media organizations are still run by men who don’t fundamentally understand the misogynistic nature of these attacks,” says one reporter. By @charlottetklein, Vanity Fair 26 March 2021

Caroline Feldner explains the threats against female journalists and the possible solutions

Report, co-authored with TrollBusters, examines the professional dangers of being a female journalist in the news media today. An update to the 2014 report “Violence and Harassment Against Women in the News Media: A Global Picture.”

“INSI’s 40-page report, “Violence and Harassment against Women in the News Media: A Global Picture,” reveals the findings of a global survey conducted among nearly 1,000 female journalists. It provides the first comprehensive picture of the dangers faced by many women working in news media around the world.”