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- It’s normal unless it turns into physical aggression: a study of Portuguese Journalists’ perceptions of (gendered) online harassmentPublication . Sampaio-Dias, Susana; Silveirinha, Maria João; Miranda, João; Cerqueira, Carla; Subtil, Filipa Mónica de Brito Gonçalves; Amaral, Inês; Garcez, Bibiana; Dias, Bruno S. N.In January 2021, while the country’s daily Covid-19 numbers were hitting record highs, Portugal headed to the polls to elect its future head of state. The campaign was marked by the actions and words of a new far-right party (Chega), which held a campaign characterised by violent incidents with journalists. Later in the year, local elections provided new opportunities for these political actors to confront journalists and make female journalists their preferential targets. The attacks were not just face-to-face but also on social media, in reiterated hate speech messages and direct threats, particularly against female journalists (CCPJ 2021). What made these events significant is that hate speech and online harassment became more visible for both the public and journalists themselves. Having a presence online is expected if not required from journalists today. While digital networking helps establish connections and reach a wider community, it also exposes media professionals to abuse. The dangers of hate speech in journalism are well known and hate speech presents a major challenge to today's journalists (Holton, 2021), as it became their “new normal” (Waisbord, 2020). Women in particular are preferential targets of trolls (Nadim e Fladmoe, 2019; Edström, 2016; UNESCO, 2021; Chen et al, 2020; Adams, 2018). Under different names, such as cyber gender harassment (Citron, 2011) or gendertrolling (Mantilla, 2013), the consequences of gender-based online hate speech hate are not only to female journalists’ mental health and psychological wellbeing but also on public life, as it may have a “chilling effect” in limiting the types of stories and topics that are covered (Townend, 2017; UNESCO, 2021). With few exceptions (Simões, 2021; Silva, 2021), little is known about online violence against Portuguese journalists. This research examines how online abuse is experienced and tackled by Portuguese journalists by measuring self-reported incidents, effects, and trust in existing safety mechanisms. Further, we specifically address 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, mob censorship and gender in journalism. Empirically, it draws on a nationwide survey of journalists and, to explore in more detail the meanings of its quantitative data and the gender aspects of experience. Findings are combined with data from semi-structured interviews conducted with women journalists from diverse media and fields. Professionals feel an increasing hostility aggravated by the digital environment. Half of the surveyed journalists have experienced online violence to some degree, including sexual harassment. Journalists further evidenced low levels of trust in protection mechanisms or a lack of awareness of them. Findings also suggest feelings of resignation towards online abuse, seen as intrinsic to the job, demonstrating a sense of understatement of the attacks. The paper argues that these sentiments contribute to a normalisation of online violence and highlights the need to discuss online abuse within the profession.
- “Journalists are prepared for critical situations … but we are not prepared for this”: empirical and structural dimensions of gendered online harassmentPublication . Sampaio-Dias, Susana; Silveirinha, Maria João; Garcez, Bibiana; Subtil, Filipa Mónica de Brito Gonçalves; Miranda, João; Cerqueira, CarlaThis article discusses online harassment against women journalistsexploring self-reported incidents, effects, and trust in safetymechanisms. Drawing on twenty-five semi-structured interviewsof women journalists in Portugal, we use a feminist and criticalrealist framework to explore the causal structures and generativemechanisms that explain their vulnerability to online abuse. Weidentify three overarching themes: increasing visibility in acontext of higher hostility towards journalism and insufficientsafety mechanisms; intersectional gender inequality and culturalmores that foster it; and (individual) responses to harassment.These themes show that women journalists’actions are bothconstrained and enabled by existing structures and culturalattitudes. While they tend to deny harassment is caused by theirgender, seeing it mainly because of their job, they admit thesexualised and gendered nature of the insults, seeing this as anadded offence not experienced by their male counterparts. Theyalso see harassment as a continuation of inequality and prevailingsexism andfind the protection mechanisms insufficient andineffective. As a result, they assume an extra burden of emotionallabour to deal with online bullying, admitting self-censoring andthe need to develop resilience strategies.