New IPI platform collects best practices to tackle online harassment of journalists

The International Press Institute (IPI) launched a new platform on 9 July called Ontheline Newsrooms providing best practices to counter online harassment against journalists. The platform was designed for newsrooms and journalists in four principal areas: moderation for both on-site comments and social media posts; newsroom structures and mechanisms designed to promote a culture of safety around online abuse; protocols for assessing and responding to attacks; and the roles and responsibilities of newsroom actors involved in these areas. The data were collected through interviews with over 110 editors, journalists and media experts as well as visits to 45 leading newsrooms…

Finland: new fund supports journalists facing harassment and threats

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the creation of a new fund for journalists who became victims of persecution or threats. It is a joint project of the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF), five top Finnish media companies and several other representative organisations working in the media sector. The fund will be launched after midsummer and it is open to staff journalists as well as freelancers. It aims to help journalists facing legal threats such as cases of defamation as well as harassments. The foundation follows a spate of such cases in Finland in recent years, only…

IFJ and EFJ condemn threats against journalists in Ukraine

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemned today the increasing verbal and online violence against journalists in Ukraine. On 30 May 2018, Larissa Sargan, spokeswoman of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, posted on her Facebook profile a list of 26 so-called “traitors” who criticized the law enforcement authorities after the so-called “murder” in Kyiv of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko. The “murder” was in fact an operation in which Ukrainian security services (SBU) faked Babchenkos’s assassination. Two journalists appear in Larissa Sargan’s list of so-called traitors: Myroslava Gongadze and Sergiy Tomilenko, who is the President of the National Union…

Harassment of journalists and how to tackle it – Sharing best practices

Harassment of journalists and how to tackle it – Sharing best practices Time: 7.5.2018 at 14:00–17:00 Venue: Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU Avenue de Cortenbergh 80 B-1000 BRUXELLES BELGIUM In a networked and polarized world, journalists are more and more often at the receiving end of harassment. To share ideas, experiences and best practices in tackling the phenomenon, the Association of Finnish Foreign Affairs Journalists organises an international seminar in Brussels in May 2018. Its goal is to have interesting, informal conversations on the topic between people of different backgrounds so that all participants leave with better tools…

Journalists harassed for their reports on Hungary’s anti-Soros campaign

Several journalists working in Hungary for foreign media outlets alerted the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) about the harassment they have been subjected to. The EFJ condemns those attacks and calls on the Hungarian authorities to stop harassing the journalists in question. “Propagandists”, “spokespeople”, “drug addict”: this is the kind of verbal attacks journalists reporting on Hungary’s campaign against George Soros have received, directly from the government or some pro-governmental media outlets. The EFJ recently submitted the following two cases on the Council of Europe platform for the safety of journalists. The Website 888.hu Publishes a List of Eight Journalists Described as…

Cyber-bullying: Stop the cycle now!

Anonymity of perpetrators, attacks across borders and a lack of police awareness and reaction are among the obstacles to properly tackle cyberbullying. The Council of Europe’s conference on gender equality “Are we there yet”  held in Tallinn, Estonia, on 30 June and 1 July was an occasion to hear from various experts on how best to tackle cyber-bullying alongside a range of other key topics, including better access to justice and leadership, stereotypes in the media, sexist hate speech and gender mainstreaming. Social media offer incredible opportunities for women to express themselves. But there is also a downside to it.…

EFJ calls for action to tackle harassment of female journalists

“We must support our female colleagues, defend them and make their voices heard. Harassment and abuses targeting at female journalists shall not be tolerated,” said Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, the EFJ President after the OSCE meeting on online abuses of female journalists on 17 November in Vienna. The conference has gathered international experts in the field to help increase understanding and gravity of the issue  involved best practices and possible solutions to tackle the mounting number of online threats targeting female journalists. During the meeting, experts and journalists spoke about the gravity of the issue and called for urgent action to…