Not just words

How reputational attacks harm

journalists and undermine
press freedom

LEAD AUTHOR AND RESEARCHER

Chris Tenove

CO-AUTHORS AND RESEARCHERS

Ahmed Al-Rawi
Juan Merchan
Manimugdha Sharma
Gustavo Villela
Not just words
How reputational attacks harm journalists
and undermine press freedom
LEAD AUTHOR AND RESEARCHER

Chris Tenove
CO-AUTHORS AND RESEARCHERS

Ahmed Al-Rawi, Juan Merchan, Manimugdha Sharma, and Gustavo Villela

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Letícia Loureiro

For the full project team and acknowledgements, see the credits.
An executive summary of this report is available to download in English, French, and Spanish.

Research for this project was primarily conducted in Our team had full editorial control over this report
2022 and 2023. The project was led by the Global Re- and we are solely responsible for its contents. Please
porting Centre at the University of British Columbia in send all questions and feedback to Chris Tenove at
partnership with the Committee to Protect Journalists, cjtenove@mail.ubc.ca.
the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University,
and PEN Canada. P U B L I C AT I O N I N F O

Initially published digitally on June 20, 2023. Copyright

This report and the online summary (globalreporting-
© 2023; Global Reporting Centre; University of British
centre.org/reputational-attacks) were co-published
Columbia School of Journalism, Writing, and Media.
by the Global Reporting Centre and the UBC School of
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (creative-
Journalism, Writing, and Media.
commons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0).
We gratefully acknowledge that this project is support-
ed in part by funding from the Government of Canada C I TAT I O N
(Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Tenove, Chris, Ahmed Al-Rawi, Juan Merchan, Mani-
and Canadian Heritage’s Digital Citizen Contribution mugdha Sharma, and Gustavo Villela. (2023) Not just
Program), the Mitacs Accelerate Program, the Jonathan words: How reputational attacks harm journalists and
Logan Family Foundation, PEN Canada, and the Com- undermine press freedom. Vancouver: Global Reporting
mittee to Protect Journalists. Centre and the University of British Columbia School of
Journalism, Writing, and Media.
 JODIE GINSBERG

PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE

TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS
“More and more we see leaders
in supposedly democratic
countries denigrating the media,
casting journalists as ‘enemies
of the people,’ as untrustworthy.
It is hardly surprising that the
corrupt, the abusers of power,
would seed such a narrative.”
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y K AT H L E E N F U
Contents
Executive summary 07
Introduction 11
Threats to journalists’ safety and press freedom 12
Reputational attacks and their consequences 14

Context and methodology 17

Context: ongoing political and pandemic-related upheavals 17
Survey methodology 18
Demographic breakdown of survey respondents 18
Interview methodology and sample 20

Key findings on reputational attacks 21

1. How frequently do journalists face attacks on their reputations? 21
Profile: Michela Wrong 27
2. What forms do reputational attacks take?  28
3. What are the sources and motives of reputational attacks? 32
Profile: Harish Pullanoor 35
4. Do reputational attacks vary due to journalists’ personal identities? 38
5. Reputational attacks thrive on social media platforms 43

Impacts of reputational attacks 46

6. Reputational attacks are associated with violence and threats of violence 46
7. Smearing journalists’ reputations in courts of law and public opinion 49
8. Reputational attacks cause professional and personal harms 52
Profile: Irene Benito 53
9. Journalists’ personal identities and the impacts of reputational attacks 59
Conclusion 64
Evaluating threats from reputational attacks 65

Recommendations 67

Appendix: country case studies 74

Brazil 75
Canada 79
Colombia 84
India 89
References 95
Project credits 106
Foreword
Democracy is in decline worldwide and a free and independent press is often one of
the first casualties of that decline. This is evident in the growing trend among those in
positions of power to cast aspersions on the media. More and more we see leaders in
supposedly democratic countries denigrating the media, casting journalists as “ene-
mies of the people,” as untrustworthy. It is hardly surprising that the corrupt, the abus-
ers of power, would seed such a narrative. Sadly, however, such a narrative is seeping
increasingly into the general population, who increasingly grow to distrust all journal-
ists. That undermines the credibility of journalism, and contributes to an increasing
lack of safety for journalists worldwide. But it is not just journalists who suffer when
the media comes under attack: we all do. Journalism is essential for holding the pow-
erful to account, for exposing abuses of our human rights, and for ensuring we all have
access to the information to which we are entitled.

This report from the Global Reporting Centre compellingly illustrates the ubiquity of
credibility attacks against journalists and the scope and severity of the effects they
have on media workers and journalism more broadly. I hope it provokes reflection and
action.

—JODIE GINSBERG
PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS

6
Executive summary

Journalists’ reputations are under assault around the world. Among jour-
nalists we surveyed, 63% reported at least monthly attacks on their indi-
vidual reputations — and 19% reported facing them daily. Rates were even
higher for attacks on the reputations of their news outlets or the broader
news media sector.

These are concerning findings because reputations are critical in journalism. A jour-
nalist’s reputation affects whether they are heard and believed, trusted by potential
sources, and often whether they can survive economically. So journalists’ reputations
are often attacked by those who want to hide the truth or evade accountability.

We define “reputational attacks” as public messages intended to discredit, delegiti-

mize, or dehumanize journalists. These attacks are frequently online, but can also be
mounted in politicians’ speeches, news broadcasts, and courtrooms. They can range
from epithets in Twitter comments, to groundless claims in legal suits, to sophisticated
disinformation campaigns using manipulated videos. An Iranian-American journalist
shared a video with us created to misrepresent her reporting. “See! They put scary mu-
sic in the background and zoom in on my face,” she said. “It’s a psy-op.”

Today, these reputational attacks appear to be increasing due to changes in the infor-
mation environment (including the rise of social media platforms) and political land-
scapes (such as the global trend of democratic backsliding). At the same time, press
freedom and trust in journalism appear to be in decline globally, and threats to journal-

7
ists’ safety are on the rise. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at
least 67 journalists and media workers were killed in 2022, the highest since 2018, and
a record 363 were in jail as of December 1, 2022.

We investigated how widespread reputational attacks contribute to the risks and chal-
lenges that journalists face. While there is extensive research on efforts to delegitimize
news outlets and journalism — particularly efforts by political leaders — there has been
little research that investigates how reputational attacks affect individual journalists’
safety and professional autonomy. With that in mind, we focused on five key questions:

1. How frequently do journalists face attacks on their reputations?

2. What are the forms and sources of these attacks?

3. What are the personal and professional consequences of reputational attacks,

including their links to violence and legal repression?

4. How do reputational attacks and their consequences vary for journalists in coun-
tries with different press freedom contexts?

5. How do they vary for journalists with different gender, ethnic, racial, or religious
identities?

To explore these questions, in 2022 we conducted a global survey. It was completed by

645 journalists, who resided in 87 countries, spanning a wide range of press freedom
levels. The survey was available in six languages (English, Arabic, French, Hindi, Portu-
guese, and Spanish). 42% of survey respondents identified as women and 23.1% iden-
tified as belonging to a marginalized racial, ethnic or religious group in their respective
countries. We then conducted in-depth follow-up interviews with 54 journalists.

We have eight key findings:

1
Reputational attacks are prevalent globally, with survey respondents reporting
they encountered at least monthly attacks targeting them personally (63% of
respondents), their organization (75%), or the news media sector (90%).

2
The most common sources of reputational attacks were politicians and public
officials (reported by 72% of respondents). Respondents in countries with low
levels of press freedom reported considerably more reputational attacks from
politicians and political parties in power than those in high press freedom countries

8
(58% vs. 22%).1 This is a significant distinction, because those who control the gov-
ernment have greater access to resources and influence with agencies (like the police)
that can be deployed in tandem with reputational attacks. Attacks from opposition
politicians and parties were relatively consistent across press freedom levels. Reputa-
tional attacks from other sources — such as criminal organizations and police, military
or intelligence agencies — were rarer, but more closely associated with certain harms
(such as physical violence and criminal charges).

3
False or misleading accusations of political bias were the most commonly re-
ported form of personal reputational attacks (54% of respondents), followed by
claims of incompetence (43%) or unethical conduct (42%).

4
Journalists who faced frequent (at least weekly) reputational attacks were
much more likely to have been physically attacked or threatened with violence.
While our survey can not reveal a causal relationship, some interviewees de-
scribed cases in which reputational attacks led directly to assaults or serious threats.

5
Journalists who faced frequent reputational attacks were more likely to have
experienced harm to their mental and physical health, to have seriously con-
sidered quitting journalism, and to have relocated from their city or country to
avoid or mitigate threats. They were also more likely to face legal repression, i.e. be
targeted with arrest or legal actions because of their work.

6
These findings suggest that reputational attacks can have a negative impact
on journalists’ autonomy and ability to do their jobs. Moreover, 40% of respon-
dents said that they changed or reduced their reporting on some issues to avoid
efforts to discredit or harass them. The reported rate of this “chilling effect” was fairly
consistent across the board, even among respondents who faced relatively infrequent
reputational attacks.

7
Journalists who belong to marginalized racial, ethnic, or religious groups in their
countries reported more frequent reputational attacks. 48% of these respon-
dents experienced weekly reputational attacks, and 23% faced weekly attacks
targeting their identity. By contrast, these numbers were 33% and 5% for respondents
who did not identify as belonging to marginalized groups. In addition, respondents
who identified as belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic, or religious groups were
more likely to have been a victim of a physical attack, to have been threatened with
non-sexual violence, to have considered quitting journalism, to be displaced from the

1. For this study we defined levels of press freedom based on Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s 2022
rankings. Those ranked #1–60 are high press freedom countries, #61–120 are medium, and #121–180
are low.

9
city/region/country they report from, and to experience harm to their mental health.

8
Gender is an important dimension of reputational attacks. Our survey found that
women received reputational attacks at comparable rates to men, but the forms
differed. Respondents who identified as men were more likely to be accused of
committing a crime. Respondents who identified as women were more likely to be at-
tacked based on their gender or sexual orientation, and more likely to face sexualized
harassment and threats of sexual violence. Women also reported higher rates of harm
to their mental health (63% vs. 49% for men).

Based on our findings and existing literature, we argue that reputational attacks
warrant more attention. They are not “just words” and they are not productive media
criticism. They can cause or exacerbate personal and professional harms to journalists.
They can be used strategically to complement or increase the likelihood that jour-
nalists will face violence, legal repression, or other severe attacks on their safety and
autonomy. Our report therefore concludes with several recommendations:

Newsrooms, press freedom bodies and civil society organizations should develop
monitoring systems to identify reputational attacks and harassment targeting journal-
ists. They should also develop best practices to defend journalists’ reputations, from
expressions of public support to legal action against those who defame or threaten
journalists. Critically, best practices should address the additional risks journalists face
due to their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and other aspects of their identities.

Newsrooms should establish protocols to support journalists who face attacks on

their reputations and harassment. Protocols should include preventive measures like
cyber-security training, and reactive measures like legal and psychological assistance.
Journalists should not be left to cope with reputational attacks on their own.

Social media companies should improve their anti-abuse tools, content moderation,
and capacity to assist targeted journalists, along with providing greater transparency
to independent researchers and civil society organizations.

Governments should strengthen commitments to protect journalists’ rights and free-

dom of the press, and hold to account those who violate journalists’ rights — including
other governments.

More broadly, actions must be taken to address the systemic and ongoing damage to
journalism and public discourse. This can poison the atmosphere for journalism more
generally, undermining journalists’ collective safety and ability to promote account-
ability, truth-telling, and democracy.

10
Introduction

“Journalism is absolutely more dangerous, more polarized and less trusted

than it used to be,” wrote a Canadian journalist in our survey.

Those sentiments are widely held. Indeed, as journalism scholar Silvio Waisbord ob-
serves, “the problem of journalists’ safety is worse and more complex today than in the
recent past. This explains why the problem has received growing attention globally,
and why it is hard to find solutions” (Waisbord, 2022a, p. 1948).

Our study contributes to this discussion by focusing on a common but under-theorized

and under­­-studied dimension of threats to journalists’ safety and autonomy: attacks
on their reputations. By “reputational attacks,” we refer to public messages that can
discredit, delegitimize, or even dehumanize journalists, and can therefore change how
audiences perceive or treat them.

In 2022, hundreds of journalists were assaulted, jailed, and censored around the world.
Many face significant harassment, particularly online. Why focus on attacks on their
reputations?

First, reputational attacks often prefigure or accompany more straightforward threats

to individual journalists’ security and ability to do their job, including violence and
legal repression.2 This report investigates these linkages, and shows that reputational
attacks make journalism more dangerous.

2. Legal repression refers to the use of police or the legal system to punish, silence, or obstruct jour-
nalists, in violation of their right to freedom of expression.

11
Second, attacks on the reputations of journalists and journalism organizations can poi-
son the atmosphere for journalism more generally, harming trust in journalists as well
as their safety, and undermining their ability to promote accountability, truth-telling,
and democracy. This is clearest when heads of government lead the charge, as seen
recently in the United States (Donald Trump), Brazil (Jair Bolsonaro), India (Narendra
Modi), El Salvador (Nayib Bukele), the Philippines (Rodrigo Duterte), and elsewhere.

Third, reputational attacks are easier to dismiss as “just words” or an unpleasant but
necessary form of media criticism. There is no doubt that journalists should be cor-
rected or held to account for errors or unethical behavior, and vibrant press criticism
makes for healthier journalism. But a balance needs to be struck between guarding
freedom of expression — including legitimate criticism — and addressing communica-
tion that undermines journalists’ ability to safely and effectively pursue their work.

Overall, this report seeks to clarify when, how, and why reputational attacks are most
harmful. By clearly identifying factors that make reputational attacks more harmful,
journalists and their allies can design more targeted and effective responses.

In this introduction, we summarize existing research on threats to journalists’ safety

(with an emphasis on digital threats), explain this report’s analytical framework and
key terms, and list our research questions.

Threats to journalists’ safety and press freedom

Journalists faced significant safety risks in 2022. The Committee to Protect Journal-
ists (CPJ) found that at least 67 journalists and media workers were killed, the highest
number since 2018 and an almost 50% increase from 2021. The year also ended with
a record number of journalists in prison for their work, at 363, as of December 1, 2022
(Getz, 2022). These threats to the safety of journalists highlight broader developments
that undermine the physical, psychological, digital, and economic safety of journal-
ists (Slavtcheva-Petkova et al., 2023; United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, 2022; Waisbord, 2022a).

Technologies of control
Governments have expanded their technological toolkits to control and silence jour-
nalism. There has been an intensification of the use of digital technologies to surveil,
censor, and harass journalists. The Pegasus Project found that at least 180 journalists
were likely targeted with spyware sold to more than 50 governments by Israel-based
NSO Group (Forbidden Stories, 2021). The omnipresent fear of surveillance in many
countries has a chilling effect — when journalists (and their sources) self-censor due
to fears of physical, psychological, or economic risks (Di Salvo, 2022; Guterl, 2022).
12
Surveillance risks can also prevent sources from coming forward. As Mexican journalist
Marcela Turati said in an interview to CPJ, “if a journalist can’t keep her sources secret,
it’s like taking us out of the water we swim in. You take away the right of people to re-
port abuses” (Hootsen, 2022).

Online threats and harassment

Online harassment is widespread and poses a hazard to journalists’ security, mental
health, and freedom of expression (Miller, 2021; Posetti & Shabbir, 2022; Waisbord,
2022b). It has been identified as a serious problem in countries including Brazil (Inter-
netLab, 2022), Canada (IPSOS, 2021), India (Bhat & Chadha, 2022; Majumder, 2022a),
the Philippines (Neilson & Ortiga, 2022), and the United States (Gottfried et al., 2022).
Online harassment is a more global phenomenon than the murder or jailing of journal-
ists for their work, the latter occurring much more frequently in regions experiencing
armed conflict or countries in the Global South (Waisbord, 2022a).

Women and racialized journalists experience significant harassment online (Chen et

al., 2020; Claesson, 2022; IPSOS, 2021) and offline (Miller & Lewis, 2022b; Westcott,
2019). A global survey of 625 women conducted by the International Center for Jour-
nalists (ICFJ) and UNESCO found that 73% had faced some form of harassment online,
and that rates were higher for women who identified as Black, Indigenous, Jewish,
Arab, Asian or lesbian (Posetti & Shabbir, 2022).

Beyond identity, journalists’ visibility (Miller & Lewis, 2022a), and their beat or role
(Adams, 2018), have also been linked to online harassment. Investigative journalists,
particularly those who focus on repressive governments or criminal organizations, face
much higher levels of online violence as well as legal repression (Posetti & Shabbir,
2022; Waisbord, 2022a).

Safety and press freedom more broadly are in decline

Governments, civil society organizations, and the United Nations have all identified the
increasing risks to journalists as part of broader declines of press freedom. Populist
leaders around the world have accused independent media of being “enemies of the
people” or “fake news,” including current or recent leaders of Brazil, India, Israel, the
Philippines, and the United States (Bhat & Chadha, 2022; Carlson et al., 2021; Lubian-
co, 2020; Meeks, 2020; Panievsky, 2021; Ressa, 2022; Solis & Sagarzazu, 2020). As
the journalism sector faces these top-down attacks, individual journalists also face
more spontaneous or loosely-coordinated harassment and reputational attacks by
members of the public, which Waisbord refers to as “bottom-up, citizen vigilantism”
(2020, p. 1031).

13
For these reasons, civil society, governments, and international organizations are
paying increased attention to the risks faced by journalists (e.g., International Women’s
Media Foundation, 2021; United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2022).
This has led to new efforts to improve the safety of journalists in Europe (European
Commission, 2021), and a United Nations resolution3 calling for stronger and more
consistent action by governments to protect journalists and hold to account those who
harm journalists or threaten press freedom (United Nations General Assembly, 2022).

Reputational attacks and their consequences

There are myriad cases of false and malicious attacks on journalists’ credibility by
governments, corporations, criminal organizations, and individuals seeking to avoid
exposure and accountability. Such efforts are not new, but appear to be more frequent
and to have assumed new forms, such as digital disinformation campaigns (PEN Amer-
ica, 2022; Radsch, 2022).

For instance, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi faced intense efforts by troll accounts
aligned with the Saudi government to smear his reputation shortly before and even
after he was murdered in Turkey in 2018 (Abrahams & Leber, 2021; Al-Rawi, 2021). Mo-
roccan journalists Omar Radi and Soulaimane Raissouni were disparaged on Facebook
by a network of fake Facebook accounts, which were identified by our research team
and the Digital Forensic Research Lab (Kann et al., 2022). Gauri Lankesh, an Indian
journalist, faced relentless online campaigns, including accusations by Hindu nation-
alist groups that she was a “Hindu hater,” before she was murdered in 2017 (Rueckert,
2023).4

Dealing with reputational attacks and harassment can be resource intensive and emo-
tionally taxing, and can shape whether and how journalists cover contentious issues
(Claesson, 2022; Holton et al., 2021; Post & Kepplinger, 2019). Audiences who en-
counter uncivil messages in comments on news stories are likely to believe the whole
news organization lacks credibility, and not just the story being commented on — what
researchers call a “toxic atmosphere effect” (Masullo et al., 2021) — contributing to
declining trust in journalism (Newman et al., 2022).

One major issue in this area is the terminology. Research on negative or hostile com-
munication targeting journalists refers to it as “harassment,” “incivility,” “abuse,” “dark

3. This resolution calls for further efforts to advance the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journal-
ists and the Issue of Impunity, as part of the 10-year anniversary of that 2012 initiative. See news.
un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130117 for more details.

4. Forbidden Stories, a global network of journalists, credited Lankesh as an inspiration for a series of
investigations of the disinformation-for-hire industry: forbiddenstories.org/case/story-killers.
14
 participation,” and “violence.” (For more detailed discussions of the different terms
that can be used, Al-Rawi & Kim, 2023). The distinction between these terms is often
unclear — as is the distinction between them and acceptable media criticism.

For this report, we use three terms:

Reputational attacks are public messages (e.g. broadcast TV, Twitter, politician’s
speech) that, as we defined in our survey to respondents, “may undermine journalists’
reputations or credibility.” These include allegations of unprofessionalism to claims
that journalists are traitors to dismissive comments about their personal identities, and
often take the form of false or misleading statements.5

Types of hostile communication

Fake news!
🤬 You made a
mistake.

Reputational attack: public messages Harassment: public or private Media criticism: public evaluations
intended to undermine journalists’ messages that journalists consider of journalism to bring about positive
credibility with audiences. abusive or harmful. change.

Reputational attacks can discredit, delegitimize or even dehumanize journalists. They

work by changing how audiences perceive and/or treat journalists.6

There is little systematic research that focuses specifically on the forms and conse-
quences of reputational attacks against individual journalists, and how these may
vary across different countries or journalists’ identities. One important exception is
the major report by ICFJ and UNESCO, which identified “professional and reputational
threats” as one of the most common of 12 types of online attack (Posetti & Shabbir,

5. Reputational attacks do not always need to contain false or misleading information; we included
this detail in some survey questions to further distinguish reputational attacks from legitimate criti-
cism.

6. The audiences of reputational attacks may vary greatly in size, and can be reached via “private”
messaging apps like Telegram or WhatsApp (Tenenboim & Kligler-Vilenchik, 2020).
15
2022). Among the 625 journalists identifying as women that they surveyed, 23%
experienced “professional threats” such as false allegations about their conduct as
journalists, and 42% experienced “reputational attacks” such as efforts to demean
their intelligence or morality.

Reputational attacks may overlap with harassment, which we defined to survey re-
spondents as “actions or communication, including private messages, that are abu-
sive, sexual, demeaning, hostile or violent in nature.” Harassment can directly affect
journalists’ safety, wellbeing, and socio-economic status, or perceptions of these — it
doesn’t necessarily involve an audience.

In scholarship, harassment refers to a spectrum of behaviours and communication

including violent threats, hate speech, sexualized comments or propositions, and
insults intended to intimidate, belittle, or shame journalists (Chen et al., 2020; Lewis
et al., 2020; Posetti & Shabbir, 2022). Miller defines harassment as “unwanted abusive
behavior,” and argues that targeted journalists should help determine what counts as
“unwanted” and “abusive” (Miller, 2021, p. 4).

Media criticism, a third key concept, refers to public evaluations of journalists’ per-
formance and journalism organizations to bring about positive changes. As the media
freedom organization Article 19 notes, while efforts to discredit and harass journalists
should be opposed, “genuine criticism or scrutiny of the news media or individual jour-
nalists who fail to uphold ethics and values should not be equated with attacks against
the media” (ARTICLE 19, 2021, p. 18).

Scholarship on media criticism has long emphasized its importance for holding news
media to account, encouraging reflexivity among journalists, and enhancing the dem-
ocratic contributions of the press. However, scholars have increasingly looked at toxic
forms of criticism, or “anti-press rhetoric,” that are used to undermine journalism and
threaten journalists, often by actors pursuing anti-democratic aims (Cheruiyot, 2022,
p. 1). This toxic or “delegitimizing” media criticism is typified by the “absence of reason-
ing and the presence of incivility” (Egelhofer et al., 2021, p. 656, emphasis in original).

There can and should be debate about what counts as tolerable media criticism and
what counts as reputational attacks or harassment. The distinctions between these
need to be worked out in different contexts. In fact, a main motivation for this study
is to help understand the forms and consequences of reputational attacks, to better
determine how those lines might be drawn.

16
Context and
methodology

Context: ongoing political and pandemic-related

upheavals
The survey for this report was conducted in 2022, focusing primarily on
journalists’ lived experiences in the preceding 12 months. During this pe-
riod, journalism organizations faced several forms of upheaval and chal-
lenges. Some of these were related to political developments in specific
countries, such as presidential or national election campaigns in Brazil,
Colombia, Kenya, and the United States. However, a broader context was
the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic emphasized the importance of robust journalism to raise awareness of

health risks, provide factual information, and hold public institutions to account. Many
journalists, including some interviewed for this report, felt high levels of public appre-
ciation, especially in the early months of the pandemic.

However, research across countries found “the pandemic crisis exacerbates exist-
ing obstacles to press freedom and adds new dimensions to the already documented
threats” (Papadopoulou & Maniou, 2021, p. 1344), including new legal restrictions, eco-
nomic pressures, and enhanced forms of surveillance affecting journalists and journal-
ism organizations (Jacobsen, 2020). Other threats included smear campaigns, online
harassment, and physical aggression that targeted journalists, primarily because of
their reporting on the pandemic and on public health measures such as masking and
vaccines (Egwu, 2022; Posetti, Julie et al., 2020b; Quandt & Wahl-Jorgensen, 2021).

At the same time, trust in journalism declined in many countries, driven not only by the
social and political cleavages associated with the pandemic, but also anti-press popu-
list movements and leaders (Egelhofer et al., 2022; Newman et al., 2022).

Survey methodology
This study used a global survey of journalists to identify broad patterns in their ex-
periences with reputational attacks, and how those relate to different press freedom
contexts and journalists’ identities. 645 journalists responded. We then conducted in-
depth interviews with 54 of them to develop more fine-grained insights into the forms
and consequences of reputational attacks. The University of British Columbia oversaw
ethics clearance for the multi-language survey and interviews.

A 45-question survey was available online from April 1 to October 1, 2022. It was
available in English, Arabic, French, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish. Individuals could
complete the survey anonymously, but they were given the option to share an email
address with our research team for potential follow-up (378, or 58.6%, did so).

Researchers with the Global Reporting Centre — with assistance from staff at the Com-
mittee to Protect Journalists — used a snowball survey method. We contacted national
and international press freedom and journalism organizations, asking them to share
the survey with their networks. We also directly contacted journalists in our profession-
al networks and reached out to some journalists who report on disinformation (found
by identifying journalists in news databases that include “disinformation” and/or “mis-
information” in their stories).

All survey respondents self-identified as “journalists over the age of 18.” We included
questions about personal identity (gender, age, and whether they belong to a margin-
alized racial, ethnic or religious group in their country), and professional identity (role,
years in journalism, type of news organization, political orientation of their organi-
zation). For more information on the survey questionnaire, contact Chris Tenove, the
report’s lead author.

Demographic breakdown of survey respondents

The 645 journalists who completed the survey were based in Asia (99 respondents),
Europe (160), Latin America (156), North America (130), Sub-Saharan Africa (69), and
Oceania (12). We did not have the capacity to safely and effectively share our survey in
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, but still received 19 survey respons-
es from journalists there. Within regions, some countries have much higher responses

18
than others (e.g. 79 of 99 Asian respondents reside in India or Pakistan).

About 10% of respondents report on countries in a different region than where they
live. Most of these journalists reside in North America or Europe but report on Asia,
MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

57.0% of respondents identified as men, 41.6% as women, and less than 1.4% identi-
fied as “other” (with the option to write in how they identified). We reached our goal
of approximately equal gender representation in some regions (Asia, North America,
Europe) but fell short in others (Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa). In follow-up inter-
views with many respondents, we acquired richer information about the perspectives
of members of some under-represented groups in our survey (e.g. women journalists in
Latin America).

As part of our outreach, we aimed to reach a significant proportion of respondents who

identify as belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic, or religious groups in their respec-
tive countries. In some regions (Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North America), more than
20% said they had a marginalized ethnic, racial or religious identity — though this num-
ber was much lower in Europe and Latin America.

The journalists who responded to our survey cannot be assumed to be representative

of all journalists globally or in particular countries. Doing so for a global survey, with
nuanced analysis by country or region, would require tens of thousands of respondents
(the closest approximation to this is the Worlds of Journalism project, see Hanitzsch et
al., 2019). It would also require the existence of a full list of journalists globally to sam-
ple from, which does not exist. (For more on these challenges see Molyneux & Zamith,
2020).

We therefore do not claim our quantitative findings can be directly extrapolated to

the wider populations of journalists.7 (We provide some quantitative analysis of the
four countries that received the most responses — Brazil, Canada, Colombia and India
— in the Appendix). To supplement our survey, we conducted in-depth interviews with
journalists (described below) and with press freedom advocates across geographic
regions.

Despite the exploratory nature of our survey, we believe its findings reveal likely pat-
terns regarding journalists’ exposure to reputational attacks, the personal and profes-

7. As a test of our sample’s representativeness, we asked respondents to estimate how the frequency
of reputational attacks targeting them compares to others in their news organization. 35% believed
they are more frequently targeted, 39% less frequently targeted, and 26% “about the same” as
others in their newsrooms. While this is a subjective evaluation, it suggests our sample is not highly
skewed in one direction or the other.
19
sional impacts of these attacks, and how reputational attacks and their consequences
may be shaped by journalists’ locations and identities. We hope other researchers will
interrogate and extend our findings.

Interview methodology and sample

We conducted 54 in-depth interviews with journalists who completed our survey. The
interviews lasted between 30 and 90 minutes, and were conducted between Au-
gust 2022 and February 2023. These interviews enabled us to probe key issues that
emerged from the survey findings, including the relationship between reputational
attacks and a journalist’s identity, violence, legal repression, and other harms. We also
interviewed 16 members of press freedom organizations to further contextualize our
survey and interview findings.

We chose to conduct at least five interviews regarding the four countries examined in
case studies in the Appendix (Brazil, Canada, Colombia and India).

Of the 54 journalists we interviewed: nine reside in Asia, 11 in Europe and Central Asia,
17 in Latin America, eight in North America, seven in Sub-Saharan Africa, and two in
the Middle East and North Africa. Of these interviewees, 33 identify as women, and
15 as belonging to marginalized religious, ethnic or racial groups in their country of
residence.

The majority of interviews were conducted via video chat. All interviews were tran-
scribed, translated to English (if conducted in Hindi, Portuguese, Spanish, or Urdu),
and imported to ATLAS.ti for thematic analysis. To do so, researchers carefully read the
transcripts and labelled quotations with “codes” regarding the themes addressed. We
used a combination of predetermined codes (e.g. psychological impacts of reputation
attacks) and codes that emerged during analysis (e.g. anti-vaccine groups as a source
of reputational attacks). We then analyzed each theme by examining all quotations by
interviewees related to these themes.

All quotations in this report are from interviews conducted by our research team
unless indicated otherwise. Some quotations have been translated to English (from
French, Portuguese, Spanish, or Urdu).

Interviewees were given the option of being named or not, in which case we provide
their country of residence, basic details about their professional role and additional
details as needed (e.g. gender, ethnicity, or reporting beat). Named interviewees have
given their consent.

We are very grateful to all individuals who spoke with us on this challenging topic.

20
Key findings on
reputational attacks

1. How frequently do journalists face attacks on

their reputations?
Reputational attacks are ubiquitous
Our survey found that most journalists regularly encounter reputational
attacks that target them individually, their affiliated organizations, or the
news media more generally. 82.5% of respondents reported they encoun-
tered public messages attacking their personal reputation or credibility at
least yearly, 62.8% at least monthly, 38% at least weekly, and 19.4% daily.

For the rest of this report, we will focus on individually-targeted reputational attacks.
Doing so enables us to examine relationships between reputational attacks and poten-
tial individual-level consequences such as being assaulted, perceived harm to mental
health, and changes in how one reports on issues. However, it’s important to keep in
mind that these individual attacks against journalists occur alongside even more fre-
quent attacks against their news organization and the broader news industry.

Many interviewees stated that the frequency and intensity of reputational attacks had
increased in recent years. Some credited rising social tensions due to the COVID-19
pandemic, in line with recent research (Egwu, 2022; Papadopoulou & Maniou, 2021;
Posetti, Julie et al., 2020a). A Canadian journalist who reports on far right movements
noted that the hostility and attacks on her reputation “certainly escalated during the
COVID-19 pandemic, especially as anti-vaccine, anti-mandate, anti-lockdown views
really took hold and were very much interwoven with anti-establishment narratives,
which included the mainstream media as a part of the establishment.”

Fig 1.1 Frequency of reputational attacks

A correspondent for a national broadcaster in Ireland said he believes the unprece-

dented reputational attacks he faced were due to “the resentment some people felt
[because] they were locked down, that it wasn’t totally justified, and that the media
were in bed with the government and spreading lies and fake news.”

Some interviewees credited increasing reputational attacks to the rise of social me-
dia platforms and general changes in the information ecosystem. These claims align
with recent research on the ways in which social media platforms and news comment
sections not only support positive engagement, but also facilitate harassment or “dark
participation” by hostile actors (Miller, 2021; Posetti & Shabbir, 2022; Quandt, 2018).

However, the most common explanation among respondents for increasing reputation-
al attacks was a change in the political context, either due to democratic back-sliding
or increased political polarization. For instance, in countries including Brazil, India,
Mexico, and the United States, populist leaders and their supporters have attacked
the press during political campaigns. (See the next section on press freedom, and case
studies on Brazil and India in the Appendix.)

22
Some also described spillover effects. Several interviewees, none of whom were Amer-
ican, claimed that former U.S. President Trump’s hostility toward mainstream journal-
ists had served as a model in their own country for anti-press attacks. Press freedom
advocates pointed to the role of other regional leaders, including Brazil’s Bolsonaro,
India’s Modi, and Mexico’s López Obrador, in contributing to more brazen anti-press
rhetoric and behavior from governments elsewhere in the world.

Journalists face more reputational attacks in countries with low

press freedom
While journalists from all countries surveyed faced regular reputational attacks, re-
spondents were most likely to experience them at a high frequency in countries with
low press freedom.8

Does the frequency of reputational attacks

Fig 1.2

vary by press freedom level?

In Brazil, which saw a precipitous decline in press freedom during the presidency of
Jair Bolsonaro, presidential elections in October 2022 were preceded by millions of

8. For this study we defined levels of press freedom based on Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s 2022
rankings. Those ranked #1–60 are high press freedom countries, #61–120 are medium, and #121–180
are low.

23
negative online comments targeting Brazilian journalists (RSF, 2022). Lais Martins, an
investigative journalist in São Paulo, told us that former President Bolsonaro, his family
members in politics, and allied politicians all regularly and explicitly attacked the
credibility of the press, feeding an antagonistic “us against them” feeling among their
followers toward journalism. The result, she said, is a “no-holds-barred atmosphere” in
which denigrating and threatening journalists became widely acceptable.

Interviewees noted that the reputational attacks did not only come from politicians or
party members, but also from business interests, civil society organizations, or others
who benefit from links to those in power. As a Brazilian journalist covering environ-
mental issues and corruption in a small provincial city said, “the issue here is more
basic and it is more vile. It concerns money. It’s as simple as that.”

In India, respondents and interviewees pointed to escalating hostility toward the press
since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014. “No government in India has re-
ally been a great friend and admirer of press freedom, but we are seeing two differenc-
es,” said senior journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who has also written a biography of
Modi. “One is that there is a greater amount of coordination and planning behind these
attacks on the media. And second is that [these attacks are mostly] ideologically moti-
vated.” (See our case study on India in the Appendix.)

In Mexico, the country with the most killings of journalists in recent years (Kahn,
2023), there have been significant efforts to discredit journalists. Sara Mendiola,
director of the Mexican press freedom organization Propuesta Cívica, told told us that
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador frequently spends his daily morning press
conference “attacking journalists who are being critical of his government, journalists
who are demanding transparency of his administration, journalists who are investi-
gating officials who belong to his government in corruption matters” — and that those
messages are replicated by other public officials throughout the country (see also
Washington Post Editorial Board, 2022). “In the country that is the deadliest and most
violent against the press, to feed those discourses is dangerous,” she said.

Jeremy Bransten, the acting editor-in-chief of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
(RFE/RL), said that the network faces regular reputational attacks.9 “Just this week,
we had the Iranian government designate our Persian language service as a supporter
of international terrorism,” he told us in December, 2022. “So it’s just kind of absurd,
right?”

“We constantly see attacks on WhatsApp or Telegram or Facebook saying our jour-

9. RFE/RL is a news organization that receives funding from the U.S. Congress to work in 23 countries
with poor press freedom.

24
nalists are traitors and they should go to prison or jail or be persecuted,” said Patrick
Boehler, senior digital strategist at RFE/RL. The link between reputational attacks and
threats to safety is particularly clear in countries with low press freedom, he said, “es-
pecially in an environment of high polarization or political suppression.”

Press freedom isn’t the only factor that shapes reputational attacks in a country, of
course. For instance, we also looked at trust in journalism. Some countries, such as the
United States, have relatively high press freedom but low trust in journalism. Respon-
dents were more likely to face weekly reputational attacks in countries with low trust
in journalism (42.0%) or moderate trust (42.2%) compared to high trust (25.3%).10

The transnational reach of government reputational attacks

“Transnational repression” can occur when journalists are targeted by governments of
repressive countries from across borders (Michaelsen, 2020). Tactics include violence,
digital surveillance, and smear campaigns, such as those experienced by Saudi jour-
nalist Jamal Khashoggi leading up to his murder in Turkey in 2018 (Abrahams & Leber,
2021; Al-Rawi, 2021).

Iranian diaspora journalists have also faced extensive efforts to discredit them to
audiences within Iran and in their country of residence (ARTICLE 19, 2021; Berger &
Dehghanpisheh, 2022). For instance, Masih Alinejad, a U.S.-based reporter for Voice of
America’s Persian-language service, has faced smear campaigns and online harass-
ment. U.S. law enforcement interrupted an Iranian kidnapping plot against her in 2021,
and in 2023 three men were indicted for participating in a plot to murder her (Alinejad,
2022; Garrity, 2023). In an interview with CPJ, Alinejad explained that Iranian author-
ities “want to use me as an example to create fear among journalists who live in exile,
especially those who dare to criticize the Islamic republic” (Jacobsen, 2022).

Negar Mortazavi, an Iranian-American journalist based in the U.S. said that she has
faced contradictory reputational attacks.

“I’ve been called a CIA agent and an Iranian regime agent in the same day, once even
in the same tweet! It’s ridiculous, but it’s working,” she said. “It has an effect in intimi-
dating me, and in turning the [Iranian diaspora] community against me, sometimes my
own friends and family members against me…This is the most draining of all.”

In addition to vitriolic accusations by hundreds of anonymous social media accounts,

10. We used the 2022 trust in journalism findings from the Reuters Institute’s 2022 Digital News Re-
port, which provided trust levels for 40 countries, based on polling conducted in January or February
of 2022. 79% of our 645 survey respondents resided in these 40 countries. Residents of countries not
part of this report were excluded from this calculation.
25
actors have created and shared online videos edited to misrepresent and demonize
her.

Other interviewees described how the governments of China, Russia, Turkey, and Saudi
Arabia pursued campaigns to undermine their reputations, sometimes paired with vio-
lence or legal repression. Research suggests that transnational campaigns from coun-
tries including China, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela appear to disproportionately target
women journalists (Awasthi, 2023; Bradshaw & Henle, 2021).

26
 P H O T O B Y K AT E S TA N W O R T H

Michela Wrong United Kingdom & Rwanda

BY C H R I S T E N OV E

Michela Wrong knew she was going to face reputational attacks from the Rwan-
dan government and its supporters for her 2021 non-fiction book, Do Not Disturb:
The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad (Wrong, 2021). The
smear campaigns began even before the book’s official launch, accusing the Brit-
ish journalist of racism, neo-colonialism and historical misrepresentation. They
escalated after the book’s publication.

Wrong has reported on African politics for close to zations, but echoed by non-Rwandan academics
three decades, including as a Reuters correspon- and other voices in the U.K. She says that these
dent covering the Rwandan genocide, and has campaigns appear coordinated and consistently
published five books. She was initially sympathetic advance several narratives. Despite reporting on
toward the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)’s inter- the genocide in the mid 1990s, Wrong is accused
ventions to protect the Tutsi minority from further of being a “genocide denier” — a crime in Rwanda.
slaughter. But in recent years, she and other jour- She says they also claim that “I was really in the
nalists have questioned the extent to which the pay of the Ugandan intelligence service, and that
RPF and its commander Paul Kagame were com- I was paid $330,000 by Ugandan intelligence to
plicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity write my book.”
(Epstein & Gatebuke, 2021; Rever & Moran, 2020).
Another false claim is that she had a relationship
In her book, Wrong describes how Rwanda’s gov- with Patrick Karegeya, Rwanda’s former head of
ernment, with Kagame as president since 2000, external intelligence who later became a critic of
has attempted to silence dissident voices within the Kagame government. (Other female journal-
and beyond its borders. Most recently, in early ists have faced this allegation; see Taylor, 2021.)
2023, Rwandan independent journalist John Wil- He was murdered in South Africa in 2014 and is
liams Ntwali died under suspicious circumstances the main character in her book. “I am [portrayed
(Human Rights Watch, 2023). The government ap- as] a grief-stricken, bitter and twisted mistress,
pears to use Pegasus spyware to monitor journal- mourning my dead lover. And this claim has been
ists and other critics (Access Now, 2020). And a repeated endlessly, endlessly.”
recent investigation suggests that the government
makes false or misleading claims to the Interpol The online accusations and fears of digital surveil-

system and U.S. authorities in its efforts to repress lance cause a psychological toll, Wrong says, and

journalists and other critical voices abroad (Mure- knows other journalists and researchers who have

ithi & Zalan, 2022). been intimidated into silence. “I think there are
very few governments in the world that do what
Wrong describes campaigns of misinformation and Rwanda does,” says Wrong. “I think it’s right up
harassment against her on social media platforms there with China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Tur-
— promoted by government-aligned news organi- key.”

27
2. What forms do reputational attacks take?
Reputational attacks can propagate different narratives about journalists. Survey re-
spondents and interviewees were asked to identify how frequently they faced false or
misleading accusations, and insights into what forms those claims took.

Accused of political bias

The most common accusation journalists faced (54% of respondents) was that they
were aligned with, or biased toward, a political party or faction.

Fig 2 What did reputational attacks focus on?

Such claims were particularly common in India, where 73% of respondents (48 of 66)
said they were falsely or misleadingly accused of having a political bias or a relation-
ship to a political party (at least monthly). As one Indian journalist noted, “People from
the right wing have made all of these ridiculous claims. They called me anti-Gujarati,
anti-Hindu, anti-India, and all of these. And there were, I am not exaggerating when I
say this, thousands of tweets.”

In Brazil, 52% of respondents (28 of 54) said they faced individual reputational attacks
alleging political bias at least monthly. While 59% believed the national party (then

28
led by Bolsonaro) was a common source of reputational attacks, 57% of respondents
pointed to opposition parties, including now-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Work-
ers Party. Interviewees told us they faced more intense hostility if they reported on
social justice issues, including reproductive rights or racial equality, or challenged the
government’s pandemic policies.

Journalists were also accused of political bias in countries with high press freedom,
like Canada, where 56% of respondents (53 of 95) reported monthly accusations. One
reporter said that while his newspaper in Calgary is sometimes called a “right-wing
rag,” he is more often accused of being “a lefty,” “Marxist,” or an “apologist” for left of
centre governments.

Another Canadian interviewee, a freelance investigative journalist, said that when his
stories are posted on Twitter, competing groups of “political trolls” will quickly launch
accusations such as “‘you’re liberal scum,’ ‘you’re partisan,’ ‘you’re a far-left activist,’
‘you’re a far-right nut job.”

“People are just immediately attacking and not offering any sort of constructive criti-
cism or disagreeing on the merits,” he said.

In South Africa, also a high press freedom country, a journalist who reports for local
news media in KwaZulu-Natal province told us, “Whenever I look into something that
is fraud or corruption within the local municipality, I immediately get slammed with
allegations of having or driving my own political agenda forward.”

A China-based journalist who works for British and American science magazines faced
attacks on her reputation when she reported on the origins of COVID-19. “People would
be saying that I was a CCP mouthpiece, that I was a lying hack, that I was a Chinese
agent,” she said.

Accusations of political bias can be particularly acute during elections.

In Colombia, 61% of respondents (36 of 59) reported monthly accusations of politi-

cal bias. These were particularly prominent in the run-up to national elections in May
2022, as well as between the first and second rounds of presidential elections. Accord-
ing to Colombian press freedom organization FLIP, online and offline attacks against
journalists were 59% higher during the 2022 election period compared to the previous
election period in 2018 (FLIP, 2022). There is also evidence of “inauthentic activity” on
social media (e.g. posts from bot farms) during the 2022 elections (DFRLab, 2022), a
phenomenon also seen in other Latin American countries (Crisis Group, 2020).

A Colombian journalist at an online news portal said that, during the 2022 election

29
campaigns, reputational attacks and accusations of bias increased: “Any report that
does not align well with the narrative of a particular party may be subject to attack.”

Another Colombian journalist, who works for a TV news organization, described how
then-president Iván Duque appeared at a public event during the campaign, shortly
after their organization published a critical report. “The first words of the President of
the Republic were to attack the media,” said the journalist. “The president said this in
a sardonic and mocking tone, attacking the credibility of Noticias Uno and saying that
our newscast publishes fake news.”

Accusations of corruption, treason, or being a foreign agent

Respondents reported that they often face false or misleading claims of unethical
behavior (42.0% reported this at least monthly) or that they are incompetent or made
major errors (42.8% at least monthly). Journalists that face false or misleading claims
about criminal behavior (18.0%), particularly crimes against their nation, are more
likely to face legal repression and violence.

In Pakistan, interviewees described being accused of being “envelope journalists” (an

allusion to bribing people with envelopes of money), often alongside claims of lying or
defaming a public official. In more extreme cases, journalists were accused of treason.
Even though treason charges rarely result in a conviction, a news editor in Pakistan
explains, “in the public perception, it’s a matter of honour.”

In Mexico, press freedom advocate Mendiola told us that governments sometimes

attack the work of investigative journalists by saying they are simply upset “because
they are not being given money,” and not interested in the truth.

A journalist in Colombia faced false claims that she is paid to post stories. In a recent
case, she said, she told one of those accusers that she may initiate a defamation suit
against them, because accusations of corruption significantly impact her ability to
work as a journalist.

A journalist who reports about Venezuela from exile explained that there have been
multiple false stories about him that suggest unethical or criminal behavior. “I have
suffered constant attacks on my reputation and that of my family. Everything has been
said about me, from being a homosexual who goes around irresponsibly and knowing-
ly infecting others with AIDS, to being an associate of Mono Jojoy [a Colombian FARC
guerilla leader].”

Several journalists explained that campaigns to label them as corrupt or criminal were
targeted towards specific audiences to maximize their impact. The editor at an inves-

30
tigative news outlet in Serbia described how the government accused his organization
of not paying its taxes. Tax inspectors visited their outlet regularly for several years,
sometimes sending teams on weekdays or weekends to audit their books. Throughout
that period, government officials regularly accused the outlet of tax evasion in public
forums and to international organizations. “It’s really exhausting when you have to
defend yourself for years from tax authorities,” he said. “I am not sure if we were able
to recover from that.”

Across many countries, interviewees reported that they were accused of being foreign
agents, and in particular being associated with the CIA (the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency). An Asian-American journalist noted that accounts she believes to be linked
to the Chinese government regularly call her an “American imperialist” or a “stooge
of the CIA,” ignoring “the frankly progressive news organizations that I’ve generally
worked with during my career.”

An Iranian-American journalist said the CIA accusation is so common in Iran that no

one believes it anymore. A journalist from Botswana, by contrast, found that accu-
sations of CIA links were damaging. “We were paraded with our pictures on the front
pages of the main newspaper in Botswana,” he said, with claims that they received CIA
money. “It was a way of punishing us. It was a way of saying to the public, ‘These
guys, you cannot trust them, because they have an agenda, an agenda to topple the
government, to destabilize the country.’” Even his mother and friends questioned him
about it. “It was traumatizing.”

In Somalia, a journalist who worked as a fixer for the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and Ger-
man outlets, said militia told him, “‘Oh, you are a spy, you work for
foreigners.’ A lot of the threats to my life came from that.”

Bransten, the acting editor of RFE/RL, said that staff in Russia and
Central Asia are frequently accused of being “foreign agents,”
a claim that is sometimes pursued in the courts and that also
exposes individuals to violence.

“Once you’re designated as a foreign agent,” he said, “it

engenders all of this follow up harassment.” We
return to those associations between reputa-
tional attacks and violence or legal repres-
sion later in this report.

31
3. What are the sources and motives of reputational
attacks?
Politicians and public officials are the most common source
Respondents most commonly faced reputational attacks from politicians and public
officials (72.1%). These include opposition politicians and political parties (44.6% of re-
spondents), politicians or officials in power with the national government (39.3%), and
those in sub-national governments, such as municipalities or provinces (34.2%).

Fig 3.1 What are the sources of reputational attacks?

Journalists in low press freedom countries were more likely to face reputational at-
tacks from politicians and political parties in power at the national level than those in
high press freedom countries (58.3% vs. 21.5%) and at sub-national levels (45.6% vs.
24.6%). By contrast, reputational attacks from officials in opposition political parties
are relatively consistent across all press freedom levels.

This is an important distinction, because those in control of government usually have

access to more resources, and agencies (including police) that can be used in tandem
with reputational attacks.

32
“[I]t is more worrying when these attacks come from the state itself, because the
state is supposed to guarantee the protection of the press,” said an investigative
journalist in Bogotá, Colombia.

Respondents in India were particularly likely to identify the national governing politi-
cal party as a source of reputational attacks, with 76% making this claim. Since Prime
Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the government has targeted jour-
nalists with legal repression, surveillance via Pegasus spyware, and harassment and
reputational attacks by both officials and a semi-coordinated online network of tens of
thousands of supporters (Bhat & Chadha, 2022; Krishnan, 2022).

In Pakistan interviewees also described government-orchestrated efforts to harass

and discredit them. The journalist and editor Benazir Shah, who wrote critically of a
provincial government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, said she was accused by
the health minister of making up facts, which was followed by hundreds of hostile on-
line messages. “They made graphics about me and there were vlogs about how wrong
my information was,” she said. “What I found common in these accounts was that most
of these handles had [the minister’s] political party’s insignia or their flag or the prime
minister’s picture, because he belonged to the party of the Prime Minister, which was
Imran Khan at that time.”

Sources of reputation attacks differ by

Fig 3.2

countries’ press freedom levels

33
In Brazil, 59% of respondents identified the government and supporters of former
President Jair Bolsonaro as a source of reputational attacks. The founder of a news
outlet in northeastern Brazil said that when her organization published fact-checks
about Bolsonaro, “the online attacks became more frequent, more intense.”

A journalist and press advocate in Mozambique explained that reputational attacks are
wielded by those with “political power” at all levels, “sometimes from local authori-
ties, sometimes from high level personalities, which are related to the [national] ruling
party.”

Military, security and intelligence agencies

Military, security, and intelligence agencies were less frequently reported as sources
of reputational attacks (22%) compared to politicians and public officials. This differed
according to press freedom level: 29.9% in low press freedom countries, 26.2% in me-
dium, and 14.1% in high. However, the involvement of these agencies was associated
with particularly serious or sophisticated campaigns against journalists.

“The biggest red line for us is the military,” said a news editor in Pakistan. “If you talk
about it [critically] then you are in trouble. So you have to really figure out how you are
going to present your criticism without triggering anyone.”

Research suggests that security and intelligence of many governments use online
trolling groups for domestic and foreign efforts (Bradshaw et al., 2021). These govern-
ment-aligned operations have been extensively examined in countries such as China,
Iran, Russia, and Turkey (ARTICLE 19, 2021; Bradshaw & Henle, 2021; Freedom House,
2022b; Radsch, 2022).

Two interviewees described being the targets of trolling campaigns they suspect
were orchestrated by the Rwandan government. A Canadian journalist who reports on
Rwanda said he faced an immediate “onslaught of criticism on social media” when he
released a documentary about efforts by the government of President Paul Kagame
to hide its role in violence before and after the 1994 genocide. He adds, “I was naive in
understanding how sophisticated a dictatorship can be, and how far it will go to craft
narratives that are helpful to them.”

Hyper-partisan news media

Hyper-partisan media were one of the most commonly-reported sources of reputa-
tional attacks globally — especially by journalists in countries with high press freedom
(52.2%) compared to medium (42.3%) and low (41.2%).

34
 P H OTO P R OV I D E D BY H A R I S H P U L L A N O O R

Harish Pullanoor India

BY M A N I M U G D H A S H A R M A

Harish Pullanoor is the editor of Quartz India and a journalist with nearly two
decades of experience. In 2022, he relocated to the U.K. with his wife and two
daughters, alarmed at what he saw as the deterioration in India’s socio-political
environment in recent years.

“I don’t think journalism has ever been safe in the attacks on India). These are very serious claims,
country,” he says. “But now it is in your face.” since India has very stringent anti-terror laws that
— according to rights organizations — are used to
Pullanoor says the vitriol against him intensified silence dissidents (Dhawan, 2022; Jafri, 2023).
late in 2018 after he wrote about the Sabarimala
Temple controversy (Pullanoor, 2018), much to the Apart from reputational attacks targeting him per-
chagrin of some Hindu nationalists. That year, the sonally, Pullanoor was threatened on Facebook by
Supreme Court of India had allowed the entry of accounts he didn’t recognize and was sent edited,
all women into the temple, following a petition by demeaning photographs of his wife. The vitriol di-
activists. Before then, women of reproductive age rected at his family gave him nightmares. “That is
were not allowed in, as the deity in the temple is when I thought, okay, we’ve lost it. The end game
believed to be a celibate male. is close. I’ve got to leave,” he says.

The reputational attacks on Pullanoor came from Pullanoor decided to move to the U.K., where he
what some researchers call the “Hindu right,” felt his two daughters could pursue their educa-
which includes the BJP (the party of Prime Minis- tion and careers without being targeted for being
ter Narendra Modi) and supportive right-leaning women or for having “non-conformist” views. He
organizations and citizens — this network is hos- continues to write critically about news and poli-
tile to journalists critical of the Modi government tics in India.
or Hindu orthodoxy (Bhat & Chadha, 2022). The
attacks come from both within and outside the Pullanoor is not optimistic about press freedom in

government, the latter through social media plat- India, which has been in decline under the govern-

forms and digital media outlets like OpIndia that ment of Prime Minister Modi.

have sprung up in the last decade as proponents

“They have drawn the line: you are either with us
of Hindu nationalism (Bhat & Chadha, 2020).
or against us,” Pullanoor said.

Pullanoor has faced online accusations that he

is ‘anti-Hindu,’ ‘anti-national,’ and on the payroll
of Pakistan’s external intelligence agency (which
has itself been accused of orchestrating terror

35
A Canadian journalist who covers far-right groups explained how her reporting and
moral character were disparaged by hyper-political news organizations, and by far-
right or alt-right influencers on streaming videos and podcasts. “[They] did a bad faith
video about me … a matching podcast and an article. They pushed it out on all their
social media platforms. And after that, I started getting a lot of messages about how
I’m a liar and how I’m making it up.”

Two other Canadian journalists described similar experiences when targeted by hy-
per-partisan news media. One said hyper-partisan media “will punch back if you try to
push it.”

Hyper-partisan news media outlets often exist as temporary online news sites or pag-
es, according to several interviewees. The founder of a news organization in Botswana
told us, “There is a mushrooming of these online newspapers … that are designed only
to sort of target certain people. [Many] are sponsored Facebook pages, and anony-
mous pages that are used to spew hatred and sometimes even threats against journal-
ists.”

36
For a period, he said, “every week in and out, they wrote stuff about our organization,
to say, ‘these guys are sponsored by the CIA’ and all that.”

Other researchers have identified how reputational attacks by hyper-partisan influenc-

ers can generate online abuse. For instance, looking at the targeting of two American
journalists by prominent former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, researchers found “the
prevalence of hateful speech targeting those journalists increases in the immediate
aftermath, often taking days to decrease” (Brown et al., 2022).

A global backlash against journalists by anti-mask, anti-vaccine,

and anti-lockdown groups
Globally, many journalists experienced significant challenges to their work during the
COVID-19 pandemic, including what they saw as an increase in efforts by governments
to constrain press freedom (see Context and methodology) . Survey respondents and
interviewees told us that they were especially likely to face reputational attacks and
hostility from individuals opposed to vaccines and other public health measures.

The research lead for a fact-checking organization in Spain stated that, “there is an an-
ti-vaccine movement in which if you publish any content that has to do with the COVID
vaccine, they immediately attack you because they have already generated a narrative
that consists of saying that the vaccine is a poison, that the vaccine is injecting us with
Soros’ globalism.”

George Claassen, the ombudsman for a South African media organization, also stated
that he faced unprecedented levels of online vitriol during the first two years of the
pandemic, primarily from those opposed to vaccinations. “I personally have never been
so intimidated as during this period,” he said.

Miriam Lewin, Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services in Argentina,

said “physical attacks are not common in Argentina … But during the pandemic we did
have some attacks on individual journalists and crews covering the anti-vaccine move-
ments and rallies.”

A Canadian health journalist said that when she published stories on COVID vaccines,
and in particular on vaccines for children, she faced hostile accusations on Twitter,
including:

“you are corrupt and in the pocket of Big pharma,” “you’re killing children,”
“the blood is on your hands,” and “if you have children, they should be taken
from you.”

37
In one instance, “all throughout the night, my phone notifications kept going off. It
was almost like my story had been posted on a group chat somewhere and everybody
was like, ’You’ve got to go write to this chick and take her down a notch.’ ... I’ve had
that kind of experience before and I found out then that my articles were posted in an
anti-vaccine Facebook group.”

Conversely, several survey respondents noted that they also faced reputational at-
tacks — including from government officials — if they questioned vaccine effectiveness,
lockdowns or other public health policies.

4. Do reputational attacks vary due to journalists’

personal identities?
Targeted for belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic and/or reli-
gious groups
Journalists who identify as belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic and/or religious
(RER) groups in their country (23.1% of respondents) showed higher overall frequen-
cies of reputational attacks (48.3% facing them weekly) compared to those belonging
to non-marginalized groups (33.1%).

These journalists also faced more frequent reputational attacks focused on their iden-
tity, with 38.1% facing such comments at least monthly (vs. 9.3% of journalists who did
not identify as belonging to a marginalized group).

Respondents belonging to marginalized RER groups were also somewhat more likely to
be targeted for gender or sexual orientation (19.5% vs. 11.1%), showing that journalists’
may be targeted for multiple dimensions of their identities. Finally, those belonging to
marginalized RER groups were somewhat more likely to be targeted for their political
views (56.4% vs. 41.8%).

An Asian-American journalist told us a state broadcaster in China called her a “foreign

bitch,” and online trolls make comments like, “she only dates white men,” and “race
traitor.” She saw these as examples of attempts to diminish or “other” her based on
both her gender and ethnicity, as she gets these comments when critical of Chinese
government policy but not American government policy. “I do think overall like there’s
a lot of ‘You look and are ethnic Chinese, how dare you say what you say and stand
with the imperialist’s narrative.’”

A Pakistan-born journalist who lives and works in Canada noted that certain stories
trigger reactions that attack her personal identity.

38
For instance, she said that one story she did on racism led to people on social media
“telling me and [racialized] people who were part of my story to go back to where they
came from and stuff like that, and all the typical racist stuff that people do say.”

Fig 4.1How often were reputational attacks report-

ed by members of marginalized racial, ethnic, and/
or religious (RER) groups?

In South Africa, journalism continues to struggle with the legacy of anti-Black racism
(Govenden, 2022). But interviewees noted that reputational attacks are sometimes
targeted at other racial and ethnic identities. An Indian South African journalist told
us that a local politician (about whom she reported instances of potential corruption),
publicly accused her of being a “racist” who “can’t stand to see a black person suc-
ceed.”

George Claassen, Public Editor for News24 and Ombudsman for Media24 Communi-
tyPress, said prominent opposition politicians will often “play the race card,” targeting
both white and Indian journalists. Women journalists are attacked for both their gender
and race, he said. “Accusations against them when they report factually from the court
or when they write opinion columns are really toxic. And you can see it is actually
blowing from the fact that South Africa still has a very patriarchal society.”

39
In India, journalists who are not Hindu or who belong to lower caste groups are more
likely to be targeted for reputational attacks, harassment or legal actions (Ghosh,
2022). “Muslim journalists clearly are a target of criminal charges” at disproportionate
rates, said Samar Halarnkar, editor of Article 14, a website focused on research and
reportage related to the rule of law.

Gender and reputational attacks

Journalism organizations and academic researchers have documented the extensive
and damaging online and offline harassment faced by some women journalists (Chen
et al., 2020; Erkmen et al., 2022; Posetti & Shabbir, 2022; Tandoc et al., 2021; West-
cott, 2019). These often take the form of sexual depictions or threats. For instance, In-
dian journalist Rana Ayyub described a deepfake pornographic video, digitally altered
to look like it was her (Ayyub, 2018).

Overall, women respondents in our survey reported slightly less frequent reputational
attacks than men: 35.3% of women said they faced at least weekly reputational at-
tacks compared to 39.3% of men. However, this difference is small, and inconsistent
across press freedom contexts. For instance, in high press freedom countries, women
were slightly more likely to report weekly reputational attacks (37.4%) compared to
men (33.5%).

Fig 4.2 How did reputational attacks vary by gender?

40
In contrast to these relatively small differences in overall frequency, there were more
substantial differences in the forms of reputational attack (as well as their impacts,
discussed in a later section). Respondents who identified as women received more fre-
quent attacks about their gender or sexual orientation, with 18.2% facing these claims
on at least a monthly basis compared to 9.9% for men.

Respondents who identified as men were more likely to state that they faced reputa-
tional attacks from the police (21.4% vs. 7.3%), and somewhat more likely to be target-
ed by criminal organizations (19.2% vs. 10.3%) or the military or intelligence (25.9%
vs. 15.3%). This difference is partially due to the fact that we had a higher proportion
of male respondents in low press freedom countries, where journalists reported more
frequent attacks from these sources. No other source was selected at a substantially
higher level depending on the respondents’ gender.

Women journalists in Pakistan began organizing in 2020 against online harassment

and attacks on their credibility (South Asia Monitor, 2020). As one journalist explained,
“We weren’t just targeted for being journalists, we were also being targeted for be-
ing women.”

The campaigns against them appeared to primarily come from accounts affiliated with
the PTI party, then in power and led by Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, the same
journalist noted that the more explicit attacks from political sources echoed the gen-
dered dismissals that women journalists faced more broadly. “To this day, some of what
we face on social media and in personal life are comments like, ‘What do you know
about politics? Stay in the kitchen’,” she said. “I even felt a lot of resentment within
my own organization or amongst the male colleagues around me, that ‘you’re only on
TV because you’re pretty and you just look nice.’” “Men get trolled, too,” said another
female journalist in Pakistan, “but not in the same way.”

A news editor in Pakistan concurred, suggesting that men were more likely to be tar-
geted for physical violence. But, she said, “it’s not that women don’t face the threat of
physical violence, but those in power or those who coordinate these attacks, they think
that women are softer targets so they can be silenced by just throwing sexualised
abuse at them or talking to their families. This happened to me. The military’s social
media wing, they reached out to my father first and they told him, ‘We are watching
her so tell her to stop.’”

Similar comments were made by Indian interviewees. “Women journalists are more
vulnerable because ours remains a very hugely patriarchal society and all kinds of sex-
ist, scandalous tales can be spread about them,” said Mukhopadhyay.

41
“Women are especially targeted, and they feel increasingly at risk,” said Kunal Majum-
der, CPJ’s India representative. As an example he noted that in 2022, more than 20
female, Muslim journalists were listed by an app as being on “auction” to be servants
(Majumder, 2022a).

In Mexico, women journalists and women-led media report on some of “the most
difficult and complex issues of corruption and serious human rights violations,” said
Leopoldo Maldonado, who directs the Mexico and Central America office of the rights
organization Article 19. “So, evidently this also places them in a place of additional risk
as journalists and as women. The attack on their privacy is brutal.” He highlights the
doxxing of women journalists, including publicizing private information about their
families and relationships.

The abuse of women journalists in Brazil has been well-documented (Abraji, 2021b).
One interviewee noted that gender became the focus of the attacks by those on the
right or far right when they report on certain topics. “I positioned myself in favour of
women’s reproductive rights and was attacked a lot on Twitter because of this perse-
cution that exists on the abortion issue,” she said.

Another Brazilian interviewee described how she faced similar language in response
to some of her fact-checking articles. “I think that because I am a woman, the attacks
became more intense.”

A journalist in Slovenia noted that women are regularly disparaged for their gender.
Comments she faces often suggest “she’s incapable of doing anything, and she’s either
stupid or she’s lazy … they are denying us individual capabilities simply because we’re
women.” These views exist in the Slovenian media itself, she continues, with editorial
and leadership positions primarily being held by men.

Arzu Geybulla, a journalist from Azerbaijan who has contributed to workshops and
events with women targeted for harassment, said, “The way we’re being harassed dif-
fers — someone gets doxxed, I would get rape threats, someone would get something
else … [But] there’s always an overarching goal to diminish our reputation, to really
discredit the work that we do.”

Note: 266 respondents identified as female, and 364 as male. Six identified as “other,” with
the option to write in how they identified. These six journalists were not included in our
gender analysis due to the small sample size.

42
5. Reputational attacks thrive on social media
platforms
For better or worse, the digital shift in journalism has transformed opportunities for
journalists and audiences to engage with each other. Quandt introduced the term
“dark participation” to refer to this “bleak flip side” of audience participation, which
includes bullying and hateful engagement with journalists (Quandt, 2018).

Social media platforms, according to our respondents, are the primary vector of rep-
utational attacks and harassment. Twitter and Facebook are the most used platforms
for respondents, and over half of them identified the platforms as the sites where their
reputations are “regularly attacked.”

An Iranian-American journalist who faced extensive online campaigns told us that

“Usually, an operation starts on Twitter and then spills into Instagram and Telegram.
Twitter is more for elites, but it is highly weaponized, and [messages attacking her]
can go viral on Twitter.”

Fig 5Which social platforms did journalists report

using most? How often did they experience attacks
on those platforms?

43
Two interviewees who experienced extensive abuse on Twitter over multiple years
explained that they would sometimes receive direct assistance from Twitter staff when
abuse was especially intense. Both noted that they had been unable to reach that team
at Twitter since the company’s mass layoffs following its purchase by Elon Musk in
2022.

Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms were also raised as common platforms for
reputational attacks. Interviewees from Azerbaijan, Brazil, Botswana, and India all de-
scribed how they were smeared by Facebook pages that were created with the appar-
ent goal of discrediting them and other voices critical of their national governments.

While Telegram was the least likely of these seven platforms to be identified as a vec-
tor for reputational attacks and harassment, journalists targeted on Telegram say it
can be particularly toxic because the service makes little effort to address abuse. The
Iranian-American journalist mentioned above said, “Telegram is the worst. There is no
one to contact if you have a problem.”

Reputational attacks and harassment were most likely to come from anonymous social
media accounts (reported by 65.5% of respondents), though almost as many respon-
dents (58.7%) said they came from accounts using real names. 50.9% believed that
the social media accounts attacking them were “bots.” 23.3% said that reputational
attacks included the use of fake or manipulated media.

Not all reputational attacks occur online. Respondents also reported that reputational
attacks came in a speech or announcement from a public official or politician (34.4%),
or would be published and broadcast by other news organizations (mentioned by
25.8%). Interviewees identified that there would often be a “call and response” ef-
fect, in which these offline messages would be amplified online, and online campaigns
might feed back into comments by politicians and rival news outlets.

The dynamic is similar to that identified by Posetti and Shabir (2022), with respect
to the relationship between online and offline violence: “It represents a vicious and
self-perpetuating cycle: digital harassment and threats beget offline attacks; and
offline abuse (e.g., presidents targeting women journalists during public appearances)
can trigger an escalation of online violence which, in turn, heightens offline risks” (p.
8-9).

44
Impacts of
reputational attacks

Interviewees in this project reported that colleagues, police, and online

critics often say that attacks targeting their reputations are just words, not
real threats. However, our survey finds that journalists who face frequent
reputational attacks are more likely to experience violence and threats of
violence, legal repression, and a range of personal and professional harms.
While the survey cannot reveal whether reputational attacks triggered, fol-
lowed, or were in other ways linked to these harms, interviews reveal how
they may be related.

6. Reputational attacks are associated with violence

and threats of violence
Interviews revealed several mechanisms that may link reputational attacks to in-
creased exposure to violence and threats.

The ‘firestarters’ – prominent individuals discredit journalists and

then supporters threaten violence
Many interviewees noted that they received death threats, threats of violence, and
sexualized threats after an attack on their reputation by a prominent individual — the
“firestarter,” in the words of one interviewee. These prominent individuals, often pol-
iticians, would usually stop short of violent or hateful language, but their supporters
would take it to that level.
46
For instance, as Pakistani journalist Shah explained, “the federal ministers, they tag
you [online] or they say, ‘This journalist is lying’ ... Then the second phase is you get
these anonymous accounts that attack you and they abuse you and then they send
you rape and death threats. And that continues for days.”

Fig 6.1Were those who faced frequent reputational

attacks more likely to face offline threats and vio-
lence?

A Serbian journalist described a similar situation: “After the mayor ... called me a
foreign agent, the next day I started receiving death threats from, let’s say, ordinary
people who supported him.”

A Canadian journalist explained that far right influencers targeted her on their lives-
tream videos, which then spread via other platforms. Because the influencers show
what she looks like, she said, “security professionals tell me to wear a hood outside,
and carry an umbrella and milk to counter pepper spray because that was a threat. I’ve
got to constantly change my route for walking my dog. And it’s made me look over my
shoulder everywhere I go. I don’t really feel safe going out anymore.”

Interviewees told us that combining reputational attacks with doxxing was particularly
intimidating. For example, an Iranian-American journalist described having her home

47
address posted several times on Facebook and Twitter. One time, she said, an account
“posted my address on Twitter and said, ‘Her family should not feel safe.’ … So, I have
all of these multi-layered worries.”

In another extreme case, a journalist’s apartment in London was broken into, he said:
“My laptops were stolen and photographs of my daughters were left in a jacket pocket
in my room as a form of bullying. This event was followed by a massive online smear
campaign, and envelopes sent from Tbilisi with the same photographs left in my room
which had on that occasion threats to sexually abuse my daughters (both minors).”

Fig 6.2 What about online threats and violence?

Reputational attacks stoke mob violence

Reputational attacks against news outlets or the press in general can also contribute
to hostile or dangerous crowd activities. After RFE/RL and its journalists were accused
of being foreign agents, online death threats were made against the bureau chief and
several journalists in Kyrgyzstan, said acting editor-in-chief Jeremy Bransten. Shortly
after that, “We had a sort of a mob show up outside the bureau, threatening to burn it
down,” he said.

In India, journalists have been attacked while reporting on political rallies and demon-
strations, and some interviewees linked these assaults to reputational attacks on jour-

48
nalists by political officials.

For instance, in a well-known case, Saritha S. Balan was attacked in 2018 while report-
ing on the protests evoked by India’s Supreme Court allowing young women entry into
the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala. Previously, women of reproductive age were not al-
lowed entry as the deity in the temple is believed to be celibate and male. While some
accused her of seeking to enter the temple, Balan told us that she was more than 40
kilometers from the main shrine when a mob she believed to be instigated by Hindu
nationalist partisans attacked her. “They were not actual devotees of the shrine,” she
said.

The attack damaged her spine and left her hospitalized for more than three weeks. If
the injury had been worse, she said, it would have ended her career and maybe even
her life.

In Canada, interviewees and survey respondents said accusations that they were
complicit in government public health policies led to in-person threats and occasional
assaults by groups protesting those measures.

“I’ve witnessed protesters screaming to kill all journalists

in an organized anti-mask protest, claiming we are the
source of misinformation,” claimed one survey respon-
dent. (See Canada case study in the Appendix for more
details.)

7. Smearing journalists’ reputa-

tions in courts of law and public
opinion
Many respondents had faced and/or been threatened with
legal repression, which refers to the use of police or the legal
system to punish, silence, or obstruct journalists, in violation
of their right to freedom of expression.

Overall, 53.4% of respondents had faced legal repression

of some form in their careers, including 28.1% who had faced
arrests or criminal charges (including being charged, threatened with charges,
and/or convicted), and 40.7% who had faced or been threatened with civil law-
suits. Those who reported frequent reputational attacks were much more likely to
have experienced legal repression.

49
Fig 7 How common was legal repression?

In Colombia, press freedom organizations have highlighted the use of legal repression
to silence journalists (FLIP & Article 19, 2021). “I think that now the most sophisticated
mechanism of attacks on journalists in Colombia is judicial harassment,” we were told
by a Colombian journalist working for a news magazine.

Bransten of RFE/RL told us that 30 of their journalists working in Russia were des-
ignated as foreign agents by Russian authorities, forcing some into exile and leading
to more than 17 million euros in fines against the outlet (Sullivan, 2022). Moreover,
in Russia and other countries in the region, the legal designation that a journalist is a
“foreign agent” or a “criminal” serves as “a signal to some of these trolls or surrogates
to go after you … it engenders all of this follow-up harassment.”

A journalist for local media in KwaZulu-Natal province described how local authorities
have retaliated against her reporting by pursuing cases of crimen injuria, a law against
intentionally harming the dignity or privacy of another person. Describing her initial
response to one such case, she said, “I just laughed like a loon every time I thought
about it, because it was so ridiculous, the things that he said in his police statement
were laughable.”

When legal cases against journalists reach their conclusion, they can result in jail
terms, fines, or other forms of punishment. However, many interviewees who experi-

50
enced legal repression noted that merely being accused can have major consequenc-
es, including requirements to provide evidence, to participate in legal processes (often
in person), and short-term incarceration awaiting bail.

Mendiola, director of Propuesta Cívica in Mexico, highlights the rise of legal actions
against journalism. She noted that public officials, politicians, and businessmen file
lawsuits accusing investigative journalists of moral damages or crimes against their
honour, often seeking millions of pesos in damages. “When a journalist is sued for mor-
al damages, he or she has to face emotional and economic wear and tear … Often the
journalists stop investigating.”

These legal actions are part of the broader efforts to stigmatize critical journalists as
promoting false news or being part of the “lying press,” said Mendiola.

These issues are particularly common in India. Among Indian respondents, 58% had
faced arrest or legal action for their journalism (38 of 66 respondents). (See India Case
Study.)

Halarnkar, the journalist and press freedom advocate at Article 14, told us that reputa-
tional attacks through social media later become cases of legal harassment exercised
by the local or national governments. “Things begin with what seems to be unorga-
nized online attacks on journalists,” he said. “Then the role of the IT cell becomes more
apparent,” as the online messages involve “individuals affiliated with the ecosystem of
the ruling party and Hindu right-wing groups.”

51
In some cases, these accusations “are organized and funneled to the justice system,”
Halarnkar said. One way this happens is through open calls on social media for legal
harassment of journalists and press freedom advocates. In one case, a prominent Hin-
du nationalist influencer tweeted that he would offer INR 1,000 to anyone who would
file a charge against journalist Mohammed Zubair, INR 10,000 if they could get him
arrested, and INR 50,000 if they could get him convicted and put behind bars for long
(OpIndia Staff, 2022).

The conviction rate is low for criminal cases against Indian journalists, but the targeted
journalists must hire legal assistance, provide documents, and attend court processes.
“These laws are being deployed not to see a case through, but because the process
is the punishment,” said Halarnkar.

8. Reputational attacks cause professional and

personal harms
Survey respondents who face regular reputational attacks also reported higher rates
of professional and personal consequences.

What were some common impacts of

Fig 8.1

reputational attacks on journalists?

52
 P H OTO P R OV I D E D BY I R E N E B E N I TO

Irene Benito Argentina

BY J UA N M E R C H A N

Irene Benito, an investigative journalist in Argentina, has frequently faced efforts

to undermine or silence her reporting in the province of Tucumán, in the coun-
try’s northwest. She has faced trumped-up legal cases against her and her family
members, as well as online and offline campaigns attacking her credibility.

Benito works at La Gaceta, a daily newspaper in “Essentially, I have been criminalized,” she says.
the provincial capital of San Miguel de Tucumán. “There is no judicial independence here and the
She’s worked as a journalist for 17 years and is also system is being used [by officials] to intimidate
trained as a lawyer. In 2015, she began investigat- me, to punish me, in order to maintain impunity.”
ing allegations of professional malpractice against
a group of public and private lawyers. Shortly af- The accusations made against Benito in legal cas-

ter, in 2016, Benito’s father was charged in a case es have been repeated in local news media outlets

related to his business activities. and online forums, along with blatant personal at-
tacks. Biases against women in the province have
This legal proceeding (which has since involved contributed to her treatment, she says, as well as
other members of Benito’s family) is still ongo- the fact that she is married to a woman.
ing. Over the past three years, she and her family
members have faced threats of legal action that “A lot of really insulting things have been said

Benito said coincide with the publication of her [about me],” says Benito. “But, in the end, I must

stories in La Gaceta. The Senate and Chamber of read between the lines and understand what these

Deputies of Argentina have denounced the cases attacks mean: ‘We do not tolerate this woman be-

against Benito’s family as legal persecution, and cause she is different … and she is not afraid.’”

they affirm that these legal cases were retaliatory

(El Senado y Cámara de Diputados, 2020).

The Argentine Journalism Forum, the Inter Amer-

ican Press Association, and the LED Foundation
have all documented her case and criticized
attacks against her. Benito’s case was included in
the U.S. government’s 2022 Country Report on
Human Rights Practices as an example of attacks
from political figures against journalists, specifi-
cally when they use the legal system to undermine
freedom of expression in the country (Department
of State, 2022).

5 35 3
Our survey is unable to distinguish the extent to which these higher rates of negative
consequences are due to the reputational attacks themselves or to the associated
increase in exposure to violence, legal repression, and other hostile acts. The 54 fol-
low-up interviews we conducted suggest that reputational attacks on their own have
negative consequences, but the combination of reputational attacks and other hostile
actions is particularly harmful. Interviews also revealed additional impacts of reputa-
tional attacks beyond those explicitly raised in the survey.

Reputational attacks contribute to journalists leaving home or

going into exile
A number of survey respondents said they left their city, region, or country to avoid
reputational attacks and harassment. Those who faced weekly reputational attacks
were much more likely to do so (19.7% vs. 10.2%). These were almost entirely in coun-
tries with low or medium press freedom.

In some cases, journalists relocated within their city or country to avoid risks of vio-
lence in the short-term. For instance, a Colombian journalist describes how reputa-
tional attacks by allies of the provincial governor caused him to flee to the country’s
capital, when they began to be accompanied by violent threats.

“I had to leave for a while to Bogotá, where I settled for three or four months,” he said.
“It was not only because of the [reputational attacks], but also because of the security
issue, because here in this region we are more exposed.”

A Somali journalist who worked in the city of Bosaso was targeted with a rumor that
he was an agent of the governments of Somalia and the U.S. Several members of local
militias then phoned him to say he would be killed if he made any false reports about
them, prompting him to relocate to another region in the country.

Similarly, a Pakistani journalist left the country because she and her parents were
being surveilled and harassed when she worked on stories critical of the local govern-
ment. “I don’t know about other journalists, but I do feel that I have some responsibility
towards my loved ones and my family,” she said, explaining her decision to move to
Canada. “I can’t jeopardize their safety for the work that I’m doing.”

A Turkish investigative reporter was routinely threatened with arrest for her journal-
ism, and lived “underground” in the country for five months to avoid arbitrary arrest.
However, after government officials attempted to take custody of her children, she
realized she could no longer stay. Though she still faces occasional reputational at-
tacks from Turkish officials and some members of the local Turkish diaspora, she feels
much safer in Canada. But exile comes with steep costs. “You left one person behind,
54
the person you were before [you went into exile],” she said. “You try to just keep that
person alive … while you just try to survive yourself [in this new country].”

Another journalist in Pakistan observed that several colleagues left the country once
networks of political actors began to treat them as “highly toxic,” making it dangerous
and difficult to do their job. “They say, okay, now we [will go] abroad and do true jour-
nalism.”

However, those journalists can then face new accusations: that they just wanted to
get citizenship abroad. This theme was repeated by several interviewees now in exile
— including journalists from Venezuela, Mexico, Iran, and Pakistan — the reputational
attacks continued as long as they kept working as journalists.

Harm to mental and physical health

There is a growing global recognition that many journalists experience a psycholog-
ical toll due to their work, and there is a growing belief in the industry that a “mental
health revolution” is needed to address it (Cabra, 2023). Some recent studies link
increasing harm to mental health to the prevalence of online harassment (Posetti &
Shabbir, 2022; Stahel & Schoen, 2020). For instance, a recent survey of 404 journal-
ists in South Korea found that online abuse and harassment (especially doxxing) were
correlated with psychological trauma, and that the psychological trauma in turn led to
an increased likelihood individuals would quit journalism (Lee & Park, 2023).

Among our survey respondents, 54.4% said that reputational attacks and harassment
had caused harm to their mental health, which rose 64.8% among those who face
weekly reputational attacks (vs. 47.1% of those who did not). 15.7% reported that their
physical health suffered; here, too, those who faced weekly reputational attacks faced
higher levels (22.7%) compared to those who did not (10.8%).

The Colombian journalist María Fitzgerald, a journalist specializing in human rights

and gender at Cambio Colombia magazine, described how she and other journalists
faced police violence during demonstrations after political figures had stoked hostility.
“During the 2021 demonstrations in the country, I was beat up by the police. One edi-
tor I was working with had a nervous breakdown during the same period. I personally
couldn’t fall asleep at night.”

People just get worn out, said the founder of a Brazilian fact-checking organization.
“We are living in a moment in Brazil where we are in a polarized scenario, and no mat-
ter how much we rely on factual truth, we are increasingly being questioned.” Facing
distrust and hostility leads to mental exhaustion and, she said, many colleagues have
simply left the profession.

55
This feeling was echoed by a research lead for a fact-checking organization in Spain.
“The problem with continuous, habitual and constant attacks is that, even if you do not
pay much attention to them, they always leave an effect,” he said. “It can end up gen-
erating a feeling that it practically doesn’t matter what you say, because you are not
going to convince anyone who is not already convinced.”

“There is one kind of stress that comes from witnessing violence firsthand, which
many of us who have been reporters in Delhi have,” said Indian journalist Rana Uday,
who now lives in Canada. “So that doesn’t leave you. And then when you are gaslit by
thousands of people online who say, ‘No, what you saw didn’t happen.’ It makes you
question everything, it makes you question your own eyes, it makes you question
your own experiences. And of course you are scared of being attacked. So you stay
silent sometimes.”

Interviewees also described the mental health toll their treatment has on family mem-
bers. A journalist in Botswana who faced sustained reputational attacks said, “all along
I had seen myself as this very professional guy, but now it was being challenged in
the public domain,” he said. “That was very traumatic. Also, my wife was affected, my
parents were affected … those insults hit you more than when [they are not affecting]
just you alone.”

“The pressure that I was experiencing was far greater than I thought at the time,” said
a Serbian journalist, who said the mental health impacts continue to affect him and his
family years later. “A broken bone will heal in one month, but the mental health issues
are there to stay for a long time.”

Professional precarity and the decision to quit journalism

Respondents who faced frequent (at least weekly) reputational attacks were more
likely to seriously consider quitting journalism (39.1% vs. 21.9%) and to reduce or tem-
porarily cease working as a journalist (17.7% vs. 10.5%). Across press freedom contexts,
respondents contemplated quitting journalism at similar levels. “It is exhausting,” said
a Colombian television reporter. “I am looking for a job because I do not want to con-
tinue working in this field.”

“The problem is that we are losing and we will be losing journalists,” said a journalist
in Slovenia. “It’s not just [individual] journalists being attacked, it’s the actual profes-
sion.”

An editor for a broadcaster in Central Asia said that despite his attempts to support
staff, they became overwhelmed by reputational attacks and violent threats. “Some-
times it gets to be too much,” he said. “They transfer from investigative teams to less

56
onerous duties, or they even drop out of journalism altogether.”

Journalists — especially freelance journalists — also explained their fears that reputa-
tional attacks would limit their future opportunities for employment.

For instance, an Asian-American journalist who is frequently smeared by China’s state

media and aligned social media accounts said that she finds reputational attacks more
concerning than death threats.

“The straightforward [online attacks] are the rape and death threats. They’re so over
the top that they have little impact on me, in the sense that it’s very unlikely anything
will come of them,” she said. “What’s difficult for me has been the criticism of my work
professionally. There’s obviously concern that some fraction of people might start be-
lieving in the misinformation and propaganda. Ironically, it only redoubles my will to
do better journalism, to speak up against misinformation, and to speak up in support
of press freedom — so probably the opposite of the attacks’ intentions.”

Fig 8.2 A chilling effect?

A freelance science journalist who was smeared as a dupe or agent of the Chinese gov-
ernment for her reporting on the origins of the COVID-19 virus said, “I had won quite
a few international awards, I had a strong track record, but I felt really worried about

57
editors now seeing me as [untrustworthy] or biased,” she said. “Especially when you
write about controversial topics, editors really have to have faith in you.”

Journalist Uday Rana said that he feared that news outlets would stop hiring him after
thousands of online accounts accused him of being ‘anti-Hindu’ or a ‘self-hating Hindu.’
In particular, he feared that in Canada, where he had recently moved, editors would
not understand the context. “You feel like your life is over,” he said. “Nobody is going
to ever consider you a serious journalist ever again.”

These comments support other research, which finds that freelance journalists fear
that online campaigns against journalists will result in their “being perceived as ‘diffi-
cult’ and thus losing important contacts and job opportunities” (Pekkonen & Sanomat,
2017).

Several interviewees noted that they were so focused on their journalism that they
ignored the risks, but family members pleaded with them to leave the profession. A
Serbian journalist told us, “my father was saying, ‘I’m begging you, do not continue
doing this. Choose another profession.’”

The chilling effect

The “chilling effect” refers to the extent to which journalists may self-censor, primarily
by not reporting or publishing on topics or perspectives that may be in the public inter-
est due to fear of physical, psychological, or economic risks (Fadnes et al., 2020, p. 5).
This response impact was widespread among survey respondents, with 39.5% indicat-
ing that they avoided or changed their reporting on some issues to avoid reputational
attacks or harassment.

A journalist who used to regularly report on Indian politics said he does less so now,
because he fears an online campaign against him. “I’m always second-guessing my-
self. I’m always saying, ‘I wonder what’s going to follow me? Are these Hindu right-wing
groups going to keep writing emails to my employers?’” he said. “I wonder if that is the
chilling effect that they wanted to achieve.”

One Brazilian journalist, who had not suffered significant reputational attacks, said
that she didn’t report on some topics or individuals because she didn’t want to be one
of the “marked figures” who are repeatedly targeted. Journalists like Patrícia Campos
Mello and Vera Magalhães, according to her, “end up sort of taking the blow for ev-
erybody.” The fear of attacks on her reputation by prominent individuals, she admits,
“ends up impacting what kind of subjects I choose to cover and how far I go in the
subjects.”

58
Some respondents noted that changing one’s approach to reporting is not always
chilling. “I’m a little bit more careful about what I say online,” said a journalist and war
correspondent from Central Asia. “I don’t see it as self-censorship because I’m still
writing about it. I just decided there is no point in being so vocal about my views of
the relations between these two countries because those who know me already know
where I stand, and there is no way I will be able to convince haters.”

Perhaps surprisingly, those who faced at least weekly reputational attacks reported
about the same levels of self-censorship (at 40.9%) as those who face reputation-
al attack less frequently (at 38.6%). Why might this be the case? One Turkey-based
interviewee with a history of facing reputational attacks said, “I believe this is the case
for many other journalists who have experienced online harassment for many years.
We’ve developed an immunity to some of the harassment, though I cannot say that I’m
completely fine with it and I don’t take it personally.”

Similarly, a journalist in Pakistan said that being regularly smeared and harassed on
social media by politicians and their supporters “impacts how you feel about ordinary
citizens, because you just assume everybody is talking about you like these people on
the internet are. But still… it didn’t stop me from reporting again on these issues.”

While more frequent reputational attacks did not translate into higher levels of
self-censorship among respondents, they do still function as a form of censorship.
Clearly, journalists are less able to report on topics if they are jailed, go into exile, quit
journalism, or experience other negative consequences that are associated with higher
frequencies of reputational attack. So “chilling” still happens.

9. Journalists’ personal identities and the impacts

of reputational attacks
Journalists belonging to marginalized groups experience more
harm
Journalists in our survey who identified as belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic
and/or religious (RER) groups were more likely to decide to leave their city, region, or
country due to the reputational attacks and harassment they faced (26.1% vs. 9.9%),
to change whether or how they report on issues (45.5% vs. 37.4%), and to seriously
consider quitting journalism (35.6% vs. 26.1%), due to reputational attacks and harass-
ment.

Reputational attacks on journalists’ identities can also relate to political conflicts. For
instance, in India, Hindu nationalist politicians and their supporters target Muslim,

59
Christian, and other non-Hindu journalists. Although many journalists recognize that
Muslim colleagues face particular challenges, some reports suggest anti-Muslim bigot-
ry in newsrooms is still increasing (Ghosh, 2022).

A similar dynamic exists regarding caste, a system of social hierarchy. An Indian jour-
nalist who identifies as Dalit, the group facing the most intense discrimination, noted
that some of the public criticisms she faces are mirrored in comments by fellow jour-
nalists. Colleagues have made jokes or snide remarks about her caste, leaving her
feeling isolated and unsupported. “You will hardly find a Dalit woman or a man in these
newsrooms,” she said. “My mental health [has been] super bad, especially when I was
facing casteism in my newsroom.”

She, too, sometimes contemplates leaving India to avoid being targeted because of her
gender and caste identity. “Sooner or later I want to go abroad, because I don’t want to
live in danger at all times.”

In Brazil, a recent study found that Black and Indigenous women journalists often
faced vitriolic messages on Twitter targeting their personal identities (Santana & Mar-
tins, 2022). As one journalist and researcher noted, the study confirms the observation
that in addition to more direct hate speech, Black and Indigenous journalists are often
attacked for their “mental capacity or professional competence” in addition to the
accusations of political bias faced by many white journalists.

A Brazilian journalist who is a Black woman told us that reputational

attacks make her feel unwell and unsafe.

“The attacks make me very sick,” she

admits. “I have depressive and
anxiety disorders. I can say
with great certainty that they
intensified after each attack.
It’s horrible not to feel safe,
either on the street or on
social media.”

The experiences of these female

journalists align with the finding that
“other forms of discrimination — such
as racism, religious bigotry,
homophobia and transphobia

60
— intersect with sexism and misogyny to worsen and deepen women journalists’ expe-
riences of online violence” (Posetti & Shabbir, 2022, p. 47).

Gender and professional or personal harms

The impact of reputational attacks and associated harms against women journalists
threatens “not only their freedom of expression, but also society’s right to information
from diverse media,” according to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (Khan, 2021, p. 13):

The harm caused by online violence, sexist hate speech and disinformation are
real and diverse, affecting the mental and physical health of those targeted,
undermining their confidence and autonomy, stigmatizing them and generating
fear, shame, and professional and reputational damage (ibid., p. 8).

Our report provides further evidence for these concerns. Female journalists shared
many of the same impacts at similar levels to male journalists, but women reported
much higher rates of in-person sexual messages/sexual threats (24.9% received these
at least yearly, vs. 10.3% of men), and higher rates of harm to mental health (62.8% vs.
48.6%).

Men, by contrast, were more likely to have been physically assaulted at least yearly
(13.1% vs 5.4%), and to face in-person threats of non-sexual violence (31.4% vs. 15.3%).

In interviews, women explained how misogynous and sexualized messages impacted

their mental health and professional autonomy.

A Brazilian journalist described how “the attacks were very related to the question of
me being a woman, like ‘slut’, ’prostitute’, ‘she deserves to die,’ something very heavy
like that,” she said. “Sometimes I would cry because I would think, ‘My God, I am study-
ing, working, doing something, and people go there on my profile [to] send a message
saying that I deserve to die!’

A Canadian investigative journalist said that she no longer keeps her Twitter DMs
open or makes her work phone number public because of threats of sexual violence.
“Emails might have generic subject heads, and then I’d open them up and there would
be a rape threat. Like, all of a sudden, out of nowhere. That really shook me. “My male
colleagues don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “I’m definitely at a disadvantage
because of my gender.”

Azerbaijani journalist Arzu Geybulla told us that both men and women face campaigns
to discredit them through accusations of sexual misconduct and the release of intimate

61
images or videos. “The reputational damage to men versus women is very different”
in a traditional Muslim society like Azerbaijan, she said. “Not only is your professional
credibility on the line, but also your position as a woman in society.”

As with journalists who belong to marginalized racial, ethnic and/or religious groups,
women often find the discrimination they face in reputational attacks is mirrored in
the newsroom. Respondents claimed that women’s concerns about gendered harass-
ment received insufficient attention or were dismissed as a sign of their “weakness” by
colleagues, echoing the findings of a recent study on female journalists in the U.K. and
India (Claesson, 2022, p. 14).

A journalist in Pakistan said, “You don’t really see advocacy for helping women around
trauma, around bullying or trolling on Twitter.” Male journalists are “very dismissive”
about these issues, she said, and so they are not addressed “because women aren’t
really leading newsrooms.”

This interviewee, along with others in Brazil, India and the Czech Republic, argued that
it was critical for women to be in leadership positions in news outlets and press associ-
ations so that gendered attacks on reputation and safety are dealt with seriously.

62
Conclusion

Many journalists are courageous and willing to publicize the truth even
when they face resistance. Criticism and counter-claims are inevitable,
and often valuable. However, journalists should not have to work in a toxic
atmosphere in which the press is regularly discredited and stigmatized,
and in which some journalists face targeted campaigns to undermine their
reputations and safety.

“If a journalist lacks a good name and credibility, he is dead,” a Colombian investiga-
tive reporter told us. He was referring to the critical roles that reputation plays in work-
ing with sources and building a trusting audience, but also to the threats of violence he
faced after being targeted by a local politician’s smear campaign.

Our study found that journalists who faced frequent reputational attacks were more
likely to have reported violence and legal repression. More research is needed to
clarify when reputational attacks contribute to these harms and when they do not.
However, we document how in at least some cases, actors appear to strategically use
reputational attacks to make it more likely for journalists to be threatened or physical-
ly attacked, or to exacerbate the professional and economic damage from legal repres-
sion.

Even when reputational attacks do not contribute to violence or legal action, journal-
ists targeted with frequent reputational attacks experience a range of personal and
professional harms.

64
Too often, attacks make use of stereotypes or slurs regarding journalists’ identities,
including their gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or religion. In doing so, these
reputational attacks exacerbate social, economic, and professional obstacles faced by
journalists belonging to marginalized groups. Furthermore, our study finds that repu-
tational attacks that target journalists’ identities are particularly likely to be associat-
ed with perceived harm to mental health and a reduced willingness to continue to work
as a journalist.

Our findings suggest that journalists who work in countries with low levels of press
freedom are more likely to face frequent reputational attacks, and more likely to ex-
perience physical violence or legal repression alongside them. Journalists are most at
risk when political leaders and government officials themselves pursue reputational
attacks. In such cases, they may influence large numbers of followers to take mob
action (whether online, offline, or both) against journalists, or they may use legal mea-
sures in tandem with campaigns versus journalists.

However, even in countries with stronger press freedom, widespread reputational at-
tacks against journalists and journalism organizations are reducing journalists’ abili-
ties to safely and effectively do their jobs. This is particularly evident in countries with
declining or low trust in journalism, including Canada and the United States.

Evaluating threats from reputational attacks

The relationship between reputational attacks and violence or other negative conse-
quences is clear in our findings, but it is also complex.

Many different factors can play a role.

How, then, to evaluate risks? Based on our findings and existing literature, we propose
several key factors to consider when assessing risks.

These include:

1. Virulence of message (insulting to aggressively hostile to dehumanizing or hate-

ful)

2. Frequency (rare to regular to flooding)

3. Source type and prominence (member of public to prominent source to prominent

source with followers capable of violence)

4. Targeting of personal identity (none vs. targeting one identity factor such as gen-

65
 der or race vs. targeting multiple marginalized identities)

5. Coordination among sources (uncoordinated to loosely-coordinated to orchestrat-

ed by governments or other organizations)

The context is also critical. Reputational attacks are more likely to be linked to vio-
lence or legal repression in countries where these tools are more often used against
journalists.

Distinguishing between different types of reputational attacks and associated harass-

ment is important for assessing risk and designing appropriate responses, but it’s not
always easy to do, especially for the journalist being targeted.

“When it happens, you don’t really differentiate between whether these are reputation-
al attacks or harassment, because at that point in time you just feel like you’re being
attacked on all fronts and everything feels humiliating and everything feels degrad-
ing,” said Arzu Geybulla, a journalist from Azerbaijan. “Once you sit down and you
clear your mind and you have a moment to think, you can start to differentiate.”

Given how difficult it is for individual journalists to evaluate and address reputation-
al attacks, she said, it is critical to get support. That begins by realizing, “you’re not
alone,” she said. “This has happened to many people, unfortunately.”

Risk assessment

FA C T O R S LOWER RISK MEDIUM RISK HIGHER RISK

VIRULENCE Insulting Aggressively hostile Hateful or dehumanizing

FREQUENCY Infrequent Frequent Continuous or swarming

Prominent actor with

SOURCE TYPE General public Actor with large following
coercive followers

IDENTITY Targets organization or Targets personal identity

None
TA R G E T I N G ideology including gender or ethnicity

By government or
C O O R D I N AT I O N None Loosely
organization

66
Recommendations
What can be done? First, we need to take reputational attacks and journalist safety
more seriously. Fortunately, governments, civil society, and journalism organizations
have put forward extensive policy recommendations in recent years on issues of jour-
nalism safety. Here, we build on some of those recommendations, focusing on those
that pertain most clearly to reputational attacks and their consequences.

1. Monitor reputational attacks

Our findings suggest that reputational attacks may trigger or accompany violence,
legal action, and targeted harassment. News organizations and press freedom associ-
ations should develop monitoring systems to identify reputational attacks and assess
the associated risks. The framework introduced above may offer a starting point.

News organizations have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of journalists
they employ, and monitoring reputational attacks can help them do so. However, some
interviewees noted that news organizations may be unable or unwilling to adequately
protect their staff, let alone freelancers.

It is therefore also important for independent organizations to play a monitoring role.

The International Civil Society Coalition on the Safety of Journalists (2022) calls for
“the establishment and operation of independent, civil society-led national, regional,
and global reporting and monitoring platforms to collect and disseminate information
about attacks against journalists and on media freedom in an accessible, easy to use
and standardised manner” (p. 3).

Given the pivotal role that social media platforms play in facilitating efforts to discredit
and harass journalists, platforms need to provide appropriate assistance to such moni-
toring systems.

2. Develop newsroom protocols and support

News organizations need to address reputational attacks — as well as harassment and
violence — as a matter of occupational safety. To do so, they should develop and imple-
ment clear strategies to respond to reputational attacks and associated risks, including
commitments to train and assist journalists in maintaining online and offline security,
and providing appropriate access to legal and psychological expertise.

Research shows that individuals are better able to deal with online harassment when it
is treated as an organizational responsibility, and not just a matter for targeted indi-
viduals to cope with (Holton et al., 2021; Nelson, 2023). Unfortunately, some organi-

67
zations exacerbate the harms faced by journalists (particularly women) targeted with
reputational attacks (Claesson, 2022). For example, some journalists we interviewed
noted that employers may require them to actively engage audiences online or post
contact information, even if these actions expose them to abuse.

Many interviewees and experts noted that cyber-security measures for journalists are
critical. However, “information security cultures within newsrooms remain nascent,
ad hoc, or nonexistent, despite increasingly vitriolic environments facing the media”
(Henrichsen & Shelton, 2022, p. 3). News organizations should provide journalists with
the appropriate training and tools, including access to third-party applications to iden-
tify, document, and collaboratively manage online abuse, like Block Party.11

While interviewees expressed appreciation for cyber-security assistance and access to

professional mental health treatment, they were most grateful for a genuinely sup-
portive newsroom — if they had one. A journalist told us his supervisor “completely
understood what happened, and I think that made the difference.” Another journalist
said, “I have a very supportive and humane editor regarding these issues, but I know of
colleagues who face difficulties in feeling welcomed and safe in their organizations.”

Support from colleagues is a critical piece of resilience to harassment (Kantola &

Harju, 2023). Journalists frequently turn to colleagues for support, and news organi-
zations should create an environment that incentivizes this mutual assistance. When
newsroom support is done well, researchers and practitioners find, “collective assis-
tance recontextualizes experiences of harassment and abuse into experiences of aid
and solidarity” (Henrichsen & Shelton, 2022, p. 13).

3. Defend journalists’ reputations

In addition to providing support and addressing the risks that result from reputation-
al attacks, many journalists in our study said they would like their employer or news
organization to more actively protect their reputation when it is under attack — beyond
managing the harms and risks of the attack.

Such responses can take different forms in different circumstances, according to jour-
nalists and press freedom advocates we interviewed:

• Unambiguous expressions of public support for a journalist’s actions and reputa-

tion

• Investigation of the sources of reputational attacks

11. blockpartyapp.com

68
• Requests of social media platforms to address content violating their terms of
service

• Legal action against those who defame or threaten journalists

Interviewees whose reputations were defended by their news outlets often expressed
gratitude. However, journalists themselves should be consulted on a case by case basis
to determine whether or how their organization responds to attacks.

Resources for journalists and newsrooms to address online abuse

FOR INDIVIDUALS

Resources for protecting against online abuse from the Committee to Protect Journalists con-
tains regularly-updated resources to address issues from harassment to smear campaigns, and
are available in multiple languages.

Online Harassment Field Manual from PEN America has extensive and accessible resources, de-
veloped with a particular eye to address risks to women, BIPOC, and/or LGBTQIA+ journalists,
available in multiple languages.

Online Violence Response Hub from the Coalition Against Online Violence (CAOV) has exten-
sive resources for journalists and newsrooms.

FOR NEWSROOMS

The Freelance Journalist Safety Principles by the ACOS Alliance (a coalition of news organisa-
tions, freelance journalist associations and press freedom NGOs), available in multiple languag-
es.

A Guide to Protecting Newsrooms and Journalists Against Online Violence from the Interna-
tional Women’s Media Foundation.

Newsroom Guide for Managing Online Harm developed for Canadian newsrooms by Hannah
Storm and #NotOK.

Protecting Journalists from Online Abuse: A Guide for Newsrooms developed by Gideon Sar-
pong, founder of iWatch Africa, for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Protocol for Newsrooms to Support Journalists Targeted with Online Harassment from the
International Press Institute (IPI).

69
4. Address how gender, ethnicity, and other identity factors influ-
ence reputational attacks and their consequences
The threats faced by women journalists have begun to get more attention, including
through organizations like Article 19, the Coalition Against Online Violence, the Coali-
tion For Women In Journalism, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and Troll-
Busters. It is now widely recognized that, in the words of the UN Special Rapporteur
on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression,
“Attacks on female journalists violate not only their freedom of expression, but also
society’s right to information from diverse media” (Khan, 2021, p. 13).

There are also significant gaps regarding the challenges faced by journalists who iden-
tify as belonging to racial, ethnic, and/or religious groups in the countries where they
work. And research by our team and others suggests that journalists who are marginal-
ized along multiple lines of identity, such as being women who belong to marginalized
ethnic or religious groups, can face particularly damaging reputational attacks. More
research needs to be done on these intersections of identity and harmful reputational
attacks, and better responses need to be developed that are attentive to journalists’
identities and social contexts.

Moreover, our findings support research by others that shows that individuals belong-
ing to under-represented groups in journalism often experience insufficient support
— and are sometimes discredited by voices within their own newsrooms. As a result,
“The lack of newsroom support around online harassment sometimes ties into broader
conversations about the lack of diversity in newsrooms and whose voices are heard or
prioritized and whose are not” (Henrichsen & Shelton, 2022, p. 10).

5. Strengthen coalitions to counteract reputational attacks and

support journalists
Journalists are targeted for reputational attack and harassment from many directions,
including local politicians, business interests, extremist groups, and their national gov-
ernments. To address this broad set of antagonists, journalists need broad networks
of “media allies” (Harlow et al., 2022, p. 11) or “public-private-civic safety coalitions”
(Waisbord, 2022a, p. 1951). These coalitions should span government, labour unions,
civil society, and the journalism industry. Ideally these coalitions should cross political
divides.

These coalitions can support journalists who lack supportive newsrooms, including
freelancers or individuals at under-resourced or hostile workplaces. They should also
include international press freedom organizations, which are particularly important

70
for journalists working in countries with poor press freedom, where governments are
ineffective protectors or even the antagonists of journalists (Harlow et al., 2022).

6. Take seriously the role played by journalists and hyper-parti-

san media organizations
Journalism organizations, including hyper-partisan news outlets, are a major source of
reputational attacks and harassment. To address this, national and international press
associations, along with journalism outlets themselves, should clarify that existing
ethical commitments to accuracy, fairness and non-discrimination should also apply to
reporting about journalists.

For instance, the International Federation of Journalists’ Global Charter of Ethics

states that “slander, libel, defamation, [and] unfounded accusations” amount to se-
rious professional misconduct, and that journalists should “ensure that the dissemi-
nation of information or opinion does not contribute to hatred or prejudice and shall
do their utmost to avoid facilitating the spread of discrimination on grounds such as
geographical, social or ethnic origin, race, gender, sexual orientation, language, reli-
gion, disability, political and other opinions” (IFL, 2019). Moreover, it encourages each
journalist to “show solidarity with his/her colleagues, without renouncing his/her
freedom of investigation, duty to inform, and right to engage in criticism, commentary,
satire and editorial choice.”

7. Improve social media platform policies and transparency

Social media platforms have become necessary and often positive tools for journalists,
but they are also where journalists most frequently encounter reputational attacks.
Many of our interviewees faced reputational attacks and harassment on social media
platforms, and few expressed satisfaction with any platforms’ actions.

Platforms should introduce or improve anti-abuse tools available to users, with func-
tions that can be used by individuals with public roles and larger followerships such as
journalists. These include improved in-app tools for users to identify and screen abuse,
and for users to create and maintain boundaries to separate their professional and per-
sonal identities (for more detailed recommendations see PEN America, 2021; Posetti &
Shabbir, 2022, pp. 241–243).

It is important to empower users to address reputational attacks and harassment, but

the labour of addressing abuse should not fall primarily on users. Social media compa-
nies need to better enforce policies that address abusive content or content that may
expose individuals to violence. As has been widely recognized, platforms too often fail
to enforce their own policies, particularly when violations are committed by high-pro-
71
file perpetrators. Platforms also frequently lack the cultural and linguistic expertise in
many countries and regions. Moreover, journalists and press freedom advocates told
us that Twitter — the most used platform by our survey respondents — appeared to
have become less responsive to journalists’ safety needs.

To guide policies and enforcement, platforms should implement human rights due
diligence and conduct risk assessments, as set out in the United Nations Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights (International Civil Society Coalition on the
Safety of Journalists, 2022, p. 6; Khan, 2021). This will need to include addressing the
potential disproportionate impacts on journalists due to their gender, race, or other
identity-related factors.

While social media companies can and should take these actions on their own, it has
become clear that government regulation is necessary, provided such legislation
adheres to international standards to protect freedom of expression. Close atten-
tion should be paid to the implementation of the Digital Services Act in the European
Union, as an example of legislation to require platforms to clarify, enforce, and trans-
parently report on their policies to address harms.

8. Strengthen government protection of journalists’ rights

Governments have a critical role to play, including as part of their responsibility to
prevent, protect, and provide remedy for violations of journalists’ human rights. Efforts
at the United Nations, the European Union, and other intergovernmental groups take
steps in that direction by clarifying that states should make commitments to protect
journalists, including against in-person and online violence.

These commitments also include investigating and holding to account those who
commit violations. As Article 19 (2020a, p. 7) notes in a report focusing on women
journalists, “there is also an overwhelming body of reporting that a particular barrier
to justice for women journalists, who face online harassment or receive threats of vio-
lence online, is a failure of public authorities to take these threats seriously.”

With respect to social media companies, state governments should:

• Impose meaningful transparency and accountability requirements. This includes

providing sufficient data to independent researchers and journalists to enable
them to investigate harassment and disinformation targeting journalists. Platforms
should also be transparent regarding the existence and enforcement of policies or
practices to address abusive content including violent threats, hate speech, and
doxxing.

72
• Impose meaningful requirements to address online violence that targets individ-
uals based on their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and other
categories protected under international human rights obligations.

(These recommendations draw on: ARTICLE 19, 2020b; Khan, 2021; United Nations
General Assembly, 2022)

As our research shows, governments and public officials are themselves a major
source of reputational attacks. Governments should not be involved in campaigns of
reputational attacks and harassment, and consider codes of conduct for government
agencies and public officials regarding harassment or disinformation campaigns
targeting journalists (International Civil Society Coalition on the Safety of Journalists,
2022).

Additionally, governments should work with social media platforms and other partners
to mitigate and discourage such activities, while protecting freedom of expression. For
instance, further efforts should be made to advance the recommendations made by
UN special rapporteurs and other international fact-finding bodies that have revealed
government complicity.

These eight recommendations could help reduce the harms that journalists experience
due to reputational attacks and harassment — and ultimately help preserve and pro-
tect their ability to promote accountability, truth-telling, and democracy. But broader
action is needed to address the systemic damage to journalism and public discourse.

73
Appendix: country
case studies
To better understand reputational attacks and their impacts in different national
contexts, this section presents case studies focusing on Brazil, Canada, Colombia, and
India — the four countries we received the most responses from. (However, due to the
non-random sampling and limited numbers of respondents, our survey findings can-
not be assumed to be representative of all journalists in these countries. Rather, they
indicate broad patterns that warrant deeper investigation.) Each case study draws on
survey responses, follow-up interviews with at least five respondents, interviews with
press freedom advocates, and desk research.

The four countries differ in their levels of press freedom. We categorize Canada as a
country with high press freedom, Brazil as medium, and Colombia and India as having
low press freedom.12

12. For this study we defined levels of press freedom based on Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s
2022 rankings. Those ranked #1–60 are high press freedom countries, #61–120 are medium, and
#121–180 are low.

74
 Brazil 59% experience harm to mental health
(vs. 54% overall)
54 respondents
to survey 59% changed or avoided reporting on issues due
to reputational attacks
Press freedom rank 110 of 180 countries (vs. 40% overall)
(RSF 2022 rankings)
39% seriously considered quitting journalism
32% faced weekly reputational attacks due to reputational attacks and harassment
(vs. 38% for survey respondents overall) (vs. 29% overall)

59% identified politicians or officials in power

with the national government as source
(vs. 39% overall)

Overview
Political misinformation and disinformation has been a recurring issue in Brazil that
has intensified in recent years (Wasserman & Madrid-Morales, 2022, p. 96). Election
observers identified “unprecedented” levels of disinformation during the 2018 elec-
tions, won by former president Jair Bolsonaro (ibid). The Bolsonaro government was
later alleged to have created an “office of hate” that attacked its critics online (Free-
dom House, 2020).

Journalists have been subject to attacks, both online and in person. According to the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 44 journalists have been killed in
connection with their work since 1992.13 Brazil made headlines around the world in
2022 after the murder of British freelancer Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bru-
no Pereira (Ayres, 2022). And in January 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters stormed
the nation’s congress, dozens of journalists were harassed and attacked (CPJ, 2023a).
Lawsuits and legal threats are often used to attempt to censor journalists (Freedom
House, 2020).

Political conflict and corruption drive most reputational attacks

The most commonly identified source of reputational attacks14 was the national ruling
party and its politicians (59%), which at the time of the survey was President Bolsona-
ro and his Liberal Party. The president, his family members in politics, and other pow-

13. cpj.org/data

14. The survey received 54 submissions from journalists who resided in Brazil. Of those, 29 identified
as men (54%) and 25 as women (46%). 7 respondents (13%) identified as belonging to marginalized
religious, ethnic, and/or racial groups. Interviews were conducted with five journalists who had com-
pleted the survey, and with three press freedom advocates.

75
erful politicians set the tone for hostility toward journalists, according to journalists
and press freedom advocates we interviewed.15 When authorities attack the reputa-
tions of journalists it “authorizes ordinary civilians to do so as well,” an interviewee
explained. “If the president does it, why shouldn’t I?”

Reputational attacks did not only come from Bolsonaro and his supporters. The second
most common source was opposition parties and politicians (identified by 57% of re-
spondents), which at the time included the Workers’ Party of now-president Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva. In addition to the politicians and political parties, civil society groups
were a major source of reputational attacks (51% of respondents). These organizations
are often highly partisan — Bolsonaro and other conservative politicians are backed by
religious organizations, while Lula and other left-leaning politicians are popular with
trade unions.

According to respondents, 52% of journalists surveyed reported accusations of politi-

cal bias at least monthly, and 26% reported monthly claims of incompetence or uneth-
ical behavior.

A Brazilian journalist noted that after fact-checking a local partisan media site, its
owner published a series of Instagram posts to his 100,000 followers. “He started to
slander me, saying I was not a competent journalist, that I was paid by the government
here or the city government,” she said. “I joke with people that if I had earned as much
money [from corruption] as he was saying, I wouldn’t be living with my mother any-
more!” But jokes aside, she said, “That’s when my life turned to hell.”

Several interviewees stated that efforts to discredit journalists were motivated by cor-
ruption or business interests. One journalist confided under the condition of anonymity
that after writing a story about the invasion of Indigenous land by wealthy landowners,
he lost his job. “The request for me to be fired came from the governor of the state
government … they approached the owner of the website I was working for and told
her to tell me to go away. She sent me away.”

Impacts of reputational attacks and harassment

Survey results show that reputational attacks can alter journalists’ professional out-
put. 59% of respondents said they avoided or changed reporting on sensitive issues
to reduce the risk of attacks, and 39% said they had seriously considered quitting
journalism. Both these figures were higher for Brazilian respondents than for survey

15. According to press freedom organization Abraji (2023), 557 episodes of reputational attacks,
assaults, or other forms of aggression against journalists were reported in 2022, and 41.6% were
attributed to Bolsonaro and three of his sons.

76
respondents overall (which were 40% and 29%, respectively).

One interviewee said that many of her colleagues in journalism had quit, due to the
hostility directed at them during the period of time when the Bolsonaro government
was in power. As a journalist, she said, “You work every day to do something for society
… you earn very little money, and you still have to suffer for it.”

Those who continue to work as journalists pay a psychological and physical toll. Repu-
tational attacks were identified by 59% of respondents as harming their mental health,
and by 18% as harming their physical health.

One journalist said that reputational attacks and fear of violence not only contributed
to her depressive and anxiety disorders, they also affected other areas of her life. For
instance, she experienced difficulties renting an apartment because she was hesitant
to share the personal information required to apply online. Such precautions were nec-
essary, she said, “to protect myself and those I love.”

Not all interviewees were victims of online harassment, though they all recognized
it as a real threat. Lais Martins, who works as an investigative journalist in São Pau-
lo, said, “I have never been the target of an attack. But I recognize that it is a super
serious problem, and I think that just its existence prunes our work as journalists. So I
guess I end up self-censoring myself because of the potential of an attack on credibili-
ty or damage to my reputation.”

How reputational attacks and impacts are related to identity

Respondents and interviewees both emphasized that a particular level of vitriol is
directed at women, particularly women of colour, which aligns with recent research
(Santana & Martins, 2022).

“A white male journalist speaking on a certain subject will carry some weight. A wom-
an or a Black woman, a young journalist, will carry less,” said a female journalist who
chose to remain anonymous. Another interviewee, a journalist and researcher who also
preferred to not be named, shared her experiences of online harassment: “Because I
am also a woman, I think that the attacks became more intense…”

“It is very exhausting, because the [worst] offenses are always sexual, delegiti-
mizing you as a woman and not as a professional. Because as a professional they
wouldn’t have anything to say, to attack,” said a third female journalist speaking
under the condition of anonymity.

77
Existing and recommended support
31% of respondents reported that they took no action offline to mitigate the effects
of reputational attacks. 30% of respondents said they sought help from colleagues or
from press freedom organizations. 22% reported their harassment to the police, and
only 6% pursued legal action. Some respondents commented that they sought support
from organizations such as the Network for the Protection of Journalists and Commu-
nicators16 and the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji).17

The International Press Institute’s Ontheline Platform for Newsrooms provides resourc-
es and best practices for media outlets and journalists to prevent, combat, and address
online harassment and abuse, available in Portuguese and other languages (IPI, 2020).
Abraji (2020) has also published guidelines on legal measures journalists can take
when faced with online threats. Abraji (2021a) created a Legal Protection Program
for Journalists, dedicated to helping journalists whose reporting is being constrained
by legal proceedings, and CPJ (2023b) published updated resources for journalists in
need of legal aid support in 2023.

16. rededeprotecao.org.br

17. abraji.org.br

78
 Canada 67% said hyper-partisan media are a source
(vs. 47% overall)
95 respondents
to survey 40% said extremist organizations are a source
(vs. 32% overall)
Press freedom rank 19 of 180 countries
(RSF 2022 rankings) 63% experience harm to mental health
(vs. 54% overall)
40% face weekly reputational attacks
(vs. 38% for survey respondents overall) 43% considered quitting journalism due to repu-
tational attacks and harassment
(vs. 29% overall)

Press freedom context

Canadian journalists experience increasing levels of online and offline harassment
(IPSOS, 2021; Unifor Media Council, 2023). A survey of 1,093 journalists and media
workers by IPSOS in November 2021 found that in the previous 12 months, 65% of re-
spondents had faced online harassment and 38% had faced it in person (IPSOS, 2021,
pp. 4–5). Those who identified as women, BIPOC, or LGBTQ2+ reported more severe
online harassment than other journalists.

Increasing harassment comes amidst declining public trust in news media. In 2022
it dropped to the lowest point in seven years, according to a Reuters Institute survey
(Brin & Charlton, 2022a). Just 42% of Canadian respondents trust news “most of the
time,” a fall of 13% since 2016. This decline mirrored a drop to 29% in Canadians’ belief
that news media are independent from political influences (Brin & Charlton, 2022b).

Polarization, distrust and reputational attacks

Political polarization is at the root of most reputational attacks, harassment, and vio-
lence that Canadian journalists face, according to our survey respondents and inter-
viewees.18

Respondents to our survey were most likely to report being accused of political bias
(56% face this at least monthly), followed by being incompetent (54%), unethical
(46%), and engaged in criminal activity (19%).

18. Based on 95 completed surveys, 50% identified as male, 47% as female, 3% as “other,” includ-
ing respondents identifying as non-binary or trans. 25% of respondents identified as belonging to a
marginalized group. 15% primarily report outside of North America. 41% work for public organizations
including CBC/Radio-Canada, 44% for private organizations, and 15% for public-private/other forms.
We did follow-up interviews with seven and spoke to three press freedom advocates on the Canadian
situation.

79
Compared to journalists in other countries, Canadian respondents were more likely to
report that hyper-partisan media were a source of reputational attacks (67%). At the
same time, Canadian respondents were far less likely to have said that the national
(14%) or provincial or municipal (19%) governing parties or officials were sources of
reputational attacks. However, 50% said that opposition political parties were a source.

A long-time political columnist said that efforts to smear or harass him online are pri-
marily driven by political cleavages in his province of Alberta. “I’ve been around more
than 30 years,” he said, “and it’s never been so polarized.” While there is anger on both
sides of the political spectrum, he and other interviewees said that right-wing politi-
cians and commentators have stoked anger toward mainstream journalists.

Multiple interviewees noted that an accusation of bias or unethical activity from a

prominent figure, such as someone associated with an alternative right-wing publica-
tion or a YouTube personality, would lead to dramatic increases in the volume or inten-
sity of online hostility.

“I’ve had far right-wing media make news items, videos, and memes about me per-
sonally,” said a journalist for an investigative television program.

A newspaper reporter in Alberta described how an extreme right-wing political figure

did a livestream that featured “quite a bit of slanderous, defamatory stuff about me, in-
cluding accusations of pedophilia.” The comments were shared by other people online,
he said. “It was certainly upsetting.”

The most polarizing issue in recent years has been government responses to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The online backlash against journalists covering this topic of-
ten seems to be coordinated. Another interviewee, who worked on a TV documentary
about anti-vaccine groups in the United States, said the leaders of these groups “called
on all their followers to write [CBC] ombudsman complaints and tried to discredit our
journalism through one of their online TV shows, including posting photos of myself
and two colleagues.”

Journalists who cover hate groups or extremist groups were particularly likely to face
organized campaigns of harassment and reputational attacks. “When the neo-Nazi
gang really came after me, I was getting phone calls frequently, and text messages,” a
freelance journalist told us.

Threats, hostility pushing people out of journalism

While physical attacks on journalists are relatively rare in Canada, there was an ap-
parent uptick in 2022. During the time of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, the Canada

80
Press Freedom Project recorded “at least 21 documented incidents of harassment and
intimidation and at least seven assaults of media workers at convoy-related events
alone” (Lindgren et al., 2022).

“It’s harder to do our jobs,” one respondent wrote. “People are very violent. We’ve had
things thrown at us, even when kids are present. We now take security to cover previ-
ously mundane events.”

“I’ve witnessed protesters screaming to kill all journalists in an organized anti-mask

protest, claiming we are the source of misinformation,” stated another survey respon-
dent.

A journalist who covers far-right groups told us, “My image has already become a
poster for everything [far-right groups] view as harmful and evil about mainstream
media … I genuinely feel like my life is at risk.”

Many respondents stated that reputational attacks and distrust made journalism more
difficult. “Getting sources to talk is more challenging, and going to certain events
requires a lot more caution and safety measures,” said a TV reporter in an interview. “I
don’t think people know how risky the job is now.”

Several survey respondents specifically referred to a chilling effect. “It makes it harder
to want to pursue the more controversial stories with a real fear for your family’s safety
if you step into that lane,” a respondent wrote.

Respondents in Canada were more likely to have said they seriously considered quit-
ting journalism due to the reputational attacks and harassment they face (43%) com-
pared to journalists from other countries. “It’s made good journalists quit,” one wrote.
“I have colleagues who left the field because of this,” another stated. “I wouldn’t advise
anyone to join this field and I think it’s pushed many journalists into leaving,” wrote a
third respondent.

63% of Canadian respondents said that reputational attacks and harassment were
causing harm to their mental health, and 17% said these attacks were harming their
physical health. Several interviewees and survey respondents mentioned that hostility
toward news media affected relationships within their own families.

How reputational attacks and impacts are related to gender

Journalists’ gender influences the forms and consequences of hostile communication.
Overall, 27% of respondents who identify as women received in-person threats of sex-

81
ual violence while working, while none of the male respondents had.19 A national health
reporter explained how someone found her private email and used it to create an
account on a dating app. “So as you can imagine, I got a lot of very unpleasant emails,”
she said. Around the same time, she and some colleagues received Twitter posts
wishing them violence or death. “It really soured my thinking around social media,”
she said. “I’m kind of at a place now where I feel uncomfortable being on a lot of those
platforms.”

Another reporter said that following several threats for her previous stories, “I can’t
even meet with a source in person without sending my boss my location and calling
her when I’m done, because she’s so concerned about my safety.”

Respondents who identified as women were more likely to mention experiencing harm
to their mental health than men (74% vs. 51%) or to have seriously considered quitting
journalism (56% vs. 32%). Findings from an IPSOS survey, too, found that women jour-
nalists experienced higher levels of psychological harm than male colleagues (IPSOS,
2021).

In a 2022 campaign calling for an end to online violence against women journalists in
Canada, the Coalition for Women in Journalism reported it had documented “dozens
of cases of online violence against women journalists in Canada — the majority of them
from far-right, anti-immigrant, and anti-mask groups.”20 Many of these occurred in the
aftermath of a series of tweets in 2021 by Maxime Bernier, leader of the right-wing
People’s Party of Canada, that shared journalists’ email addresses and encouraged
supporters to “play dirty” (Buchanan, 2022). Canadian news media organizations
published a joint public statement on October 5, 2021, condemning hate or harass-
ment against journalists, which “inordinately target women and racialized journalists”
(Gentle, 2021).

Existing and recommended support

In the face of reputational attacks and harassment, Canadian respondents were most
likely to turn to colleagues or supervisors for support (48%), followed by friends or rel-

19. Given the small sample size of journalists in Canada, and in particular the small number of jour-
nalists who identify as belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic or religious groups, we cannot make
statistically robust claims about associations between frequencies or consequences of reputational
attacks. The percentages we report in this case study are indicative of relationships that require fur-
ther research to confirm.

20. womeninjournalism.org/campaigns-all/end-online-violence-against-women-journalists-in-can-
ada

82
atives (28%), medical or psychological health practitioners (25%), and police (14%).21
41% didn’t seek support or assistance.

Canadian journalism organizations have begun to advocate strongly for action against
online and in-person harassment, including initiatives by CBC/Radio-Canada, Unifor,
the Coalition For Women in Journalism, and the Canadian Association of Journalists
(CAJ). These organizations have made several overlapping recommendations.

Better organizational support: News organizations should provide support for their
employees who face reputational attacks, harassment, and safety or health risks (Uni-
for, 2023). The #NotOK project, initiated by CBC/Radio-Canada, commissioned a set
of guidelines for newsrooms to manage online harms (Storm, 2022). In 2022, the Can-
ada Press Freedom Project was launched to track and publicize incidents that threaten
press freedom.22

Resources for journalists: Unifor, the union representing many Canadian journalists,
provides a detailed set of steps to take and resources available for journalists targeted
with abuse (Unifor Media Council, 2023). The Committee to Protect Journalists devel-
oped a new guide for Canadian journalists to help them navigate legal risks they face
when covering protests, including potential actions by police that might limit their
reporting (CPJ & TrustLaw, 2023). Journalists can also reach out to CPJ directly with
specific safety-related questions or concerns.

More effective responses by police: The CAJ and over 40 news organizations wrote
an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on September 1, 2022, regarding “the
increasing and alarming online hate and harassment targeting journalists and journal-
ism as a profession” (CAJ, 2022). The letter called for better processes by which police
can receive complaints from journalists about threats, investigate those threats, and
inform journalists about the progress of the investigation or resulting actions.

More effective responses by social media platforms. The CAJ letter also called for
social media companies to more effectively address harassment of journalists on their
platforms. Similarly, Unifor’s plan of action calls for quicker and more effective action
by platforms — and for the government to hold platforms accountable for failing to
address libel, defamation, and hate speech targeting journalists.

21. Respondents could choose more than one source of support, so percentages add up to more than
100%.

22. canadapressfreedom.ca

83
 Colombia 46% reported that criminal organizations were a
source
59 respondents (vs. 16% overall)
to survey
54% have avoided or changed how they report to
Press freedom rank 145 of 180 countries avoid reputational attacks
(RSF 2022 rankings) (vs. 40% overall)

53% face weekly reputational attacks 27% have relocated as a consequence

(vs. 38% for survey respondents overall) (vs. 14% overall)

56% identified politicians or officials in local or

provincial governments as a source
(vs. 34% overall)

“In Colombia, after the peace agreements between the Colombian govern-
ment and the FARC guerillas, the attacks on [the reputations of] journalists
have increased … It is common to find fake news aimed at discrediting spe-
cific journalists or outlets. These attacks tend to come from members of the
society and then are replicated by politicians or people in positions of power.”
—MARÍA FITZGERALD, HUMAN RIGHTS JOURNALIST SPECIALIZING IN HUMAN RIGHTS

A N D G E N D E R AT C A M B I O C O L O M B I A M A G A Z I N E

Press freedom context

Colombian journalists face high rates of violence and legal actions, contributing to a
poor (and worsening) press freedom environment. In the past decade, 10 journalists
have been killed in connection to their work.23 2022 was a particularly dangerous
year. Two journalists were murdered as a consequence of their investigative work
(Rafaél Emiro Moreno and Wilder Alfredo Córdoba) (FLIP, 2023). In 2023, a collective
of journalists with Forbidden Stories investigated Moreno’s murder and the widespread
corruption he had been reported on (Dupont de Dinechin, 2023).

The Bogota-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP), an independent organization

that monitors violations of press freedom, found that in 2022:

• 2 journalists were killed

• 8 journalists went into exile

• 20 journalists were physically attacked

• 218 journalists were threatened with violence

23. CPJ Database (2023), Journalists Killed in Colombia, 2012-2022.

84
• 84 journalists were harassed

• 5 journalists had to leave their hometown to avoid threats (FLIP, 2023)

The state is the largest source of reputational attacks

Colombian respondents to our survey24 were more likely than journalists in other coun-
tries to identify two sources of reputational attacks: municipal or state government
officials (reported by 56% of respondents in Colombia vs. 34% overall) and criminal
organizations (46% in Colombia vs. 16% overall).

Raissa Carrillo, FLIP’s Coordinator of Defense and Support of Journalists, said that in
Colombia “most of the sources of the attacks against journalists in the past years have
been mayors, budget expense managers, ministers, public servants, and politicians in
general.”

For instance, the Mayor’s Office of Yopal campaigned against journalists for reporting
negatively about city policies, which FLIP denounced as a “strategy [that] discredits
the voices that criticize the local administration and promotes a climate of hostility
towards the press” (FLIP, 2022).

One respondent said that the current government in the province of Cauca “has media
and journalist friends who at a certain moment may attack us, because we regularly
publish articles that the regional government does not like.” Another journalist said
that his publications were gathered in a file that was sent to a regional governor who
then threatened to stop advertising in his media outlet.

Reputational attacks and violence against journalists have increased during recent
periods of political attention, including national strikes in 2021 and the 2022 national
elections (FLIP, 2021). One survey respondent, describing the backlash to reporting
during those times, said: “The harassment consisted of violent threats, slanderous
messages, and a massive number of [complaints made to social media platforms] with
the goal of having my accounts closed down.”

Several respondents in our survey believe the polarized political situations and the
corruption that permeates some areas of the Colombian state are key elements that
make journalists more vulnerable to politically-motivated reputational attacks. One
respondent said, “The reputational attacks are frequent, especially in this area where
corruption is rampant, and politicians and officials attack news media to generate a

24. Based on 59 completed surveys, 22% identified as women, and 20% identified as belonging to an
ethnic, racial, or religious minority group. We did follow-up interviews with six journalists and spoke to
three press freedom advocates on the Colombian situation.

85
smokescreen for what they steal from the state.”

Criminal organizations and militias

Criminal organizations in Colombia were the third most commonly-identified source
of reputational attacks (mentioned by 46% of respondents). Despite the 2016 peace
agreement between the national government and FARC guerillas, journalists continue
to face violence, particularly when reporting on militias and criminal organizations
participating in drug trafficking (CPJ, 2022).

Militias and criminal organizations can also pose a risk to journalists’ editorial au-
tonomy. A survey respondent said he was forced to publish official statements by an
armed group, which in turn affected his reputation. “The [reputational] attacks against
me come from people who accuse me of belonging to [those] armed groups.” (Wilder
Alfredo Córdoba, one of the two journalists killed in Colombia in 2022, had also been
pressured by armed groups to publish their official statements through his indepen-
dent media outlet (FLIP, 2023, p. 11). Those responsible for his murder have not yet
been identified.)

Members of a civil society group (40%), as well as business persons and corporations
(35%) are also significant sources of reputational attacks. One respondent said: “I
shared an environmental news story affecting a multinational company through my
Twitter account and two senior officials of the company, including the environmental
and communications officers, made comments that it was fake news, instead of deny-
ing the complaints.”

Safety risks prompt journalists to take precautions or leave town

28% of survey respondents in Colombia reported that they had been physically as-
saulted in the previous year, a number that rose to 48% for those that faced at least
weekly reputational attacks.

A survey respondent wrote: “The attacks have made my job more dangerous. I am on
constant alert. I even tinted the windows of my car more. I live in constant fear of
[being attacked while] doing my job.”

Another commented: “I changed my social habits so as not to be easily spotted by my

likely attackers.” In fact, 46% reported that they increased their physical security at
work or at home to address increased safety risks associated with reputational attacks.

Colombian survey respondents also reported higher levels of certain personal and
professional impacts due to reputational attacks. 60% of respondents said reputation-

86
al attacks have made them feel more vulnerable to potential physical attacks. 50%
of them said that their mental health has been harmed. And a significant proportion
(27%) had at some point left their city, region, or even the country, to reduce risks from
reputational attacks and harassment.

Many respondents (54%) said that they changed or avoided reporting on issues to
avoid attacks, and 29% have seriously considered quitting journalism.

One survey respondent wrote: “I used to publish my weekly columns. I stopped doing
it a year and a half ago because my children already have social networks and I don’t
want them to see how they mistreat their mother and I don’t want them to be mistreat-
ed.”

In their 2022 annual report, FLIP documents a total of 44 online attacks against wom-
en, primarily through social media. One interviewee observed that some hostile actors
appear to believe that “it is easier to intimidate us, [they consider] us weaker — and
even more so if we have children.”

Existing and recommended support

Colombia has become a regional hub for independent organizations that monitor press
freedom and promote the safety of journalists. In addition to FLIP, a group of Colombi-
an media outlets co-founded the Inter American Press Association (SIP in Spanish).25
In response to increasing levels of legal harassment targeting journalists in Colombia
(FLIP & Article 19, 2021), El Veinte, an organization created by lawyers and legal-sup-
port professionals, provides legal support to journalists when politicians or powerful
figures take them to court for their work.26

Journalists reporting from Colombia turned to press freedom organizations for support
at higher rates than other respondents. In our survey responses, 64% of the journal-
ists in Colombia confirmed that they seek support from these organizations compared
to 26% of respondents overall.27 Several survey respondents said that seeking assis-
tance from FLIP was the most effective action they took to protect themselves. Survey
respondents suggested several actions that Colombian journalists can take to address
reputational attacks and threats. One option is to communicate these incidents to the
public to raise awareness and seek support. Another option is to file a formal com-

25. sipiapa.org/contenidos/acerca-de-la-sip.html

26. elveinte.org/que-es-el-veinte

27. This high number is likely to partly be a result of the fact that FLIP shared information about our
survey with their network of journalists, although it was just one of several news outlets and press
freedom organizations to which we announced our survey.

87
plaint with the Police and Public Prosecutor’s Office, which can lead to an investigation
and possible legal action. To put pressure on authorities to act, journalists can seek to
have other media outlets publicize the attacks or threats. Finally, for personal security,
journalists could seek protection from organizations such as the Unidad Nacional de
Protección (National Protection Unit), or UNP.

Organizations such as Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Inter Amer-
ican Press Association, and the International Press Institute, have condemned attacks
against journalists in Colombia. They have also issued a series of recommendations for
journalists and press freedom defenders in the country.

Resources to face legal threats and other issues: El Veinte and FLIP have published
online tools that journalists can access if they encounter legal harassment due to their
reporting (FLIP, 2011). A helpline and a web form are also available to report urgent
cases. El Veinte provides pro bono lawyers for journalists who cannot afford to pay for
their defence and provides them with all the legal tools throughout the case. They also
provide legal copyediting services and psychological support to journalists.

Legal responses for women journalists in Colombia improved in 2022 after a local
court acknowledged that there is a trend of online violence against female journalists
in the country. The court ruled that political parties and leaders who use or allow these
attacks against female journalists may be subject to sanctions and investigations.
Journalists in need of legal support may also consider reaching out to the Legal Net-
work for Journalists at Risk (LNJAR), a network of organizations intended to support
journalists facing legal harassment or targeting related to their work (FLIP, 2023).

Physical protection: The Unidad Nacional de Protección provides protection to indi-

viduals who face risks related to their work, including journalists. The program offers a
range of protection measures for journalists, including bodyguards, armored vehicles,
and panic buttons. The UNP also provides psychological support to journalists who
have been threatened or attacked, and it offers training for journalists to reduce safety
risks.

88
 India 76% identify politicians or officials in power with
the national government as a source
66 respondents (vs. 39% overall)
to survey
52% said hyper-partisan media are a source
Press freedom rank 150 of 180 countries (vs. 47% overall)
(RSF 2022 rankings)
63% experience harm to mental health
56% face weekly reputational attacks (vs. 54% overall)
(vs. 38% overall)
42% changed or avoided reporting on issues due
38% face daily reputational attacks to reputational attacks
(vs. 19% overall) (vs. 40% overall)

Press freedom context

“We used to laugh this off. We didn’t think it would happen here. We thought
it happened in dictatorships, not here in India … The one thing we had was a
free press and a largely impartial judiciary. As journalists we did not fear a
knock on the door. Now we do.”
—SAMAR HAL ARNKAR, EDITOR OF ARTICLE 14, A WEBSITE FOCUSED ON RESEARCH

A N D R E P O R TA G E R E L AT E D T O T H E R U L E O F L A W

Overview
India, often referred to as the ‘world’s largest democracy,’ has a fast-growing media
industry expected to be worth $100 billion by 2030 (Anand, 2022). This economic
growth belies declining press freedom in the country. In 2022, several organizations
united to highlight the declining state of press freedom: “The authorities’ targeting of
journalists, coupled with a broader crackdown on dissent, has emboldened Hindu na-
tionalists to threaten, harass, and abuse journalists critical of the Indian government,
both online and offline, with impunity” (Amnesty International, 2022).

International democracy watch dogs have drawn a connection between shrinking

press freedom and the expanding power of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Freedom House, 2022a). Since Modi was
elected in 2014 there have been an increasing number of arrests and other state
action against journalists. According to the Free Speech Collective, between 2010 and
2020, 154 journalists in India were arrested or faced government hostility for their
work, with over 40% of them coming in 2020 alone (Free Speech Collective, 2020,
pp. 2010–2020). Indian journalists have also faced surveillance by government actors

89
using Pegasus spyware (Srivas & Agarwal, 18 Jul 2021). India’s federal government, the
governing party, and government-friendly media have rejected these reports (Times of
India Staff, 2022), and a senior government official stated they are part of an interna-
tional conspiracy to malign India (PTI, 2023).

Many journalists who participated in our survey28 recognised 2019 as a pivotal year for
press freedom in India as Modi’s party returned to power with an even bigger mandate.
The party has since pursued greater control of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, both
by changing its special constitutional status and by cracking down on dissent. The
press in Jammu and Kashmir has faced police raids, arrests, seizures, and legal restric-
tions including journalists put on ‘no-fly lists’ (Bhasin, 2023). At least 35 journalists in
Kashmir have faced state action since 2019 (Human Rights Watch, 2022).

Beyond Kashmir, many journalists critical of the government or of Hindu nationalism

have faced legal actions, including high-profile journalists Rana Ayyub, and Siddique
Kappan (Perrigo, 2021). These journalists have been targeted by social media mobs
who also pressure their employers to terminate their employment. Scholars have
noted the existence of a “close and interactive relationship between the so-called mob
represented by these citizens and the state” (Bhat & Chadha, 2022).

Reputational attacks led by governing party and supporters

Respondents from India reported high frequencies of reputational attacks overall, with
56% facing at least weekly reputational attacks targeting them as individuals.

76% of respondents identified the national governing party or government as a source

of reputational attacks, followed by hyper-partisan news media (52%), sub-national
ruling parties or governments (36%), civil society groups (36%), and extremist organi-
zations (35%). Extensive research has shown that there is a nexus between the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party at national and state levels, the Hindu nationalist organization
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS (Prime Minister Modi was formerly a senior
RSS member), and those who support the Hindu nationalist agenda (Bhat and Chadha
2022, 2020). Hindu nationalism, as scholars have pointed out, rejects the constitu-
tionally-enshrined secularism of the Indian republic and promotes India as a Hindu

28. Based on 66 completed surveys by journalists in India. 35% identified as women, 61% as men, and
5% preferring not to say. 39% identified as belonging to marginalized racial, ethnic and/or religious
groups. 61% reported they are employed full-time by one organization, and the remainder work free-
lance or part-time. Respondents were most likely to describe themselves as working in print jour-
nalism (61%) or online-only news outlets (31%), with fewer working in TV (20%) or radio (13%). Their
news organizations were national in reach 57%, followed by transnational (24%), regional in India
(16%), or local (3%). We conducted follow-up interviews with five Indian journalists and spoke to three
press freedom advocates.

90
country where Muslims and Christians are ‘outsiders.’ Large sections of the media in
India today have amplified this divisive propaganda, while those that resist it are seen
as enemies.

Journalist and author Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a biographer of India’s prime minister,

said that Modi has long promoted the narrative that journalists critical of the govern-
ment, especially the English-language press, are part of an “unholy alliance between
liberals, communists, dynastic supporters, and enemies of India outside the border, are
all hand-in-glove to destabilize the government, the leader, and thereby the people.”

At the same time, some anti-establishment journalists label others as lapdogs of the
regime, further undermining the credibility of the media.

Impacts of Reputational Attacks

Journalists in India face high levels of legal repression (IPI, 2023). 58% of respondents
(38 of 66) had faced some form of legal repression in their careers, including civil law-
suits (44%) and arrest or criminal actions (39%).

Press freedom advocates we spoke with suggested that the Indian government test-
ed new mechanisms of harassment and legal repression on independent journalists
in Kashmir before deploying them throughout India. Echoing those remarks, a Kash-
mir-based journalist wrote, “If Mr. Modi succeeds in introducing the Kashmir model of
information control to the rest of the country, it won’t be just press freedom that is at
risk, but Indian democracy itself” (Bhasin, 2023).

“The reporters who write for us are often threatened, especially in Kashmir. Once, a
police officer detained our reporter for five hours, intimidated and slapped him. While
he was holding him, he called me and accused us of publishing fake news (the only
problem he could point to was a misidentified building of his headquarters in a photo-
graph) and demanded we change a headline, which we had never done but did for the
first time because our reporter was at risk,” said one of the interviewees.

In the Indian-administered Kashmir region, this same journalist said, cases filed
against journalists are often accompanied by illegal raids on their houses. Journalists’
families have been harassed, too, with phone calls from police and other security forc-
es seeking to intimidate the journalists. “All this has escalated,” he said. “It is unfolding
as we speak.”

Another interviewee, a Dalit journalist, said she had had two Delhi Police Special Cell
officers show up at her home during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, telling her to re-
port to the local police station. “I got a UAPA (India’s anti-terror law) notice that had so

91
many charges written on it,” she said in an interview. The state did not end up charging
her, but she said that the episode has had a chilling effect.

Six respondents had been physically assaulted in the preceding year (four of these re-
ceived at least weekly reputational attacks, two did not). Respondents who reported at
least weekly reputational attacks were more likely to receive online and offline threats
of violence and to face legal repression in the last two years.

63% of respondents reported harm to their mental health, 23% relocated to avoid
risks, and 11% reported harm to their physical health. These figures did not vary sig-
nificantly between journalists, regardless of how frequently their reputations were
attacked. The most common professional impact of reputational attacks was for jour-
nalists to change or reduce reporting on certain issues to avoid attacks (42%) and to
seriously consider quitting journalism (29%).

One respondent said the attacks “made it difficult to interact with and trust people
outside of the profession, in the society.” Another was “cautious in answering phone
calls, responding to abuse or attacks on social media” and kept a close watch on his
loved ones.

A third journalist wrote that his profession has become “more dangerous,” and that
“scores of colleagues have had criminal cases filed against them merely for writing
stories; some are in jail; a few charged under a draconian anti-terrorism law or preven-
tive detention law that makes bail either very difficult (the former) or impossible (the
latter). Others have endured tax raids, been stopped from flying abroad, and been sub-
jected to other harassment. You tend to think the knock on the door will come, sooner
than later.”

How reputational attacks and impacts are related to identity

Identity also formed a basis for reputational attacks. 47% of respondents reported that
they experienced at least monthly reputational attacks targeting their race, ethnicity,
and/or religion.

A 2022 Stimson Center survey of the Indian public found that the majority expressed
anti-Muslim sentiments — and that these sentiments were more common among Modi’s
supporters(Clary et al., 2022). Reports suggest Muslim journalists critical of the prime
minister or the BJP government are often branded as anti-national, anti-Hindu, or
anti-India (Ghosh, 2022).

Terms like “sickular” (to suggest that secular people are sick) and “presstitute” (a play
on the word prostitute) have been used against journalists critical of the government.

92
Dalit journalists also face caste-based abuse and are derided for being beneficiaries of
affirmative action. In some cases, women journalists critical of the government re-
ported receiving rape threats or being stalked (The Wire Staff, 2021), or finding their
images used in pornographic deepfake videos (Ayyub, 2018). The recent high-profile
cases of Rana Ayyub and Mohammed Zubair — Muslim journalists who have faced legal
charges in addition to years of online smear campaigns — illustrate how reputational
attacks can be linked to legal repression (Lakshman, 2022; Majumder, 2022b).

“Muslim journalists have a tougher time than non-Muslim. Most of the people eventu-
ally convicted tend to be Muslim. And Dalits,” said an Indian journalist whose organiza-
tion has documented the pervasiveness of this discrimination in legal and reputational
attacks.

While survey respondents in India were less likely to report reputational attacks target-
ing their gender (20% faced such claims at least monthly) than respondents overall,
our interviewees and other research sources suggest gender is often a factor.

Existing and recommended support

Most of our participants said that the existing support mechanisms at the organization
level are inadequate, so they did not seek their help. Nearly 40% said they took no ac-
tion against online reputational attacks, while 31% said they reached out to a colleague
or supervisor for help. 29% confided in their friends or family.

Those seeking institutional support reached out to external organizations, such as a

press freedom or civil society organizations (22%) or the police or other official au-
thorities (14%). 11% pursued legal action. 15% of respondents said they sought medical
or psychological help.

Freelance journalists in particular lack institutional support, said several survey re-
spondents. As freelancer Uday Rana put it, despite “remarkable” independent journal-
ism in India, there “isn’t a lot of institutional strength to back it up.”

Even journalists affiliated with big media outlets lack institutional support, particularly
when they face legal actions on top of reputational attacks. “There is no legal protec-
tion,” says Harish Pullanoor, India editor for Quartz. He says that while journalists in the
United States are protected by the First Amendment, “there is nothing in India. Once
the government decides to [take legal action against] you, you’re on your own.”

In scenarios like these, journalists may prefer not to report online harassment or cy-
berbullying, even when they have organizational backing. Another journalist said he
stopped posting his views on Twitter due to Hindutva trolls, and “searched and deleted

93
tweets and [Facebook] posts which had the word Modi or BJP” to avoid trouble. Repu-
tational attacks and the lack of institutional support are pushing many journalists away
from the profession. “It is discouraging to journalists who are already working under
hostile conditions and are overworked and underpaid,” said one survey respondent.

The CPJ, in partnership with TrustLaw, have created a “Know Your Rights Guide” for
Indian journalists to help them understand their rights when faced with police harass-
ment, legal threats, or arrest (CPJ & TrustLaw, 2023).

94
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Project credits
LEAD AUTHOR AND RESEARCHER PROJECT SUPERVISION

Chris Tenove is a Research Associate at the Global

P R I N C I P A L I N V E S T I G AT O R
Reporting Centre and at the School of Public Policy &
Global Affairs, and the Interim Director of the Centre for Peter Klein
the Study of Democratic Institutions, the University of C O - I N V E S T I G AT O R
British Columbia (UBC). Ahmed Al-Rawi

CO-AUTHORS AND RESEARCHERS

REPORT DEVELOPMENT
Ahmed Al-Rawi is an Associate Professor of News, So-
cial Media, and Public Communication at the School of I L L U S T R AT O R
Communication at Simon Fraser University, and Direc- Kathleen Fu
tor of The Disinformation Project.
FEEDBACK ON DRAF TS
Juan Merchan has a Master of Journalism from UBC. He Elizabeth Dubois and Ori Tenenboim
has worked as a journalist covering public service and
EXTERNAL REVIEWER
arts in Colombia and Canada.
Thorsten Quandt
Manimugdha S. Sharma is a Killam Doctoral Scholar
R E P O R T FA C T C H E C K
in History at UBC, a journalist on sabbatical, and an
Rithika Shenoy
author.
L E A D R E P O R T E D I T O R , D E S I G N E R , A N D D ATA V I Z
Gustavo Villela is a Honduran researcher with a Master Andrew Munroe
of Public Policy and Global Affairs from UBC.
EXECUTIVE EDITORS

Andrea Crossan and Britney Dennison

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Letícia Loureiro has a bachelor’s degree in internation- PROJECT SUPPORT FROM THE GLOBAL
al relations from Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de REPORTING CENTRE

Janeiro and a master’s degree in international studies

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
from Simon Fraser University.
Christine Brandt and Andrew Munroe

FUNDRAISING AND DEVELOPMENT

A D D I T I O N A L R E S E A R C H A S S I S TA N C E

Lucas Vidigal and Amelia Williams Christine Brandt and Andrea Zeelie-Varga

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

Michelle Meiklejohn and Emma Arkell

A D D I T I O N A L C O O R D I N AT I O N

Rithika Shenoy and Sharon Nadeem

T R A N S L AT I O N

Letícia Loureiro, Juan Merchan, and Gustavo Villela

Special thanks
The authors are grateful for the in-depth feedback from University of Ottawa Associate
Professor Elizabeth Dubois, UBC Assistant Professor Ori Tenenboim, and University of
Münster Professor Thorsten Quandt. We are also grateful to Kamal Al-Solaylee, Direc-
tor of the UBC School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, for his review.

We wish to thank the many individuals at the Committee to Protect Journalists who
provided feedback on the survey and report, and helped promote our global survey
and project findings. Special thanks to Andrés Fernandez Carrasco at CPJ for facilitat-
ing this collaboration. Thanks, also, to PEN Canada for their feedback and encourage-
ment throughout the project.

And lastly, thanks to everyone who gave their time to share their valuable insights and
talk openly about their experiences.

The lead report author remains responsible for any errors or omissions.
globalreportingcentre.org

jwam.ubc.ca