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Online Harassment

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Fact-checkers are often at risk of online harassment, which ranges from nasty comments to severe bullying to explicit sexual and death threats via email, social media and text messages. They might face organized attacks from state-sponsored trolls, people paid to post inflammatory or aggressive comments online; other organized groups; or simply the general public. The trolling can be particularly intense during election periods, when fact-checkers work to counter misinformation and disinformation. As trainer Naseem Miller has explored in The Journalist’s Resource, newsrooms have often struggled to find the right response or not done enough to protect their staff from this abuse.

“Political actors often use narratives about censorship to undermine the trustworthiness of fact-checkers… in some cases, there are also narratives labelling fact-checkers as foreign agents or claiming they are paid by figures such as George Soros.” – I Never Put my Name on a Door Bell, a report by Faktograf and the International Press Institute.

At particular risk of online harassment are women, people of color, ethnic minorities and people from LGBTQ+ communities, all of whom are more likely to face violence and abuse in offline spaces as well. The prevalence of online harassment, and the fear and anxiety that come with it, is prompting some professionals to leave social media or even quit their jobs.

“When journalists suffer online abuse, they write less, they struggle to concentrate, they think a lot more before posting a comment, and they feel their reputation and their life are at stake,” psychologists Ana María Zellhuber and Juan Carlos Segarra write in this guide from the International Women’s Media Foundation.

There is always the fear that online violence can escalate into offline attacks as in the case of Croatian fact-check journalist and documentary filmmaker Melita Vrsaljko of Faktograf, who said she was physically attacked while documenting illegal anti-environmental practices. 

Fact-checkers often feel a conflict between the pressure to build an online community and brand, and the need to protect online safety: “I do share pictures of food and exercise, but that’s as personal as I get,” one fact-checker said during the Mental Health Leadership for Fact-Checkers Program. Sometimes, fact-checkers and their managers have to accept that online abuse and potential trauma are the unavoidable price they pay for their jobs.

Please note that online harassment is a complex phenomenon that can have a devastating toll on fact-checkers’ emotional wellbeing, and this guide is focused on some of the mental health effects and warning signs. What’s crucial is approaching work with open eyes and preparing a plan of action for supporting yourself and your colleagues before an event occurs. At the bottom of this guide, we link to many resources for developing action plans and general safety plans.

RESEARCH

Did you know?

Fact-checkers are being increasingly targeted by hostile actions to prevent them from doing their jobs effectively, according to a survey by the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), which showed that 66% of respondents, including academics, fact-checkers and journalists, said they had been victim to incidents like online harassment, intimidation, physical threats or harm and doxing (publishing private or identifying information about an individual online).

A 2020 survey of U.S. journalists showed that nearly all journalists experience at least some online harassment but that such harassment is generally infrequent overall and especially in its most severe forms. Nevertheless, online harassment against journalists disproportionately affects women (particularly young women) and those who are more personally visible in the news. 

A UNESCO-ICFJ global survey in 2021 showed that 73% of the women journalists surveyed reported having faced online violence while doing their job. They are often targeted in coordinated misogynistic attacks. Of those, 26% said online abuse caused them mental health issues and 12% sought medical assistance.

A survey in 2023, conducted by Faktograf in cooperation with Tijana Cvjetićanin from the Zašto ne (Why not?) association, showed that 90% of fact-checking organisations in Europe experienced smear campaigns and online abuse from politicians, government officials, media pundits, and public figures. Out of 41 fact-checking outlets that participated in the survey, 70% that experienced online harassment were subjected to campaigns which include prolonged and/or coordinated behaviour such as stalking, smear campaigns, hate speech, “doxing” or gender-based violence, among others.

Get to know more about the different types of online abuse in this PEN America Glossary of Terms.

TIPS FOR INDIVIDUALS

Preparation: PEN America advises a three-pronged approach for dealing with online harassment:

  • 1
    PREPARE:
  • Tighten your digital security
  • Manage your privacy online
  • Find support
  • 2
    RESPOND:
  • Document online harassment (you can delegate this step to a colleague as a way to take care of yourself)
  • Block and mute
  • Report abuse to platforms
  • Find support
  • Decide whether to practice counterspeech. You can fight back and write back – or choose not to engage.

Breathing and mindfulness: The International Women’s Media Foundation recommends breathing exercises or mindfulness to help you cope with stress, anxiety and insomnia.

Seek support: Speaking to others about online abuse can be helpful. This guide from the Thomson Reuters Foundation suggests you can reach out to your editor or newsroom manager, colleagues, peer support networks, as well as family and friends, who might also be targeted by trolls. Here are some steps for talking to your professional contacts. It can also help to seek support from mental health professionals.

Acceptance and values: Sometimes, particularly in countries where there is little prospect of a response from social media platforms or prosecution from the authorities, reporting online harassment or trying to fight back may not be the best course of action. Instead, some participants in our workshops have adopted a different strategy, namely, trying to accept that external behaviors may currently be outside their control and focusing more on self-care and community support. It also helps to affirm your values and remind yourself why you became a fact-checker or a journalist. 

Finding Your Zone of Control

Fact-checkers must bear witness to issues and challenges far outside their zone of control while also managing their own work in the newsroom and their personal lives. One exercise that can help with acceptance is to work out what you can control or influence and focus on concrete actions, rather than ruminating on things you are powerless to change.

TIPS FOR MANAGERS

Online abuse is often seen as an occupational hazard for journalists and fact-checkers, but as trolls have become more organized and vicious, responding has become a matter of media freedom. The European Fact-Checking Standards Network recommends that organizations “put in place measures that aim to address the risk of trauma or harassment experienced by staff as a result of the operation’s activities, including but not limited to providing training to prevent and identify symptoms.” Newsrooms should also protect their freelancers, and IWMF offers guidance on how to do that.

Here are some steps organizations can take to protect their reporters’ mental health:

  • Use safety assessment procedures to decide whether a story is worth the risk and ensure you have practices for safety. Know your trolls: are they local, global, campaign-specific? Do they follow any patterns? Are your systems blocking as much abuse as possible?
  • Develop clear guidelines on how staff use social media and share personal data and protocols of response if an attack occurs.

See some examples from these newsrooms: The Seattle Times and Cicero Independiente.

  • Communicate what support is available to staff who suffer abuse, including any peer support networks and legal support when necessary. Staff should know that their newsroom has their back. If you decide to engage publicly, consider a public statement of support, especially if coming from the media outlet directly.
  • If a colleague is under attack, help them to get off the platform and shut down the account: don’t engage with trolls. The International Press Institute (IPI) recommends that, if possible, the person being targeted should not be the point-person in dealing with the attacks. Try to take care of your co-workers and share the burden.
  • Reach out to the fact-checking community and keep them informed.

MENTAL HEALTH IN ACTION

Blanka Zöldi
Lakmusz (Hungary)
Editor-in-Chief

My organization has adopted new harassment protocols that include a communications procedure so team members can inform managers if they need legal or psychological support.

Katarina Subasic
AFP
Editor

I was able quickly to determine steps and react adequately to help a team member who faced online harassment by a social media user whose claim had been fact-checked. I expressed support, reassured the journalist that the company has their back and provided instructions to help them respond. I also checked on them later to follow up and make sure the journalist is doing all right. As a result, the journalist felt safe and secure so the incident left no psychological impact.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Coalition Against Online Violence Response Hub

This is the main resource hub on online abuse and harassment. You can find concrete actions to take if you are a victim, a newsroom or a colleague who wants to offer support. It also provides information on how and whom to ask for emergency assistance.

Fact-checkers around the world share their experiences with harassment (Poynter)

A Poynter article about a meeting of signatories to the International Fact-Checking Network in 2022 on the issue of harassment of fact-checkers.

Online Harassment and Mental Health

A Mental Health Guide for Journalists Facing Online Violence (IWMF)

A comprehensive guide for journalists facing online violence from the International Women’s Media Foundation, including a mental health self-evaluation chart and downloadable exercises. This is  also available in Spanish, Farsi and Arabic.

“Coping with the emotional impact” video series (International Press Institute and Dart Center Europe)

This six-part video series explains in-depth the potential emotional impact of online abuse and harassment on targeted journalists, including basic measures that reporters and moderators can adopt in dealing with hostile voices online and what managers can do to safeguard their teams.

Psychological safety: Online harassment and how to protect your mental health (International Press Institute and Dart Center Europe)

This article covers solutions to take care of your emotional wellness right after receiving an online attack, along with how to prepare in advance.

You feel like shit: Interactive self-care guide (Jace Harr)

This interactive flowchart helps people who struggle with self care and/or reading internal signals to identify what is happening to them. It also offers suggestions on actions that may make you feel better.

Other Practical Guides and Resources

Online Harassment Field Manual and The Power of Peer Support (PEN America)

These two guides offer in-depth resources for developing a response plan for online harassment, along with research and recommendations on how peer support can help mitigate the emotional harm of online abuse. 

A Guide to Protecting Newsrooms and Journalists Against Online Violence (IWMF)

This guide details policies, best practices and case studies newsrooms can implement to better protect staff members and freelancers who are targeted by online abuse. It has templates to use on topics such as doing a risk assessment or creating an escalation policy. This is also available in Spanish.

OnTheLine (IPI)

This project systematically monitors online harassment against media professionals and analyzes the patterns these attacks take. It includes:

  • A protocol that outlines a four-step framework that newsrooms can take to more effectively protect targeted journalists from the professional and emotional impact of online abuse, available in eight languages (English, French, Portuguese, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Turkish and Swahili).
  • A database of online threats.
  • A series of video tutorials on legal remedies for online harassment and coping with the emotional impact.
  • Research on the topic, such as this report on newsroom best practices in five European countries.

Protecting journalists from online abuse: a guide for newsrooms (Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism)

Guidelines for newsrooms from Gideon Sarpong, director of policy and news at iWatch Africa, for a more resilient response to online abuse.

 Safety Of Journalists (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

A suite of resources from the Thomson Reuters Foundation – in collaboration with UNESCO, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and the International News Safety Institute (INSI) – for journalists, media managers and newsrooms to strengthen responses to online and offline abuse.

Safety Kit (Committee to Protect Journalists)

A four-part guide including basic safety information on physical, digital and psychological safety resources and tools.

Online Courses and Videos

Online Harassment: Strategies for Journalists’ Defense (Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas)

In this course, done in partnership with IWMF, you will learn about online privacy and how to better protect yourself while working as a journalist. You’ll also learn about the global context of online harassment and hear from female journalists who will speak about the strategies they’ve used to deal with it.

Digital security training for activists and journalists (Totem)

This series of online courses for journalists and activists focuses on topics such as digital security, psycho-social first aid, knowing your trolls, securing your online data and protecting against doxing. They are available in several languages beyond English.

Online Violence Response Hub Trainings (Coalition Against Online Violence)

Ready to level up your skills in a training environment? This website details a range of options on topics like privacy, digital safety and knowing your trolls.

The Self-Investigation Academy

Videos from the Mental Health in Journalism Summit:

  • Online Abuse Self-Defense: Don’t Forget Psychosocial Support by Jeje Mohamed, Susan McGregor and Kate Porterfield.
  • Decoding Online Harassment: An Analytical Approach to Tackling Online Hate and Smear Campaigns by Javier Luque.

CREDITS

This guide was developed collaboratively by The Self-Investigation team, based on trainings led by Naseem Miller and Juan Carlos Segarra. The Mental Health Toolkit for Fact-Checkers was developed with generous support from the International Fact-Checking Network.

  • Authors: Emma Thomasson
  • Contributors: Natalia Martín Cantero, Naseem Miller
  • Spanish Translation: Natalia Martín Cantero
  • Editors: A.X. Mina, Mar Cabra
  • Design: Paula Montañà Tor, Mariam Mamdouh
  • Illustrations: Diana Cuéllar

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