“Not Their Fault, but Their Problem”: Organizational Responses to the Online Harassment of Journalists

Disconnection: How Measured Separations From Journalistic Norms and Labor Can Help Sustain Journalism

“…The paradox also extends to source interactions, as journalists are asked to follow sources on social media to gather information while being cautioned to do so in a "balanced" way to avoid the appearance of taking sides. In the face of such tensions, and lacking clear policies or systemic approaches, journalists adopt various forms of coping strategies (Holton et al, 2021).…”

“…Despite institutional pressures to blend their personal and professional social media and to “live online,” journalists have reported heightened levels of online harassment, longer hours and low remuneration which have led to exhaustion, burnout or journalists leaving the profession altogether, and especially among women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ); and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities who may be leaving the pro altogether (MacDonald et al, 2016). This drawback may come to fruition with even fuller force if journalists continue to experience greater demands on their mental, emotional, and physical well-being (Holton et al, 2021). A critical intervention must be made into the systemic and cultural issues that are fueling the exhaustion and burnout of journalists.…”

An Intersectional Analysis of U.S. Journalists’ Experiences With Hostile Sources

“…Editors should consider requests for help and acknowledge that, as people working safely from their office instead of in the field, they may not understand the hostility their reporters are facing. Leaving individual reporters to manage hostility on their own adds an additional burden to their workload (Holton et al, 2021) and that burden disproportionately affects women journalists and men and women journalists of color. Furthermore, as the majority of newsroom leaders are White and/or men 11 (Andi et al, 2020; News Leaders Association, 2019) who are more distanced from hostility, empathy becomes paramount.…”

“…This is consistent with others' findings and recommendations. Although focusing specifically on online harassment, Holton et al (2021) found journalists perceived a lack of support and systemic efforts from newsroom leaders to prevent and cope with harassment. Editors should consider requests for help and acknowledge that, as people working safely from their office instead of in the field, they may not understand the hostility their reporters are facing.…”

“…Research on hostility and harassment often focuses on gendered or racial hostility stemming from within the newsroom (Elmore, 2009; Jenkins & Finneman, 2018; North, 2009, 2015, 2016; Pritchard & Stonbely, 2007; Tropic & Bruegmann, 2020) or on the online harassment of women journalists from news audiences (Adams, 2018; Chen et al, 2020; Gardiner, 2018; Posetti et al, 2020). Regardless of gender, scholars have found that the online harassment of journalists is pervasive, both in comment sections of news articles (Gardiner, 2018) and on social media (Holton et al, 2021; Posetti et al, 2020) from news audiences. In recent studies looking at both online and offline harassment, Miller (2021b, 2022) looked at harassment from people outside the journalistic process, such as news consumers or random strangers that the journalists encountered in public but not people the journalists were interviewing for news stories.…”