Open Forum #58 Safety of journalists online

Summary

This open forum focused on the safety of journalists online, featuring panelists from various regions discussing challenges and potential solutions. The discussion highlighted that journalists worldwide face similar issues, including online harassment, threats, surveillance, and censorship. These problems are particularly acute for women journalists and those from marginalized communities.

Panelists emphasized the need for multi-stakeholder approaches to protect journalists. Key suggestions included implementing stronger legal frameworks, improving platform accountability, providing support systems for victims, and enhancing international collaboration. The importance of digital literacy and ethical reporting was also stressed.

The discussion touched on the evolving definition of journalism in the digital age, with debates around including citizen journalists and content creators in protection measures. Panelists highlighted the role of media organizations in supporting their journalists and the need for better implementation of existing laws.

Positive developments were noted, such as the Council of Europe’s campaign on journalist safety and Switzerland’s National Action Plan. However, participants agreed that more work is needed to raise awareness about the importance of free press in democracies.

The forum concluded with calls for increased trust among stakeholders, better implementation of existing laws, and greater responsibility from tech companies in addressing online attacks against journalists. Overall, the discussion underscored the ongoing challenges in ensuring journalist safety online and the need for continued collaborative efforts to address these issues.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The increasing threats and harassment faced by journalists online, including gender-based targeting

– The need for better legal protections, implementation of existing laws, and accountability for platforms

– The importance of support systems, training, and resources for journalists facing online attacks

– The role of media organizations in protecting their journalists and promoting ethical reporting

– Defining who qualifies as a journalist in the digital age and whether influencers/citizen journalists should be included

The overall purpose of the discussion was to examine the challenges facing journalists’ safety online and explore potential solutions and ways forward to better protect press freedom and journalists’ ability to do their work.

The tone of the discussion was initially somber when describing the serious threats journalists face, but became more constructive and hopeful as participants shared ideas for solutions and positive initiatives already underway. By the end, there was an emphasis on messages of hope and calls to action for various stakeholders to play their part in improving the situation.

Speakers

– Isabelle Lois: Works for the Swiss Federal Office of Communications on safety of journalists

– Bruna Martins dos Santos: Member of Brazilian Civil Society and MAG member

– Giulia Lucchese: Former secretary of Council of Europe expert committees, currently secretary of expert committee on generative AI and co-secretary of steering committee on media and information society

– Gulalai Khan: Policy communication governance and gender practitioner, teaches internet governance and technology policy at Lahore University of Management Sciences, founder of Pakistan Professional Woman Forum

Additional speakers:

– Jorge Cancio: Online moderator

– Audience member from Tanzania

– Dr. Nermeen Saleem: Audience member, Secretary General of Creators Union of Arab

– Alexander Savnin: Audience member, opposition politician from Russia

– Audience member, senior legal advisor with SEAD Foundation from Iraq

– Jolenta Rose Afanwi: Audience member, journalist from Cameroon Radio and Television

Safety of Journalists Online: Challenges and Solutions

This open forum brought together experts from various regions to discuss the pressing issue of journalists’ safety online. The panel featured Isabelle Lois from the Swiss Federal Office of Communications, Bruna Martins dos Santos from Brazilian Civil Society, Giulia Lucchese, former secretary of Council of Europe expert committees, and Gulalai Khan, a policy communication governance and gender practitioner from Pakistan. The discussion highlighted the global nature of threats faced by journalists and explored potential solutions to protect press freedom in the digital age.

Current Challenges Facing Journalists Online

The panellists unanimously agreed that online harassment of journalists is a widespread and growing problem. Giulia Lucchese emphasised that journalists face routine tracking, harassment, and threats online, with women journalists being especially targeted based on their gender. This sentiment was echoed by Bruna Martins dos Santos, who highlighted the extensive harassment campaigns faced by journalists on social media in Brazil, particularly those reporting on corruption and elections. She provided specific examples, mentioning journalists like Patrícia Campos Melo, Vera Magalhães, and Juliana Daupiva who have faced severe online attacks.

Gulalai Khan provided insight into the evolving landscape of journalism in Pakistan, noting that digital and online journalists played a key role in reporting on the country’s recent election. This shift towards digital journalism has brought new challenges, as traditional media outlets were perceived as less objective, leading to a loss of trust among the public. Khan also highlighted the unique challenges faced by small, independent digital media platforms, which often lack the resources to adequately protect their journalists.

The discussion also touched on the psychological impacts of online harassment on journalists, an issue that remains largely unaddressed. An audience member from Tanzania, Asha, pointed out that many media houses fail to recognise online harassment as a significant challenge, leaving journalists without adequate support.

Potential Solutions and Initiatives

The panellists shared several initiatives and potential solutions to improve the safety of journalists online:

1. Council of Europe Campaign: Giulia Lucchese detailed the Council of Europe’s Europe-wide campaign on the safety of journalists, which is based on four pillars: prevention, protection, prosecution, and promotion of information. The campaign has made significant progress, with 39 appointed national focal points, 23 national committees, and 8 countries implementing national action plans.

2. Swiss National Action Plan: Isabelle Lois presented Switzerland’s National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists, which includes nine specific measures and four main wishes. The plan focuses on areas such as improving legal protections, enhancing dialogue between stakeholders, and raising public awareness about the importance of press freedom.

3. Platform Accountability: Bruna Martins dos Santos stressed the need for stronger accountability mechanisms for social media platforms, which often serve as the primary venues for harassment campaigns.

4. Legal Protections and Implementation: While many countries have laws protecting journalists, the panellists agreed that better implementation of these existing laws is crucial. Gulalai Khan mentioned Pakistan’s Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act 2021 as an example of legal frameworks that exist but require better implementation.

5. Support Systems: The importance of comprehensive support systems for journalists facing harassment was underscored by both Bruna Martins dos Santos and Gulalai Khan. This includes legal protections, organisational backing, and psychological support.

6. Digital Literacy Education: Gulalai Khan emphasised the importance of digital literacy education and curriculum changes to promote responsible online behaviour, potentially reducing instances of harassment.

Role of Different Stakeholders

The discussion highlighted the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to protect journalists effectively:

1. Media Organisations: Gulalai Khan stressed that media organisations should better support their journalists facing online harassment.

2. International Bodies: Bruna Martins dos Santos noted the importance of international collaboration and pressure from bodies like UNESCO, CPJ, and the Inter-American Commission.

3. Human Rights Organisations: The role of human rights organisations in documenting attacks on journalists was highlighted by Bruna Martins dos Santos.

4. Tech Companies: The crucial role of social media companies in addressing online harassment was emphasised, with calls for stronger mechanisms to prevent and respond to abuse targeting journalists.

5. Governments: The need for governmental action, including the implementation of national action plans and better enforcement of existing laws, was a recurring theme.

Emerging Challenges and Debates

The discussion also touched on several emerging challenges and debates in the field of online journalism:

1. Definition of Journalism: There was debate around who qualifies as a journalist in the digital age. Alexander Savnin, an audience member from Russia, questioned the selective protection of journalists, arguing that in less democratic regimes, the definition of a journalist becomes blurred.

2. Role of Influencers: Bruna Martins dos Santos highlighted the dual role of influencers in both perpetrating and combating online attacks, adding complexity to the media landscape.

3. Content Protection: An audience member suggested creating online repositories hosted in Europe for journalists to securely store their work, particularly in countries lacking proper legal frameworks for intellectual property protection.

4. Ethical Reporting: Adnan, an audience member from Iraq, emphasised the need for ethical reporting guidelines, particularly for sensitive topics or vulnerable individuals.

5. Technological Challenges: Giulia Lucchese noted the Council of Europe’s work on AI, including the framework convention on AI and the ongoing examination of generative AI implications for freedom of expression.

6. Psychological Impact: Jolenta Rose Afanwi from Cameroon suggested implementing checkup mechanisms to follow up on the psychological effects of online bullying on journalists.

Conclusion

The discussion underscored the ongoing challenges in ensuring journalist safety online and the need for continued collaborative efforts to address these issues. While positive initiatives like the Council of Europe’s campaign and Switzerland’s National Action Plan offer hope, the panellists agreed that more work is needed to raise awareness about the importance of a free press in democracies. Isabelle Lois mentioned a recent study in Switzerland that showed strong public support for the importance of a free and independent press for democracy.

The forum concluded with calls for increased trust among stakeholders, better implementation of existing laws, and greater responsibility from tech companies in addressing online attacks against journalists. Each panelist offered closing statements that provided a hopeful message for the future of journalist safety online, emphasising the importance of continued collaboration and innovation in addressing these challenges. As the media landscape continues to evolve, protecting journalists’ safety online remains a critical challenge requiring ongoing attention and innovative solutions from all sectors of society.

Isabelle Lois: So thank you all for attending this open forum on safety of journalists online. My name is Isabelle Lewis, and I work for the Swiss Federal Office of Communications. And one of the topics that I work on is the safety of journalists. And we wanted to take the opportunity here at the IGF to exchange on this important topic with the woman present in the room as my panelists and Jorge here, my colleague as well. Let me take a minute to introduce my panel. So we have Bruna on my right side. She is a member of the Brazilian Civil Society. And she’s also a MAG member. And we have on the other side of the room, Gulalai Khan, who is a policy communication governance and gender practitioner. And she teaches internet governance and technology policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, which is Pakistan’s first consolidated university level course on the topic. She’s also the founder of Pakistan Professional Woman Forum, which provides mentorship and networking opportunities for professional women in Pakistan. including female journalists. So very relevant for the topic today. And last but certainly not least, we have online Giulia Lucese. She’s the former secretary of the expert committee who was tasked to draft the Council of Europe’s recommendation on countering the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation, and as well the recommendation on combating hate speech. She is currently acting as the secretary of the expert committee on generative AI, implications on freedom of expression, MSI AI, and co-secretary of the steering committee on media and information society, running a Europe-wide campaign for the safety of journalists. So very much an expert on the topic. Welcome to you all. So this session is a moment for us to reflect on the importance of journalism and to share our views on how we can ensure that it can continue to do its important work, especially online. I believe that journalism and media is the fourth pillar of democracies. It helps to keep the public informed and aware of anything important that is happening in our societies. And 2024 has been a very important year on this part. It has been a super election year, as we would call it, with nearly half of the world population voting in their respective countries. And a free press is indispensable in any democracy because it is acting as a watchdog to ensure transparency, accountability, and informed decision-makings. But we have seen more and more problems for journalists with increasingly they’re facing online harassment, threats, surveillance, censorships, and more problems in this sense. So this is a bit the context on which we have planned the session today. It is divided in three parts. So we’re going to start by discussing a bit the problem. And then we’re going to address the potential solutions and a way forward. And then I hope we can have discussions with the people in the room. As you can see, we have an all-female panel. But we have our online moderator, Jorge, who is here to try to balance the gender quota. And so I think, I would hope that we can also take this opportunity to link the gender perspective on these issues. I think it is a very important point to take up. So I hope we can include that. On the technical side, is it possible for maybe us to also be on video for our panelists online? That she can see the room, if it’s possible. Could you please take care of that? I will start with my questions. And my first question is to you, Julia. You have a lot of knowledge with the work you’ve done for the Council of Europe and at the Council of Europe. Could you share some of your perspective on the most pressing issues concerning the safety of journalists online at this moment?

Giulia Lucchese: Yes, good morning, everyone. Can you hear me well? Yes, we can hear you. I do see a little of the room small in the screen. And I’m so sad that I cannot join you in person today. But thank you very much for inviting me on behalf of the Council of Europe. I will be providing an overview of what the organization is working on. And then to start, you did ask me which are the most topical issues at the moment when it comes to the safety of journalists. And I think a very good overview is currently provided by the annual report of the Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists. But also from the report on trends in freedom of expression in the Council of Europe member states. Both were published very recently. And very worrisome data do provide this panorama where actually journalists are routinely tracked, harassed and threatened online. and somehow these threats have even been considered some sort of a new normal. So we have some very old kind of threats and issues that actually go hand in hand with even new phenomenon and amongst these I will mention the strategic lawsuits against public participation that we see very well distributed in European member states. These incidents are so common that in several locations they are not even reported which is not just an issue for the journalists but also for the audience, the public at large which risks not being informed, not having access to the information of public interest that it has a right to get to know. And in this scenario women journalists appear to be especially targeted online because of their work but on the basis of their gender. Of course such threats have increasingly a very well an evident chilling effect which causes significant psychological harm but also potentially leads journalists to some sort of a self-censorship. Another issue is that what we have seen is that journalists are also facing including online verbal abuse and smear campaigns by politicians and such attempts by figures in power, figures holding an authority undermine the credibility of journalists themselves, then suffer at least in several countries from low levels of public trust. And in this climate of growing mistrust towards the journalists what happens is then a cycle where the distrust arises and the journalist can even be targeted by physical attacks and very often also online attacks and we have seen these for example. for example, from far-right or far-left groups. Now, I will not get to solutions. I know that you will present the Swiss National Action Plan, but what I want to say is that we are already seeing a change at member states’ level that I hope we will address then later in our conversation.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much, Giulia. And yes, I hope that we will be able to address that change in our session, how it continues. And thank you for making us a bit aware of the scene and the most pressing issues. I know that you have more of a European perspective, but I guess these issues are reflected elsewhere. And in that sense, I wanted to turn to you, Gulalai, if you could share maybe a bit of your main points that you see in South Asia, or especially in Pakistan, concerning the safety issues for journalists online. I know that you had an election this year, so maybe you could have some insights on that as well.

Gulalai Khan: Yes, so thank you, Isabel, and thank you for your office for arranging this very important session. I was not very surprised when I heard Julia saying all these things about Europe, because I think it’s across the world, especially with the new media coming in, journalism is under threat, journalists are attacked, and online spaces are becoming very toxic for all professionals, especially journalists. When you talk about elections, yes, this has been a super election, a super election year, and we saw a similar election happening in Pakistan also. But there is a slight shift from how it was reported this time. So most of the traditional media, the trusted big names, they were either on one side or the other. So the objectivity for traditional media was lost, which also meant the trust in them was lost. So digital and online journalists, or online even citizen journalists, were the main… content creators, as I would say, for this election. That’s another story that on the election day, the internet went down and people could not connect, but most of the stories coming out on election day of how well or not well the election went was on online spaces. But the threats remain. Threats on how much you can say, what do you say, and then what are the repercussions for journalists online, especially in a very, very highly polarized society like ours, it was very common that even journalists on online spaces were taking their own sides because either due to safety or some other reasons, which again, it comes down to the fact that then people start asking, who do we trust? Who do we trust for factual news sources? And that has become quite a big issue in a country like ours where the government is struggling with big misinformation and disinformation campaigns, hate speech, a society which is highly polarized. So there is a control that needs to be, or is supported because there has to be legislation on hate speech and all, and there’s an other side where the freedom of expression and people know what’s happening. So this has been one of the biggest challenges this year for us, but I just want to go back a little to 2021, where Pakistan made history by passing two very pivotal rules to support and protect journalists. One was the same protection of journalists and the other was Media Protection Act to 2021. These were legislations which the National Assembly passed and these were approved. The only thing that lacks is, and I talked about right to privacy, right to protection for journalists, even right to sources and protection against harassment. But again, as with all laws and policies, we saw that the implementation has been slow, either due to the lack of resources or other challenges. So this is an area that I think in the. and nationally, everybody has to work together on. Sometimes you have the best laws, but then they’re not implemented. We’re still waiting for a commission for the safety of journalists to be set up. So that’s one of the areas. And one point, Isabel, if you allow me, I know the time is limited, but I really want to talk about this new age journalism, which is now being practiced by small media houses and small independent sources where the digital platforms becoming newsworthy and also the main sources of news for people or the public. And these digital platforms have challenges with financing. They have challenges with also sometimes harassment and content creation, because they don’t have as big as robust teams, but they are doing some incredible work. And that is the kind of work that needs to be promoted because they are not just keeping journalism alive. They’re also keeping the hope alive that our online spaces can be used for constructive purposes. So for right now, this, and then we come to solutions later on.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much for also adding a positive spin at the end of this, because I know it can be sometimes a bit depressing when we’re focusing on the issues that we are facing and on the problems that we have. And now I will turn to another region of the world, and I’m happy to have Bruna here who can maybe tell us a bit about the pressing issues in Brazil or in Latin America as a whole. And I’ve heard that there have been some cases of gender-specific targeting or harassment for journalists. Do you think that this is a trend or isolated cases? I would love to hear a bit your opinion on this. Now it’s working.

Bruna Martins dos Santos: Thanks. Thanks for the invite. And thanks also to the Swiss government for organizing this open forum, which I think is one of the very few sessions about human rights on the IGF agenda this year. And I think I’ve been saying this for a couple of years, it’s rather sad that we don’t promote. more and more debates on these topics, as the IGF should be the core space for also discussing human rights aspects. So I will focus a little bit on both places, like Brazil and the region too, but I would like to maybe start by saying that it’s the same, like none of what both Julia and Gulalai said are actually new to us, right? The trends, they repeat themselves, the trends are very much similar between the countries, and it’s really indeed a global trend that journalists, actually no, harassment campaigns have been facilitated in order to shut down journalists, and especially the ones responsible for reporting topics such as corruption, elections, and some of the most urgent or the most divisive topics in this space. When I look to Brazil, I’m happy to come from a country where the rights for a free press is in the constitution, it’s enshrined in the constitution, and we also have a rather positive and progressive legal framework that’s very prone to trying to facilitate and convene a free press and the journalism profession in general, but when I was preparing for this session, three names came to my mind, that are Patrícia Campos Melo, Vera Magalhães, and Juliana Daupiva, three of the Brazilian journalists that were extensively harassed on Twitter during the Bolsonaro government and also during the campaign a couple of years ago. Patrícia is one of the most prominent ones, she was reporting on a lot of the Bolsonaro government wrongdoings, and by doing so she was a victim of misinformation campaigns, and also subjected to a rather big smear campaign featuring sexualized slurs, false allegations about her professional integrity. and the same happened with both Vera and Juliana. Juliana, after this entire period went through, she even launched a book about the Bolsonaro family and she continues to be one of the targets by Brazilian far-rights online. That leads me to maybe the last part of my, this first intervention, is that when we look to Latin America more broadly, journalists are, as I said, the ones reporting on corruption, organized crime, human rights abuses, elections, they tend to be the highest victims of online violence, such as doxing, targeted disinformation campaigns, and attempts of discrediting their work. But this does not just happen with female journalists, but also with the ones from marginalized communities, such as indigenous communities, quilombolas in the case of Brazil, and also the queer community, where they have been great targets in that sense. And last but not least, I think that for some of those cases, and maybe Mexico is a relevant example, but Brazil still is as well, we do still practice, sadly, a fair amount of political and state-sponsored campaigns, where some of the political actors or governments, they have been implicated in orchestrating these online harassment campaigns, and they often employ gender-specific narratives, as in attempts of claiming that this person is not clever enough, that they came from a different place, they were funded by a different kind of political party, and so on, in order to polarize the public opinion, but also to undermine the credibility of all of those journalists. But maybe I’ll stop here, and then we can continue later.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much, Bruna, and thank you, all three, to sort of set the scene, and effectively, as I imagine, and as the three of you pointed out, the issues that we’re facing are quite similar in the different regions of the world, and maybe if someone from the audience later would want to share. points on the areas that we have not covered in the missing regions and that would be very interesting to hear. We keep coming back to different contexts but similar similar issues. So in order to not stay in this more sadder part of looking at what is what is wrong or what is not functioning or what could be better, I want to look at what we can do or what we should do. How can we ensure that we have a better protection for journalists online? How can we work with or for media organizations, education institutions, international organizations, states, journalists, I mean all stakeholders that that are active in this area. How can we provide solutions? And I want to give the word first to Giulia who has done a lot of work on this at the Council of Europe and I would love for you to share some of the important work that you have done and maybe some insights that you have gained and that you could share and could be used in different countries or in different areas.

Giulia Lucchese: Yes, thank you. Well I’m really glad to pass to a more positive side of the conversation. So we’re looking into the potential solutions or positive results or what we see advancing. I will again provide a perspective that is that of an international intergovernmental organization. So the first example I can provide which I think it’s already getting a lot of attention and achieving results is that of a campaign, a Europe-wide campaign that was decided to be initiated by the 46 member states of the Council of Europe. It’s a campaign on the safety of journalists which was launched only 14 months ago in October last year and the campaign goal is pretty much translating standards into action and therefore operationalize the good intentions and achieve pragmatic results. How to do this in several different ways. First we have a methodology which is to look into four main pillars of the safety of journalism. and therefore the protection, the prosecution, fighting against impunity, the prevention and the promotion of information education and awareness. Through these four pillars, the goal is to really stimulate the states to do something effective and effectiveness comes from changes in legislation, setting support programs and mechanisms and raising awareness on why it is important to ensure the safety of journalists. It sounds evident, but at so many different levels, it is not. So the most urgent task is of course that to establish effective protections against the physical and online attacks, the misuses of law, the stigmatization and the arbitrary treatment and failures of judicial protection and impunity. Specifically, when it comes to training, the member states should be encouraged to give prominence to the available standards and to educational materials dealing with the issues these address, including gender-specific issues and put forward some tailor-made training for the judiciary, the legal professionals and relevant public authorities, which should take into account the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which has a very strong and solid case law on freedom of expression issues, but also taking into account the existing procedural tools, the substantive standards and the core values and deontological rules of the profession of journalists. Then when it comes to resources, what is necessary is to ensure a rapid access to a wide range of different support and protective measures, first and foremost against physical protection. but also the provision of support, for example, by relevant actors such as those allocating adequate resources to provide such support. And in order to be effective in practice, it should be considered that the role that can be played by the specific associations of journalists and also tailor the support to the specific need of the victims of an attack online and offline. This range of measures should also ideally be made available for secondary and indirect victims of attacks online. Now, as I said, we’re looking into promising results. Some are already very clear, but we also see how they greatly are different in practice from a state to the other. So the starting point differs very much. So they’re different in nature, in ambition and degree of development. But what we see is that 14 months after the launch of the campaign, we count today 39 appointed national focal points, 23 national committees and eight countries which are currently implementing national action plans. Amongst these, we count Switzerland, but we also have some other very notable models, such as, for example, the Persweilig project in the Netherlands. The campaign insists that it is necessary to have a multi-stakeholder approach. So here really is the encouragement to set up at the national level these committees. And the reason why, for example, as I said, Persweilig is a leading example in this subject is because it has managed to bring together all the relevant actors, which are, of course, the journalists, but also the national police, the public prosecutor’s office, relevant ministries, association of chief editors and media houses. So all of this conversation together can actually translate in effective change at the national level. I will not continue further, because I know you will provide some insights on what is happening at national level in Switzerland, but I want to maybe leave with a positive note, like much is happening, and we will be able to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken during these years, only in some time from now, the campaign lasts until 2027, and possibly we will look into the legacy of the campaign in the years to come.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much, Giulia, for this overview and also these very positive notions of what is happening, what is being done and the will to actually work on this, and I’m happy to, I look forward to in a couple of years to see how this campaign has affected and hopefully helped the situation. I will take this opportunity to share just a little bit about what we have done in Switzerland on this topic. Last year, on the 3rd of May, which is International Press Freedom Day, Switzerland published its National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists, and just to say a little bit about this action plan, we have nine specific measures that are aimed to raise awareness and focus on prevention, protection and support in cases of violence and threats for journalists, and it also examines the existing legal framework for this protection. So the general aim of this action plan was to put the topic of journalists’ safety in the public agenda, to truly draw attention to the problem that journalists are facing, and to make the society, the politicians at every level aware that there is a central role for the media for a proper functioning of a democracy such as Switzerland. And so this was really the aim of it and every single measure we identified and are trying to put forward goes into this part of putting the topic of journalism in the public agenda. the safety of journalists on the agenda. The four main wishes we have with this national action plan is to one, have a better recognition of the role and the profession of journalists or media actors. We have used the term media actors in the national action plan to have it more than just on the focus of journalists because there are many people involved in this work. The second point is a better protection against online threats and hate speech. The third point is better physical protection. And the fourth is a better understanding of the abusive lawsuits against journalists that are often known as slaps. And this is something where Julia is absolutely an expert. And so these are the four points that we have tried to center our national action plan on. And of course, these points are not specific for online safety, but each measure in its certain way has an online component. We can obviously not talk about harassment without talking about online comments. We can’t talk about lawsuits without the online part of it. So we’re trying to bridge what is happening offline as well as what is happening online. So I won’t go into more detail about this now, but I’m happy to answer any questions that there might be on the different points that we have put in place. And I want to give the microphone to Bruna and maybe she can share what her thoughts on what we can do collectively to promote and improve the safety of journalists online. I know you have a civil society perspective. How can we ensure that all the relevant stakeholders are involved in this discussion?

Bruna Martins dos Santos: Thanks. As we were chatting, I think I was really thinking what’s the role of social media companies in this conversation, right? A lot of these smear slash harassment, gender violence related campaigns, they rely a lot on social media companies and the lack of proper mechanisms either for… quick response either the channels for communicating with the journalists for the cases should be escalated or any other means That users have in general to to you know to complain about this So I see the platform accountability issue as one of the core Aspects of this conversation because we do still need stronger mechanisms to not just detect but also help prevent gendered abuse and hate speech that’s Targeting journalists rights. Nothing of these are no solutions that we can implement whether it’s a strategic litigation or stronger frameworks will work if social media continues to go and Exist as uncontrolled as they have in the last years or if you know Moderate content moderation mechanisms continue to echo hate speech and a lot of those problematic types of speech or tech harms Other than that I would see the role of the judiciary or policy makers in coming up with newer legal protections or new legal frameworks regulatory frameworks to establish enforced laws that can address Specifically online harassment and ensuring that these perpetrators they can face legal action and can face legal consequences in that sense and It’s the sad part about it all is that my country right now is is Reviewing the the civil rights framework for the Internet and we might we might Right arrive in a different stage in the beginning of next year as some of the protections Around the online speech might go elsewhere. But that’s that’s one of the points that I think it’s important to think The last three points would be support systems, right? Above all, it’s really important to have proper mechanisms for the victims the journalists to have some sort of either psychological or legal support to deal with these cases None of these names that I mentioned either Juliana or Vela better or Patricia They would have been able to continue their work if they didn’t have the proper means for for legal protections or anything like that, right? This is an aspect that goes, like online harassment goes beyond just the online world, right, and affects a lot of their ability to speak or to be present in these spaces. So having support systems coming from different stakeholders is really relevant. And last but not least, I would say international collaboration. So efforts by bodies like UNESCO, CPJ, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, and the Inter-American Commission, or the OHCHR in this case, for the global case, are really crucial in helping pressure governments and also platforms in finding ways to address online violence and finding ways to come up with new mechanisms, either from self-regulatory spaces or statutory regulation aspects. But the goal is that we pressure them in order to come up with newer and improved mechanisms to protect journalists effectively. But I’ll stop here. Thanks, Isabelle.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you, Bruna, for all these points, which are very well taken. I have taken notes on these. These are all important things to include at a national or international level and to think about when we are discussing how we can protect journalists more effectively. Gulalai, I wanted to ask you, could you share a bit how you see the way forward to ensure freedom of expression? What work can be done and maybe should be done on this?

Gulalai Khan: Yeah, so I’d like to take, and you’ve said, on the fact that platforms also need to do some work on this, because we have seen that leading platforms and their owner have actually called out journalists, and that does not help with journalism being respected in online spaces. So probably that is something, since you’ve presented the Swiss plan for journalism, and that is one aspect of that. So I think that platform accountability and also their role, because at the end of the day, all the online. threats harassment happens on these platforms and their algorithms sometimes support them and you know make them more viral for their own self so probably that’s number one. You also talked about the fact that most of the online problems but you need to have stronger analog components for digital dividends so very good that you have all those points especially with the word the media actors that you talked about because we cannot actually in the digital ignore these new content creators who are you can call citizen journalists or people who are but they’re not trained enough so probably you need to train them on fact checking the difference between and the debate around citizen journalism versus the mainstream journalism is that probably the fact checking and the training that goes for you to become a journalist is sometimes weaker in those who are on online spaces so if governments can also support this and civil society together that can be really really helpful you then get more fact-checked and authentic content on online spaces. I also want and of course everybody has talked about how academia civil society and everybody come together to support journalists in the very critical work that they do but so some of the journalists come from the traditional backgrounds and when they have these the online platforms the exposure is little so they need to be trained for those platforms they are there new ways to create content there are new ways to disseminate it and they need to be trained on that so I think capacity building is a very very important part part yes and it also saves them from the harassment and the threats because then they also know because digital security is also a critical part of that training that we are talking about. And last but not the least, I think it’s about time that we have a very feminist and a gender-sensitive approach to all the work that we do. The kind of harassment, the kind of wild women journalists face on these platforms, especially in countries like ours, is, I mean, I can’t even describe it.

Giulia Lucchese: And whether you like her or not, but the rape threats is just the beginning, right? So it’s not easy. And I think that the government need to protect women journalists more. They need to be trained how to protect themselves online. We have seen people self-censor themselves just because they’re afraid of the threats. So probably a very, very robust mechanism to support them. I talked about laws being there. So a stronger implementation of those laws is something that I think is the best way forward. You have the best laws on paper. Let’s implement them.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you. OK, yes. Thank you so much for these very important points. And I think all three of you have raised very important aspects that we need to think about when we’re thinking about protection of journalists. I want to quickly break here and see if there are maybe any questions in the room or online. I see a question in the room. Can we maybe get many questions in the room? Can we maybe get a mic?

Audience: Hello. Thank you. I’ve listened to a lot of conversation. By the way, a wonderful insight. I’ve enjoyed it. My name is Asha from Tanzania. And as much as we’ve talked a lot about multi-stakeholderism as in all, I think we need to identify when you’re looking for solutions, there are solutions. which are immediate, it can be done immediately, and those that can be done long-term. And for me, I feel like it’s always important to identify the kind of solutions that are required, because from all these conversations that we’ve been talking about, we were doing an advocacy on technology-facilitated gender-based violence in Tanzania. We have several learnings, but one relevant to this was that the media houses, first, they don’t identify technology-facilitated gender-based violence as a challenge. And then what does it mean when news is covered in their media houses, professional media houses that has been there forever, they put headlines online that amplify abuse to a woman, especially maybe a political leader, somebody in public, that is one of the challenges. But the second one, which is very saddening, when you are a journalist in a media house and you incur this violence online, they don’t care. You know, we isolate violence as an incident, it is not, because the affection is not, the effect is not only online. You go back home, you’re frustrated, people know you, they’ve seen the violence, it is all, it takes, and it depends. Some are digitally resilient, a week, two weeks, they’ll be fine. Others, it will take three months and the job becomes very hard. So I would really like, from all your work, what is the role of media? Are they really playing that factor? Are they intentionally putting in policies in your countries? I would like to know if it is similar with ours. Thank you. Sorry, I’ve taken some moment.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you for your question. I think it’s very good. Maybe we can do more and then go to some answers. Go ahead.

Audience: Thank you for you all. Allow me, this is just a comment and not a question. I’m Dr. Nermeen Saleem. I’m the Secretary General of Creators Union of Arab. It’s a member in United Nations, a Cossack and Social Council. And I think we have a solution, it’s kind of, we have launched in this IGF a platform called intellectual property verification in the digital area. This is targeted audience for this platform is the creator content on the social media and so on. This platform is like give the creator a priority date of his content. And he go to this platform and make a submission for his content, such as article or videos or audios or photos and so on like this before sharing his content via social media. He will get a QR code with IPV and accepted it depends on its technology on AI checking that this article or photos not have a similarity content in the digital area. And when it’s approved that this is the owner of this content, he has a contract on the blockchain to register this is the owner of this article before sharing via social media. This platform help the creator to protect his content before sharing in the social media. And we have negotiations and conversation with the intellectual property organization specialized around the world and this platform is targeted around the world, not only in just region. So I think if you want to know about this platform, it’s our pleasure to visit our booth to explain the technology of this one and the criteria to register your work. Thank you.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much. That is a very interesting project and I hope I think we will. we’ll probably all go to the booth and hear some more about it. Maybe I can take one more question. I have one here. This side maybe. Let’s go there.

Audience: Okay. I have a question. But also, I think you allow me a little comment from Mr. Neuro. So, why we do select a journalist as a special…

Isabelle Lois: Could you just state your name, please? Could you please just state your name?

Audience: Okay. Alexander Savnin. Opposition politician from Russia. So, why do we state that we need to protect journalists selectively? Maybe in you, in Western countries, journalists have some privilege. But if regime is not very well democratic, the only pro-regime journalists stay clearly journalists. If you are a bit of posing, you become instantly politician, journalist, civil society activist, forever else. But, well, we are talking about protection of journalists. Let me give a few examples, because a lot of… I’m not talking about Russia today, so that’s… They are journalists in your definition, but I would not like to talk about them. But we’re talking about Russian opposition journalists. When it was a bit loose regime, people were gathering, were protecting journalists, were protecting their works. But in return, journalists… For example, the case of Ivan Golunov, who was falsely accused on drug distribution for his work by the government, and the whole society, whole politicians, rised up and said, yes, he needs to be freed, the case has been cancelled. But when the same exactly, the same looking false drug distribution accusations appeared towards political activists, journalists said, no, no, no, we have to investigate this, including Ivan Golunov. We have to investigate, maybe they are really drug dealers. So why, my question, why we should select journalists? In modern world, everyone is a blogger, everyone is civil society… be accepted again in the Western world. I think in Brazil, the situation is also moving toward that. Yeah, I understand you are from Switzerland, you are colleagues of Russian Roscom, not Zorza, they are exactly doing the same things. But my question maybe to all panelists and the audience, why are journalists in such a privileged position?

Isabelle Lois: Thank you for that question. I think we have a few more. We will get to your question.

Audience: Thank you. I think my comment is kind of similar to the comment from the madam here. I think the journalists should also be protected from their work being stolen online, especially through social media platforms. And I think it happens everywhere, especially in countries where there is a lack of proper legal framework. So I would be very happy to hear any solution, aside from technical solution that you mentioned, but any solution in terms of policy making anywhere in the world. Thank you.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much. And I apologize, I know you’ve been raising your hands on this side of the room for quite a while.

Audience: Thank you so much, everyone. I will try to make it very quick. I wanted to talk about ethical reporting, actually, because a lot of time when we… Okay, sorry. My name is Adnan. I’m senior legal advisor with SEAD Foundation from Iraq. I wanted to talk about ethical reporting, because when we talk about journalist protections, some risks come from how they interact with what they will be reporting online. So my organization as well, we have developed some guidelines and also trained some journalists in my country, how they are reporting women survivors, for example. because they are putting their own life at risk when they disclose information and also others’ life as well. That was just an example. And the other question is, I know that nowadays the online platform made it very easy for everyone to be a journalist and to write, but in the meantime there is no authority journalists actually, because they are like an army and part of the risks comes from them, because they are directed to attack the other journalists. Do you think that we really need to work on solidarity to bring all the journalists and people who write online on those platforms, that we have these ethics that we need to follow instead of working this way? Thank you so much. The briefest comment then I’ll pass on to my friend there. More like if someone’s maintaining a bucket list, you know one of the problems that journalists being persecuted often face, even before an arrest or a case, is digital devices being seized, which leads to a lot of loss of work, loss of employment, sources and there’s, you know, tech savvy journalists now try to create their personal online repositories that are maintained on a server that is not their home country, things like that. But if there can be some investment into this, you know, especially having some online repositories hosted in Europe that, you know, that individual journalists can access, upload their work to ensure that journalists who are persecuted don’t lose all their work immediately. Just a brief. There are, I know, for-profit solutions but, you know, if there can be something more public for this, that’s it. Thank you. Thank you very much for the opportunity. It’s been some beautiful insights. I am called Jolenta Rose Afanwi. I’m a journalist from Cameroon. I work with the Cameroon Radio and Television. a worry, let me just go back with it into my country. We have laws protecting journalists, but which are not effective. And we’ve come to a place in Cameroon where you have it that if a journalist has been bullied online, or any of this is happening online, we just give it that. OK, after two weeks, the information will die down, and maybe the person’s image would be redeemed by itself. But now we don’t have those checkup mechanisms to follow up to ensure that. But how is this person’s psychology playing as far as this bullying and these effects goes with you as an individual, and even with your family? I think, is there a checkup mechanism that can be put in place to ensure that countries actually stay within this line? Because even some of the governments also bring up this bullying on journalists. Thank you.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much, all of you, for all of the great questions. I might just turn quickly. Is there any questions online that we should look at? It doesn’t seem to be the case. Now we can try comments and questions, which are very interesting. We just start on one point on the definition of journalists or media professional, because it’s something that we in Switzerland have thought a lot about when we decided to have the National Action if it should be focused exclusively on journalists or a bit broader. And we decided to include in our plan a vision that not the people working the media are more than just a journalist writing or reporting. And it’s also maybe the cameraman and the people who are editing and their media chain. And so this was the vision that we had to enlarge not just journalists, but have all of the media professionals. We did not include in that the content creators on social media, as the Swiss legal system is quite clearly making a distinction of traditional media and non-traditional media, and so to make it fit within our legal system, we had to make that distinction. But we are working on tracking safety in Switzerland for media professionals, and in this study that we are currently doing, the users, or let’s say the citizens journalists, as I was saying, are also included in that study. So we will have hopefully numbers quite soon on how that situation is. This is the answer we found for our country that fits, but of course it is a bigger question on how do you define journalist, who would be included, where do you put the limit, where do you put the line. We would love to know from our panelists, is there someone who wants to answer one of the questions?

Bruna Martins dos Santos: I don’t want to put you on the spot. No, just two things. On the influencers bit, or who is actually part of the media, I do think that for the Brazilian landscape, the role of influencers was really pivotal, right? Because they were also part of the folks that were responsible for the attacks, and responsible for fostering violence against journalists, against female politicians, and they were part of these campaigns, right? Brazil until last year, a year ago, was very much dominated by this kind of speech that came, and it was like a much bigger scheme of things, right? It was the president himself, his sons, their supporters, they were all part of a bigger kind of way, and maybe metal language kind of thing online, that’s where the whole goal was to suppress and cut off all of these people from existing online. So it’s really important to see what could be the role of influencers. because although they might not be seen as traditional media, they can also play this very concerning role in fostering the attacks and so on. My last point was about reporting mechanisms, and I do believe that that’s one of the aspects, right? Normally, when those cases take place and so on, it’s really a role for human rights organizations and human rights defenders to continue raising them, documenting and putting the word forward on what’s the relevance of protecting journalists online. So I do see the work of organizations, let’s say like Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and many others as a core work in the broader protection of not just journalists but activists online, especially in light of those attacks. So just putting these things.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much. Giulia , maybe you want to bring a few points here.

Giulia Lucchese: Yes, thank you very much. I really enjoyed listening to both questions and observations. It does provide an idea that this subject is actually so much more articulated than what we would like to think, and it is really important to look at every single perspective and layer also of the issue. Too much has been said, but at least two points I wanted to address. I heard about the concerns related to the challenges arising from the technology developments when it comes to the safety of journalists, but also to the entire media ecosystem. And I think there is an absolute necessity to somehow strengthen the legal frameworks, not only looking into the standards that are already available, but also continue looking, studying, analyzing and understanding the effects of what technology is bringing to the discussion. And this can be risks, this can be potentials, there can be… a lot of there also to ensure a better safety.

Isabelle Lois: I think we have a slight connection issue. Okay, in waiting until Julia gets back online, maybe, Lulay, I’ll let you.

Giulia Lucchese: I think there was a very important point about the role of media organizations to support and to protect their own journalists when they are being harassed. They need to have capacity building programs as well because traditional media houses, they are using digital to earn a lot of money and get relevance back from how irrelevant they became because of the fact that people have… But this is, again, a reason being… And number two, most of these journalists who are part of traditional media houses as journalists, as anchors, or proper journalists, they also have their own social media channels. So sometimes they’re working independently. Not speaking for the entire world, but they’re also working independently of the media houses. So the argument sometimes is that that’s their own channel, so that harassment or that comes from their own work rather than being associated with the media house. However, there are incidences, especially with women journalists, where being associated and even sometimes injured due to the harassment on site, the media houses have not reported it or not dealt with it as they should have been. So yes, that can be a part of it. I don’t know if there is a legal solution to it, but there has to be more pressure groups and more advocacy around it for media houses because they are at the end of the day commercial bodies and they need to be just more supportive of their workers.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much, and I think you’re very right that the advocacy is essential. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to make sure that everyone understands the role that media, journalists, or even social media users play in our world. There was a study recently in Switzerland that talked about the perspective of the people on media, and I think about half of the Swiss population believe that it’s essential to have a free and independent press for democracy. But that means that the other half is either not sure or does not believe that. And I think that these numbers are a bit scary to hear, because we’re in a country that is usually seen and I believe very democratic, where there is a lot of work on ensuring that democracy is played out in the best way possible. And so if we in such a country are struggling to see the importance of a strong press, of a press that can talk and deal with the different issues, how does that reflect in maybe other spaces? I think it is an important part on advocacy, which goes beyond the laws and the rules.

Giulia Lucchese: One more point, I think that when we talk about online harassment, of course it begins with a powerful figure just harassing somebody or talking about it. But generally then everybody else joins in. So the general population and citizens, there should be an information literacy or a digital literacy and what the do’s and the don’ts on online platforms is also an important part of work and that can also be included in curriculum. Like I said, I know that the multi-stakeholder approach doesn’t work all the time, but bringing in academia at a certain point is important because it has to go into curriculum on the fact that what abuse online looks like, what abuse does to people online. you know, when you do that, what are the psychological, I mean, it doesn’t just make stronger citizens, but also citizens who are responsible online. So, internet for people who want to be there and not just comment recklessly.

Isabelle Lois: Absolutely. I see that Julia is back online, maybe you can finish the point you were trying to make. Can we unmute her mic? Yes. And put her on the screen. Yes, I think we can hear you, Julia.

Giulia Lucchese: I’m so sorry, I got disconnected, but I’ll be very short. I heard about the technology challenges. I think it’s really important to look into those. It’s issues that are developing daily, we may say, so it’s really important to understand them before making focused proposals. But I’m glad to say that at the Council of Europe level, much is happening. We had a framework convention on AI, which was adopted and opened for signature already this year. We’re currently looking from the freedom of expression side into the implications of generative AI applications for freedom of expression. And then there was another point which concerned more the hateful comments online, but also how the media somehow can even amplify these messages, and therefore I wanted to go back to the recommendation of the Council of Europe on combating hate speech, which in fact addresses the media as specific actors which should take effective measures in order to actually not only prevent, but also encouraging to combat hate speech and to put forward a message that is not an hateful one, while avoiding any stereotypes and hateful narrative. And with this, I close because I see we are really heading towards the end of this very interesting session, and I thank the organisers for inviting the Council of Europe.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you so much, Giulia. and it’s been a pleasure to have you, and it’s always a pleasure to work with you. I will take the opportunity to say that. Yes, indeed, we have, I think, two minutes left, so very little time. I want to thank you all for participating. Maybe we can have one line per speaker to sum up this session, and I would love to continue the conversation at some other point. Bruna, please.

Bruna Martins dos Santos: The same line as before. I would like to see big tech companies owning the responsibility they play in online attacks and NGBV and, you know, attacks against the queer community and journalists in that sense.

Isabelle Lois: Thank you.

Gulalai Khan: I would like to see the laws already being implemented effectively. That will sort out most of our problems, especially on online spaces as well.

Isabelle Lois: Giulia, do you have a last one-liner for us?

Giulia Lucchese: Because we are expressing hopes, I would like to see more trust in the role that every respective actor can play in order to actually reach an effective safeguard of journalist safety.

Isabelle Lois: I really like these last lines being sort of a message of hope, and I will just add that I hope that we can continue having these important conversations and making these spaces available. So thank you all so much for participating. Thank you so much for everyone who asked questions and made comments. This is something that’s very important for us, that the IGF sessions are collaborative. The knowledge is not just with the panel but with everyone in the room, so I’m very happy to have been able to share that with everyone. Thank you.

Agreement Points

Online harassment of journalists is a widespread issue

Giulia Lucchese

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Journalists face routine tracking, harassment and threats online

Digital and online journalists played a key role in reporting on Pakistan’s recent election

Journalists in Brazil face extensive harassment campaigns on social media

All speakers agreed that online harassment of journalists is a significant and widespread problem across different regions.

Women journalists face heightened risks online

Giulia Lucchese

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Women journalists are especially targeted based on their gender

Media organizations should better support their journalists facing online harassment

Journalists in Brazil face extensive harassment campaigns on social media

The speakers concurred that female journalists are particularly vulnerable to gender-based online attacks and harassment.

Need for better implementation and enforcement of existing laws

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Need for better implementation of existing laws protecting journalists

Need for stronger accountability mechanisms for social media platforms

Both speakers emphasized the importance of effectively implementing and enforcing existing laws and mechanisms to protect journalists.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers stressed the need for comprehensive support systems, including legal and organizational backing, for journalists facing online harassment.

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Importance of support systems and legal protections for journalists facing harassment

Media organizations should better support their journalists facing online harassment

Both speakers highlighted the importance of addressing the role of online actors (general public and influencers) in either perpetuating or combating online harassment of journalists.

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Importance of digital literacy education on responsible online behavior

Role of influencers in both perpetrating and combating online attacks

Unexpected Consensus

Role of non-traditional media actors in journalism

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Isabelle Lois

Digital and online journalists played a key role in reporting on Pakistan’s recent election

Role of influencers in both perpetrating and combating online attacks

Switzerland published a National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists

There was an unexpected consensus on the importance of recognizing and addressing the role of non-traditional media actors, such as digital journalists and influencers, in the current media landscape. This consensus spans across different regions and contexts, indicating a global shift in understanding the evolving nature of journalism.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement included the widespread nature of online harassment of journalists, the heightened risks faced by women journalists, the need for better implementation of existing laws, and the importance of comprehensive support systems for journalists. There was also consensus on the evolving nature of journalism and the role of non-traditional media actors.

Consensus level

The level of consensus among the speakers was high, particularly on the core issues facing journalists online. This strong agreement across different regions and contexts underscores the global nature of these challenges and the need for coordinated, multi-stakeholder efforts to address them. The consensus also highlights the urgency of implementing effective measures to protect journalists and preserve press freedom in the digital age.

Different Viewpoints

Definition and scope of journalists to be protected

Isabelle Lois

Alexander Savnin

Switzerland published a National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists

Why do we state that we need to protect journalists selectively?

While Isabelle Lois presented Switzerland’s National Action Plan focused on protecting traditional journalists and media professionals, Alexander Savnin questioned the selective protection of journalists, arguing that in less democratic regimes, the definition of a journalist becomes blurred.

Unexpected Differences

Role of influencers in online journalism

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Gulalai Khan

Role of influencers in both perpetrating and combating online attacks

Digital and online journalists played a key role in reporting on Pakistan’s recent election

While Santos highlights the dual role of influencers in both perpetrating and combating online attacks, Khan focuses on the positive role of digital and online journalists in election reporting. This unexpected difference in perspective on non-traditional media actors is significant in understanding the evolving landscape of online journalism.

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the definition of journalists to be protected, the role of different stakeholders in ensuring journalist safety, and the approach to addressing online harassment and attacks.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low, with most differences stemming from varying regional perspectives and focuses rather than fundamental disagreements. This suggests a general consensus on the importance of protecting journalists online, but with differing emphases on implementation strategies based on local contexts.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for better protection of journalists online, but they focus on different actors: Santos emphasizes the role of social media platforms, while Khan highlights the responsibility of media organizations.

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Gulalai Khan

Need for stronger accountability mechanisms for social media platforms

Media organizations should better support their journalists facing online harassment

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers stressed the need for comprehensive support systems, including legal and organizational backing, for journalists facing online harassment.

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Importance of support systems and legal protections for journalists facing harassment

Media organizations should better support their journalists facing online harassment

Both speakers highlighted the importance of addressing the role of online actors (general public and influencers) in either perpetuating or combating online harassment of journalists.

Gulalai Khan

Bruna Martins dos Santos

Importance of digital literacy education on responsible online behavior

Role of influencers in both perpetrating and combating online attacks

Key Takeaways

Journalists face significant online harassment and threats, with women journalists especially targeted

Digital and online journalists are playing an increasingly important role in reporting, especially in countries with less press freedom

Multi-stakeholder approaches involving governments, media organizations, tech companies, and civil society are needed to improve journalist safety online

Existing laws and protections for journalists need to be better implemented in many countries

New challenges are emerging related to technology, including the role of social media platforms and influencers

Resolutions and Action Items

Council of Europe launched a Europe-wide campaign on safety of journalists

Switzerland published a National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists

Continued work on understanding and addressing implications of new technologies like AI on freedom of expression

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively hold social media platforms accountable for their role in online harassment

How to define and protect ‘journalists’ in the digital age when many act as independent content creators

How to address the psychological impacts of online harassment on journalists

How to protect journalists’ work and content from being stolen or misused online

Suggested Compromises

Broadening the definition of ‘media professionals’ to include more than just traditional journalists, while still maintaining some distinctions

Balancing the need for content moderation and protection against online harassment with concerns about censorship and freedom of expression

We have seen more and more problems for journalists with increasingly they’re facing online harassment, threats, surveillance, censorships, and more problems in this sense.

speaker

Isabelle Lois

reason

This comment set the stage for the entire discussion by highlighting the growing challenges faced by journalists online.

impact

It framed the conversation around the urgent need to address online threats to journalists and led to a deeper exploration of specific issues in different regions.

When you talk about elections, yes, this has been a super election, a super election year, and we saw a similar election happening in Pakistan also. But there is a slight shift from how it was reported this time. So most of the traditional media, the trusted big names, they were either on one side or the other. So the objectivity for traditional media was lost, which also meant the trust in them was lost.

speaker

Gulalai Khan

reason

This insight highlighted how political polarization is affecting traditional media’s credibility and shifting the landscape of journalism.

impact

It led to a discussion about the rise of digital and citizen journalism, especially during elections, and the challenges this poses for information integrity.

When I look to Brazil, I’m happy to come from a country where the rights for a free press is in the constitution, it’s enshrined in the constitution, and we also have a rather positive and progressive legal framework that’s very prone to trying to facilitate and convene a free press and the journalism profession in general, but when I was preparing for this session, three names came to my mind, that are Patrícia Campos Melo, Vera Magalhães, and Juliana Daupiva, three of the Brazilian journalists that were extensively harassed on Twitter during the Bolsonaro government and also during the campaign a couple of years ago.

speaker

Bruna Martins dos Santos

reason

This comment provided a concrete example of how even in countries with strong legal protections, journalists can face severe online harassment, especially women journalists.

impact

It shifted the discussion towards the gendered nature of online harassment and the gap between legal protections and real-world experiences of journalists.

The campaign insists that it is necessary to have a multi-stakeholder approach. So here really is the encouragement to set up at the national level these committees. And the reason why, for example, as I said, Persweilig is a leading example in this subject is because it has managed to bring together all the relevant actors, which are, of course, the journalists, but also the national police, the public prosecutor’s office, relevant ministries, association of chief editors and media houses.

speaker

Giulia Lucchese

reason

This comment introduced a concrete example of a successful multi-stakeholder approach to protecting journalists, offering a potential model for other countries.

impact

It shifted the conversation from describing problems to discussing potential solutions, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between different sectors.

As we were chatting, I think I was really thinking what’s the role of social media companies in this conversation, right? A lot of these smear slash harassment, gender violence related campaigns, they rely a lot on social media companies and the lack of proper mechanisms either for… quick response either the channels for communicating with the journalists for the cases should be escalated or any other means

speaker

Bruna Martins dos Santos

reason

This comment brought attention to the crucial role of social media companies in addressing online harassment of journalists, a perspective that hadn’t been deeply explored earlier in the discussion.

impact

It led to a broader discussion about platform accountability and the need for stronger mechanisms to prevent and respond to online abuse targeting journalists.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope from a general overview of challenges faced by journalists to a more nuanced exploration of specific issues, regional differences, and potential solutions. They highlighted the complexity of the problem, touching on political polarization, gendered harassment, the changing landscape of journalism, and the role of various stakeholders including governments, civil society, and tech companies. The discussion evolved from identifying problems to proposing multi-faceted solutions, emphasizing the need for collaboration across sectors and borders to effectively protect journalists online.

What is the role of social media companies in addressing online harassment of journalists?

speaker

Bruna Martins dos Santos

explanation

Social media platforms are often the primary venues for harassment campaigns, and stronger mechanisms are needed to detect and prevent abuse targeting journalists.

How can media houses be encouraged to support their journalists who face online harassment?

speaker

Audience member (Asha from Tanzania)

explanation

Many media houses don’t recognize online harassment as a challenge or support their journalists who experience it, which can have significant psychological impacts.

What solutions exist to protect journalists’ work from being stolen and shared on social media platforms?

speaker

Audience member (unnamed)

explanation

This is a particular concern in countries lacking proper legal frameworks to protect intellectual property online.

How can ethical reporting guidelines be developed and implemented, particularly for reporting on sensitive topics or vulnerable individuals?

speaker

Audience member (Adnan from Iraq)

explanation

Ethical reporting practices can help mitigate risks both to journalists and to the subjects of their reporting.

What mechanisms can be put in place to ensure countries follow through on implementing laws protecting journalists?

speaker

Audience member (Jolenta Rose Afanwi from Cameroon)

explanation

Many countries have laws protecting journalists that are not effectively implemented or enforced.

How can secure online repositories be developed to protect journalists’ work in case their devices are seized?

speaker

Audience member (unnamed)

explanation

Journalists facing persecution often lose access to their work when their devices are seized, impacting their ability to continue working.

How can digital and media literacy education be incorporated into curricula to promote responsible online behavior?

speaker

Gulalai Khan

explanation

Educating the general public about online abuse and its impacts could help reduce harassment of journalists and others online.

What are the implications of generative AI for freedom of expression and the safety of journalists?

speaker

Giulia Lucchese

explanation

As AI technology rapidly develops, it’s important to understand its potential impacts on journalism and free expression.