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The Chilling recommendations provide solutions on how to tackle gender online violence
On this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls (25 November), UNESCO is publishing recommendations on how to address online violence against women journalists. These stem from “The Chilling” (all reports available here), a global research project by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), led by ICFJ’s Dr Julie Posetti and Nabeelah Shabbir with contributions by 25 international researchers.
The recommendations address Member States, news organizations, internet companies, civil society, and legal actors among others, providing them with concrete steps on how to effectively tackle this threat to freedom of expression, journalists’ safety and access to information. The recommendations are published on 25 November 2022 in English and will be available in French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese in the following ’16 Days of activism’.
Over 3 years, UNESCO and the ICFJ have conducted the most extensive and diverse research project on the topic to date, documenting the experiences of over 850 women journalists worldwide through a survey and extensive interviews.
The research shows how endemic gendered online violence against journalists is, how it can lead to violence in real life, how it can be connected to other kinds of discrimination, and how it can make journalists self-censor and stop them from speaking out freely. The researchers exposed the networked character, aimed at silencing critical voices, through extensive big data analysis, including that of prominent Philippine journalist Maria Ressa. The recommendations are, therefore, an urgent call to action.
Gendered online violence against journalists is a menace to the safety of individuals at the same time as it is a threat to freedom of expression for all of us. The Chilling recommendations provide different actors with research-based tools to effectively counter online violence.
Alongside the recommendations, UNESCO, with the cooperation of ICFJ is publishing a report analyzing legal and normative frameworks for combating online violence against women journalists, written by Angelique Lu, Julie Posetti, and Nabeelah Shabbir.
At the recent conference marking the 10th anniversary of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity (3 - 4 November, Vienna), participants emphasized the urgent need to address the safety of women journalists both online and offline.
UNESCO and ICFJ have published a number of reports as a result of the joint research project, including a report presenting the findings of a global survey (2020), a research discussion paper (2021), What More Can News Organizations Do to Combat Gendered Online Violence? (2022) and Assessing Big Tech’s Response to Online Violence Against Women Journalists (2022). Most recently ICFJ has published the extensive full report “The Chilling: A global study of online violence against women journalists” with the support of UNESCO.
Find “The Chilling: Recommendations for action responding to online violence against women journalists” and “Legal and Normative Frameworks for Combating Online Violence Against Women Journalists” here: https://www.unesco.org/en/safety-journalists/safety-women-journalists
