“The #MeToo movement has given rise to new stories and media outlets around the world,” said Reporters without Borders’ Publishing Director Bocandé, adding that “Journalists specializing in women’s rights and gender violence have been the primary targets of attacks ranging from cyberstalking to murder.”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a report titled “Journalism in the Age of MeToo” to take a global look at the remarkable developments that have enabled journalists to investigate the rights of women and gender minorities, and to reveal new faces of oppression.
RSF, which previously made headlines with reports titled “Women’s Rights: Banned Research” and “Journalism Under the Obstacle of Sexism,” has also dedicated space to journalist Hale Gönültaş, who received death threats for bringing to the public the crimes of ISIS against Yazidi women who were enslaved by ISIS, in its latest report titled “Journalism in the Age of MeToo.”
The 16 RSF recommendations included in the report include criminalising certain forms of cyberstalking, holding social media platforms accountable for preventing and combating such attacks and hiring editors-in-chief dedicated to gender issues.
Bocandé: Attacks range from cyberstalking to murder
The #MeToo wave, while weakly reflected in some countries, has given rise to new stories and new media outlets around the world, said Anne Bocandé, RSF’s Director of Publications. “Although some pioneers had already paved the way, such as Awa in Senegal in the 1970s, Sharika Wa Laken in Lebanon since 2012, and Axelle magazine, founded in Belgium in 1998, have also benefited from this new exposure.
“In addition to the progress in newsrooms, RSF found that the move had encouraged a general improvement in journalistic practices and the establishment of many journalist networks.”
On the other hand, Bocandé noted that difficulties and severe pressures cannot be ignored: “Despite all this progress, journalists specializing in women’s rights and gender violence continue to be the primary targets of attacks ranging from cyber-harassment campaigns to murder. These violations must stop. To achieve this, RSF has published recommendations for governments, police, judicial authorities, social media platforms and newsrooms to ensure that women’s rights and the right to information on gender violence are truly safeguarded.”
Seven years after the media momentum created by the New York Times’ first journalistic investigation into the Weinstein affair in the US, RSF published a report titled “Journalism in the age of #MeToo”, analysing changes in media coverage of women’s rights, gender-based and/or sexist violence and sexual violence at an international level since 2017, from #EuTambém in Brazil to #EnaZeda in Tunisia and #Cuéntalo in Spain.
60 percent are under cyber attack; for 25 percent the issue is dangerous
According to RSF, which also shared the results of a survey of 113 journalists, more than 80 of them said there had been a significant increase in the number of news stories about women’s rights, gender issues and gender-based and sexual violence since the #MeToo slogan emerged in the United States in 2017.
However, although investigations into women’s rights and gender-based violence may seem more legitimate and visible, for more than 25% of respondents, working on these issues is dangerous.
Nearly 60 percent of respondents knew of at least one case in which a journalist working on women’s rights, gender issues and/or gender-based and sexual violence was subjected to cyber harassment.
Making a statement on the occasion of the report announcement, RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin saluted the journalists who braved all sorts of dangers to report on this issue; he gave the example of Wo Ye Shi, who was arrested in China in 2021.
“Whether the #MeToo era is over or whether this freedom of expression will continue is up to the commentators to decide. But there is a before and after to #MeToo in journalism. It will change journalism forever: the attention given to the situation of women journalists and to gender and sexual violence is proof of that. We must salute the courage of journalists who take risks to report on these issues. Some are paying a high price,” Bruttin said.
Note: The report was prepared by RSF in collaboration with journalist Laurène Daycard, an expert on women’s rights and gender violence. It included testimonies from many journalists, including Bettie Johnson Mbayo (Liberia), Kiki Mordi (Nigeria), Mariana Iglesias (Argentina), Ghazal Golshiri (France-Iran), Zahra Nader (Afghanistan), Hinda Abdi Mohamoud (Somalia), Marie Barbier (France), Jessica Lopez (France), Julie Bianchin (Switzerland), Jovanna Mariám Garcon (Guatemala).
SOURCE: Bianet, by Bianet News Center, 23 October 2024. PHOTO: RSF