It’s Rife: The Online Bullying of Women Journalists in Africa: What Is to Be Done?

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Daniels, Glenda and Douglas, Omega. 2024. It’s Rife: The Online Bullying of Women Journalists in Africa: What Is to Be Done? In: Bruce Mutsvairo and Kristin Skare Orgeret, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Global Digital Journalism. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 143-159. ISBN 9783031593789 [Book Section]

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Abstract or Description

The theory that social media’s power and open access presents an amazing opportunity for gender equality is only half the story given rampant cybermisogyny, which is the online hatred and bullying of women journalists. In tandem with global trends where over 70% of all women journalists survey respondents in a worldwide study: The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists by Posetti & Shabbir (2022) said they had experienced online violence, women in African countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, and Namibia, in this paper, elucidate what the actual experiences are. The data for this article comes from research on the African continent about women’s online experiences, in particular when they report in the political and investigative space, once traditionally male dominated. Social media is a double-edged sword as women journalists suffer online emotional violences, which sometimes carry over offline. This anti-feminist backlash consists body shaming, trolling, doxing, vilifications and threats of rape and murder all of which are bullying, cybermisogyny and censorship. This research is both theoretical and advocacy based as it points to ways in which alliances between global agencies, local civil society groupings, media companies and journalists can tackle this scourge. The theoretical framing of this article is radical democracy, which argues for a more expansive inclusion of voices from the margins, diversity, gender equality and freedom of expression. The issue of contention here is: to what extent does new media usage enable or disable diversity and democracy in Africa when there are massive threats for women journalists online? The threats come though social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram) and they often lead to leaving the media industry, or self-censorship, and trauma. The method is to elucidate the experiences of women and examine their discourse, including what they think should be done to stop this scourge.

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Book Section

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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59379-6_9