Online violence against women journalists is increasing

—A presentation on an international report and Selvaggia Lucarelli’s case

Online attacks against women journalists have been a pernicious problem for many years, and it seems to be increasing dramatically and uncontrollably around the world during the covid-19 pandemic.

In late 2020, UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists(ICFJ) conducted a global survey about online violence against women journalists. Over 900 validated participants from 125 countries completed the survey in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. 714 respondents among them were women, who contributed to the survey outcome by sharing what they suffered online.

-Online violence against women journalists is getting worse:

This UNESCO-ICFJ survey records that 73% (n=625) of women journalists asked if they had experienced online violence said: “Yes”. However, in 2014, the proportion of women journalists who had experienced ‘intimidation, threats or abuse’ online to their work was 23% (n=921), according to the UNESCO-supported survey conducted by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) and the International News Safety Institute (INSI). Another survey conducted by IWMF in 2018, (n=597 women), found that 63% of women respondents had been harassed or abused online at least once.

Although these surveys cannot be directly compared, viewed collectively, the pattern suggests that gendered online violence against women journalists has worsened significantly over the past decade. We chose some of the findings from the UNESCO-ICFJ survey report to present in our visual data chart.

-COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the crisis:

It is worth mentioning that the COVID-19 pandemic also appears to be exacerbating the crisis. Another recent global survey conducted by ICFJ in partnership with Columbia University for the Journalism and the Pandemic Project found that, when asked to rate the incidence of online harassment during the pandemic, 16% of women journalists who responded to the question (n=490) said that it was “much worse” than before COVID.

More hatred of women journalists spreads from online to reality during the Anti-Green Pass Action, which can be proved by the case of Italian women journalist Selvaggia Lucarelli. She was pushed and insulted by the demonstrators while covering the anti-green pass parade (La giornalista del Domani racconta l’aggressione subita a Roma: «Fisicamente sto bene, ma sono scioccata»). After that, she received many malicious comments on the Internet, some of them we displayed at the bottom of the chart. This case is particular because it started from physical aggression that then turned into online aggression recognizable in the comments posted under Selvaggia Lucarelli's tweet. As you can see, many have verbally attacked her based on her gender’s feature (i.e.: chi cerca trova cara la mia Selvaggia …; nelle tette doveva dargliela).

Most of the newspapers quote the aggression suffered by Selvaggia Lucarelli in a factual way, there are no specific opinions reported. Mostly the newspapers support the journalist and condemn the assault. They also give additional information about the aggressor, in some cases, they also mention his name and his criminal records.

The man who attacked the journalist Selvaggia Lucarelli is called Roberto Di Blasio and is a boxing teacher. “As we learn from his social channels about him, he is a fervent supporter of the no green pass squares and has participated in several demonstrations against the green certificate.”, reported by fanpage.it

Selvaggia Lucarelli posted Roberto Di Blasio’s job information and the attack video, receiving much support from politics and journalism. She expressed gratitude for support on Twitter and asked why no police were present at the parade.

A few days after the attack, La Vita in Diretta interviewed Roberto Di Blasio. He said he deeply regretted what happened, and therefore wanted to apologize to Selvaggia Lucarelli, explaining that he did not even understand why he reacted in that violent way.

According to the report of Domani on 3rd December 2021, Di Blasio was summoned before the Court and continued to say that he felt provoked by Lucarelli. But the College rejected his version: "The College deems the thesis of provocation inferred by the accusing to be inadmissible", and his complaints "cannot mitigate the gravity and negligence of the conduct of the card-holder, a boxing master, in against a defenseless woman. The court of the Italian Boxing Federation decided to punish Roberto Di Blasio, "Suspension from all competitive, social and federal activities from 2nd December", which will be valid until January 21, 2022, when the investigations by the federal prosecutor will end.

-Conclusion

Online violence against women journalists is a global phenomenon, which is happening and increasing. Many women journalists are suffering like Selvaggia Lucarelli we may not know, and nor do many abusers pay for their actions.

A climate of impunity for online attacks keeps the violence out of control, also demoralizes the victim, erodes the foundations of journalism, heightens journalism safety threats, and undermines freedom of expression. Based on these findings, urgent action is recommended to confront the problem of online violence against women journalists in more effective ways.