The Threats Faced by Female Journalists

A very interesting read from the Committee to Project Journalists, the the threats and harassment that female Journalists face while just trying to do their job.

CPJ writes that in 2016, the FBI told a local TV journalist that she wasn't safe sleeping in her own home. Her TV station, which covers a major American city, hired an off-duty police officer to guard the parking lot when she arrived at work. Even for a journalist covering organized crime, such measures may seem extreme--but her beat is much less fraught: she covers light-hearted local news and sport.

The journalist, whose name is being withheld by CPJ to protect her safety, had been targeted by a stalker. The man had sent her child pornography, and threatened to find her, rape her and, if she told the police, kill her.

"These were really tough days, scary days," she told CPJ in a recent phone call. "This wasn't some creepy guy with a crush, this was somebody threatening my life." A suspect is currently awaiting trial, she said.

Few of the journalists with whom CPJ spoke said they had received any formal safety training, and that their newsrooms tended to respond only after something happened.

The journalists said the internet was the primary site of harassment. Receiving unsolicited "dick pics" and sexually-explicit emails were common; female journalists, particularly women of color, bear the brunt of online harassment.

You can read the full story here and let’s hope more stations act instead of react to help out their employees.

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