New media, old challenges: harassment of women journalists in online readers’ comments

Abstract

The consequences for journalism of the so-called participatory turn have been profusely challenging, due to the pressure they pose to the news production process and to professional authority. Also, evidence that the level of disrespect and incivility generated by user-generated content is high, particularly in readers’ comments to online news, has triggered important concerns with the digital media democratic potential. Rarely, however, have these concerns been considered from a gender perspective, even though online hate disproportionately affects women and workplace harassment be an old unsolved problem for female journalists. In this chapter, we reflect on the harassment of women journalists in online readers’ comments, questioning its implications for the personal and professional sphere, and for the press freedom.