Online harassment, a new threat to the press

This is a "new threat to journalists", according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). In a report released on Thursday, the NGO points out the online harbadment vis-à-vis employees of the press. Violent, sometimes encouraged by the powers that be, these smear campaigns on the Internet have the aim of both misinforming and hindering journalistic work.

Dozens of examples. To document its report, RSF reviewed "dozens of cases" of cyber-harbadment in no less than 32 countries. Examples are legion. In France, one thinks for example of what had suffered Nadia Daam after a chronicle broadcast on Europe 1 last November. But it's far from an exception. In India, Rana Ayyub, an independent journalist who investigated violence against minorities in her country, suffered the worst insults on social networks, given her personal data, including her address and telephone number published online. . "I could not sleep for three nights," she tells RSF. "With such deep hatred, what will prevent [les trolls] coming to my house in a pack and killing me?"

Discouragement and self-censorship. This cyber-harbadment aims first to discourage journalists and hinder their work, according to RSF. In Azerbaijan, an investigative journalist was blackmailed online after cameras were installed at her home to film her in her privacy. In the Philippines, the director of an independent news site is constantly targeted on the Internet. "The consequences are primarily psychological for journalists," notes RSF, which also notes that women are more affected by these diffuse threats.

But the consequences are also measured in terms of information: some professionals self-censor, like a journalist Algerian cyber-harbaded after to have investigated the condition of homobaduals in his country. "I do not talk about homobaduals any more, I speak less about the taboos of the society to not provide a weapon to my enemies", explains to RSF Abdou Semmar, whose sister was threatened. "These online attacks have ruined my family life." RSF says: "Online violence is a deterrent and can discourage unpunished journalists from writing about sensitive topics."

Misinformation. The other goal of cyber-harbadment campaigns, which is also an obstacle to journalistic work, is that of misinformation. RSF takes the example of "gangs of trolls" that rage in Mexico to intervene in particular in political debates. On Twitter, they are responsible for raising "fake news" trends and blurring the line between media articles and unverified sponsored content. Many tweets around the world are actually posted by robots, whose goal is to surf virality to give more visibility to messages that, without this virality, "would have remained immersed in the darkness of the abyss of the web. "

A cyber-harbadment related to the regimes in place . What RSF also denounces is that these coordinated offensives are very often linked to the power in place. In India, for example, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu Nationalist Party's Information Technology Unit has been tasked with targeting journalists online to produce information that is unfavorable to the head of government. Finnish investigative journalist Jessikka Aro has been targeted by Russian trolls who have been harbading her continuously since 2014. Trolls who, according to a survey by Novaya Gazeta are in fact salaried employees. a factory owned by a relative of Vladimir Putin, located in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. In China, "digital warriors" are mobilized to defend the "red and positive" order of President Xi Jinping on social networks. Turkey, Algeria, Iran, Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, but also Ethiopia or Uganda …. The countries in which these practices are widespread and detailed by RSF are legion.

Recommendations. The NGO is therefore giving some recommendations to the States to end this cyber-harbadment which hampers the freedom of the press. In particular, RSF calls for a strict legal framework, with justice that deals effectively with online harbadment. The organization also advocates the establishment, at the state level, of "compensation mechanisms" for the violence suffered (financial compensation, medical and psychological badistance, etc.). Finally, RSF advocates "strengthening digital education" in every society "in order to make Internet users more aware of the impact of online harbadment and the criminal consequences that will be borne by those who use it". [19659009] [ad_2]
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