DOWNLOAD HERE
Online harassment of journalists poses a grave risk to press freedoms: retaliating in response to a disfavored article or post, trolls coordinate abuse in the hopes of silencing the journalist altogether. This is exactly what the dogpile participants want: to mold civic discourse, determining what can be said without reprisal. To protect journalists from this outcome, this white paper provides recommendations for interventions to interrupt the lifespan of harassment online, from the release of the work; to the inciting incident of harassment; into dogpiling; and ultimately, the chilling effect, in which the journalist does not publish again or limit the scope of their discourse due to the lasting psychological or reputational harm.
This white paper by Molly Cinnamon aims to help address the problem of online harassment of journalists by identifying priority areas of technological, financial, or policy investment. The author’s innovative solutions are organized around galvanizing both organizational and technological resources. Proposals for mitigating the psychological, discursive, and technological symptoms of online harassment include co-ops: both a trust and safety co-op of trust and safety professionals empowered to share data about ongoing harassment and a similar community of journalists equipped to share resources and tools that combat the effects of dogpiling. More technology-oriented proposals include a public reporting dashboard of online harassment metrics designed to apply public pressure to social media platforms, as well as an automated harassment reporting tool that would collate instances of harassment and accelerate access to aid from those in cybersecurity, T&S, and law enforcement. These recommendations are informed by a literature review, review of existing solutions, and interviews with stakeholders in areas of technology, news media, and nonprofits.