Nearly 90 per cent of female journalists exposed to online violence

Nearly 90 per cent of women journalists in Nepal are facing online violence, according to a study and most of the perpetrators of violence against women journalists are colleagues either inside the office or outside the office.

According to a study carried out by Media Advocacy Group (MAG) 88.6 per cent of women journalists reported having experienced violence through social media sites in their lifetime. Of the 281 respondents, who answered the multiple choice question about the perpetrators of violence116 or 41.3 per cent said it was colleagues inside the office while 89 (31.7 per cent) said it was colleagues outside the office.

Similarly, 89 respondents said it was strangers and 63 said news sources. Likewise, 53 per cent of the respondents said they experienced violence from people affiliated to political parties and 26 sad they experienced violence from government officials. Six per cent of the respondents said they experienced online violence from security people while 4.6 per cent said they experienced violence from businessmen.

The research revealed that facebook messenger is the main platform for online violence. In response to the multiple choice question about the platform used to carry out online violence, 62.3 per cent said facebook messenger while 15.3 per cent said it was twitter and 12.8 per cent said it was WhatsApp.

Among those who experienced such abuse 40.2 per cent reported that it had a negative impact on their career and 31 per cent said it had a negative impact on their family life. Similarly, 62.3 per cent of the respondents said they had impact on their mental health.

Fifty three per cent of the respondents said the online violence they experienced was associated with their profession while 21. 4 per cent said that the violence they experienced through online later developed to threat and physical attacks.

The study was carried out by a team of three journalists: Babita Basnet, Tanka Raj Aryal and Nishuratna Bastakoti between May 1, 2022 and August 31, 2022.

The report was released by Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology amidst a programme chaired by Anita Bindu, chairperson of MAG in Kathmandu last week.