Abstract
A growing body of research documents that female journalists often face extreme obstacles in their work. The rapidly growing international debate around press freedom, especially after the onset of the pandemic and the technological developments in recent years, has brought to the fore another crucial issue: do female journalists enjoy the same level of press freedom as their male colleagues in the digital age? Although gender has been a longstanding barrier for media professionals, in recent years digital technology has offered additional “weapons” to anyone with a smart phone: from smear campaigns to online attacks and AI-generated forms of assault. This work seeks to systematically identify and document the dimensions of threats to female journalists in western media systems and to detect and assess new manifestations of gendered threats in the digital age. In the course of the study, several types of threats emerged affecting not only female journalists but also those of any other gender beyond male. The study aims to offer an analytical categorization of these threats, focusing on western media systems, where overall press freedom has been acutely affected in recent years.
Introduction
From Daphne Caruana Galizia to female correspondents in war zones, female journalists often face extreme obstacles in their work. Several studies (e.g. Blumell and Mulupi, 2021; Kaye-Essien and Ismail, 2020; Melki and Mallat, 2016; Wang, 2016) draw attention to these obstacles and challenges for female journalists inside and outside newsrooms, mainly centering on financial threats (unequal payments), professional barriers (extreme difficulties in being promoted), and social exclusions (the “motherhood” penalty).
The growing international debate around press freedom, especially after the onset of the pandemic crisis and the technological developments in recent years, has brought to the fore another crucial issue: do female journalists enjoy the same level of press freedom as their male colleagues in the digital age? Whereas this discussion has long been under scrutiny in authoritarian regimes, it is relatively understudied in the case of western media systems, where press freedom is constitutionally protected, and any violations are punishable by national laws.
Notwithstanding these documented threats, the digital era has generated additional challenges for female journalists. Whereas gender has been a longstanding barrier for media professionals since the early years of professional journalism in the 17th century, in recent years digital technology has offered additional “weapons” to anyone with a smart phone: from smear campaigns to online attacks (Miller and Lewis, 2020), including sexualized comments and personalized harassment (Demarco, 2020; Maniou, 2025). Furthermore, in the 21st century, gender can no longer be interpreted as a dual choice of identity between male and female but needs to be examined in a broader social context including the personal right to choose among a variety of identities.
This article seeks to document the threats and challenges to press freedom for female journalists in the digital age. In the course of the study, several threats were identified that affect not only female journalists but also those of any other gender beyond male. The study aims to offer an analytical categorization of these threats, focusing on western media systems, where overall press freedom has been acutely affected in recent years.
Literature review
Gendered challenges to press freedom in a historical context
In recent years, the number of cases of assaults on female journalists in western media systems has grown rapidly. Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in 2017 in Malta after exposing cases of political corruption; Victoria Marinova was beaten, raped and murdered in 2018 in Bulgaria; Maryna Zolatava, Liudmila Chekina, and Valeriya Kastsiuhova have been imprisoned in Belarus since 2023. The list includes, but is not limited to, a growing number of women who have been threatened, attacked, jailed, or murdered in recent years.
The common feature in all these cases appears to be an attempt to suppress investigative journalism and curtail the constitutional rights of female journalists in western democracies, which are generally assumed to be fiercely protective of the professional rights of journalists independent of their gender, race, ethnicity, and religion. Indeed, no democratic constitution includes even the slightest mention of specific co-requisites for press freedom; on the contrary, regulatory frameworks are explicitly based on the axis of equal rights and prohibit discrimination of any type. However, the history of the western world has shown that it was not the law that created obstacles to female intellectuals but rather a series of social, political, economic, and religious barriers.
In ancient Greece, the country that created the first democracy in 507 BC, the historian Thucydides (ar. 400 BC) is believed to be the first journalist of all time. According to Britannica (2025), the earliest known journalistic product was the Acta Diurna, a news sheet with important daily events circulated in ancient Rome, said to date from before 59 BC. In the Roman period, a number of women are known to have produced excellent intellectual work, despite the extreme social difficulties they faced because of their gender. From Sappho (seventh century BC) to Suplicia (first BC), several female authors bequeathed their legacy to future generations, although few works survived intact and many are known only through others’ quotations or scraps of papyrus, while other texts are believed to be pseudonymous, attributed to male intellectuals of that era (Plant, 2004). This tendency persisted until recently; according to several feminist scholars, female “invisibility” from intellectual scholarship took three main forms: exclusion (women are disregarded), pseudo-inclusion (women are marginalized), and alienation (women’s work is interpreted through male narratives because methodologies and values remain male-centric; March, 1982; Thiele, 1986), in some cases used in combination (see analysis in Scott, 1995: 176–179). Female intellectual work also faced extreme barriers generated through the role of the Church in later years (e.g. in the Medieval period), whereas even in the Renaissance – covering the early years of professional journalism in the early 17th century – women’s entry into the profession was typically through husbands and/or fathers, and female journalists only started to increase during the mid-19th century (Chambers and Steiner, 2009: 50).
Although the 20th century is largely considered as the game-changer period for female journalists in the western world, in practice a series of barriers posed distinct challenges to female press freedom, rooted in long-stablished social constraints as well as post-industrial political and economic developments. The literature documents distinct threats, which include – but are not limited to – the “glass ceiling” (barriers that prevent women from being promoted), lack of decision-making and policy-setting authorities, unfair task distribution, unequal pay, the “motherhood penalty” as well as issues of sexual harassment (Blumell and Mulupi, 2021; Kaye-Essien and Ismail, 2020; Melki and Mallat, 2016; Wang, 2016) – #MeToo appearing as the most notable case in the early years of the 21st century.
Gendered threats to press freedom in the digital age
In the 21st century – in some cases, especially then – gender discriminations not only exist but seem to have gained explicit momentum, mainly due to digital technology that added challenges to the existing threats to press freedom.
Konow-Lund and Høiby (2023), in their study of female investigative reporters around the world, documented social and professional slander as well as physical and verbal attacks for female journalists, when confronting globalized structures of crime and power. Megarry (2014) studied online verbal abuse against women writers and found that online harassment against female journalists is more often directed at their personal characteristics (e.g. physical appearance) with the intended aim to make the assault more personalized; the ultimate goal is usually to silence them through “aggression categorically built on patriarchal arguments, which can only be used against the female gender” (p. 50). In a cross-cultural study regarding online harassment (Chen et al., 2020), female journalists stated that if they aim to engage with their audience online, they usually face sexist, critical comments that marginalize or threaten them based solely on their gender and/or sexuality. This phenomenon was identified in the early years of the 21st century as “cyber gender harassment” (Citron, 2011) and later as “gender-trolling” (Mantilla, 2013) and is largely associated with the use of social media platforms. Notwithstanding the importance of highlighting such cases, unfortunately many women do not report these attacks due to fear of repercussions that reporting the abuse could have on their professional and personal lives (Chacar, 2017).
In line with the established online threats to women, Posetti et al. (2021) brought to the fore a new challenge for female journalists identified as “gaslighting,” an organized pattern of abuse built gradually over time. It is orchestrated and designed to destroy the confidence of the target and undermine her credibility on a post-by-post basis. This method typically operates via a network of abusers for greatest effect (the “pile-on,” “dogpiling,” or “brigading” approach), who re-post the same abusive message through social media platforms many times (p. 78). In addition, AI-generated deepfakes represent another important form of online attack. In the case of female journalists, deepfakes usually center on sexual content aiming to discredit and slander them by disseminating this AI-developed content through social media and other digital platforms (George, 2024).
There are several factors that can lead to such practices against women practitioners. Carlson and Witt (2020) argue that both the topic covered by a female journalist and the medium she works for seem to influence her treatment online. For example, broadcast journalists receive a disproportionate number of online comments that focus heavily on their appearance (e.g. weight and hairstyle; Pain and Chen, 2018), which was explicitly evident during the pandemic crisis (Maniou et al., 2025). Finneman et al. (2019) found that women broadcast journalists experience psychological harm due to online audience interaction.
The rise of populist, usually far-right, political actors has generated added pressure for female journalists, especially in digital environments. As populist political narratives gained increased citizens’ support worldwide, more refined forms of disinformation prevailed especially after the onset of the global pandemic crisis (e.g. Papadopoulou and Maniou, 2021; Tumber and Waisbord, 2021). Miranda et al. (2023) argue that populist environments aggravate the toll on women as populism usually appears “gendered” (p. 5131), despite the increasing number of women involved in populist parties across western democracies (Kantola and Lombardo, 2019). These attacks – identified as mob censorship (Waisbord, 2020) – appear as coordinated collective actions and usually target, beyond women journalists, various types of minority groups with the purpose to silence media professionals by degrading their social identity (e.g. based on gender, ethnicity, etc.; Miranda et al., 2023). As such, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia appear at the center of various forms of hate speech, both offline and online (Papadopoulou and Siapera, 2021).
Surprisingly, in recent years, online harassment against journalists has become a normalized part of the job (e.g. Sampaio-Dias et al., 2024). Within this framework, female journalists often appear unwilling to report online assaults of any type; for example, Ferrier and Garud-Patkar (2018) find that more than half of the women subjected to online harassment did not report it; they also present the example of The Guardian, which conducted an analysis of readers’ comments posted on its own website in 2016 and found that articles written by female journalists attracted more dismissive trolling than those written by men, regardless of the subject (p. 322).
The same happens with SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) regarding social media posts and/or any type of published journalistic content (Kerševan and Poler, 2024; Papadopoulou and Maniou, 2025) as female journalists are increasingly becoming more vulnerable targets than their male colleagues (Jesrani and Garcia, 2025). Newly introduced measures in the EU against SLAPPs were welcomed by media professionals, however both the pace at which these measures are implemented in national legislature (Maniou, 2025) as well as voices in favor of introducing gendered anti-SLAPP strategies (Jesrani and Garcia, 2025) show that women professionals are more suppressed than their male colleagues.
Methodology, RQs, and Scope of Study
This study initiates from the following Research Question:
Which types of threats related to press freedom have been imposed on female journalists in the digital age?
The study employs a qualitative analytical approach, focusing on the specific characteristics of threats directed at women journalists and media professionals choosing to identify themselves as any other gender beyond male. Our research began with a review of global monitoring tools and platforms that document violations of press freedom. We identified Mapping Media Freedom – a Europe-wide monitoring mechanism managed by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) – as the most systematically organized and comprehensive source for documenting such violations. Its structured and detailed reporting enabled a deeper investigation into the nature of threats. Based on this, we compiled all incidents recorded by Mapping Media Freedom between 2020 and 2024 in which women journalists were targeted. Regarding gender dimension, we found that 582 women and 4 non-binary journalists were subjected to attacks, while gender remained unknown in 190 cases (see Table 1).
Gender dimension.
We subsequently examined the kind of threats women journalists faced using the Mapping Media Freedom framework, which provides a structured taxonomy of threat types. Analysis of the data reveals that verbal attacks constitute the most prevalent category, with 409 recorded incidents, including 210 cases of intimidation or threats and 188 instances of harassment or bullying. Physical assault follows as the second most frequent category, with 218 cases, of which the majority (163) did not result in physical injury. Interference with journalistic activity is also significant (143 cases), primarily involving blocked access to events or journalistic obstruction. In contrast, incidents involving sexual assault, cyberattacks, and raids remain relatively rare (Table 2).
Type of threats.
Notwithstanding the depth of the dataset, we found that these data alone captured only part of the story; a deeper, case-by-case analysis was necessary to meaningfully document and interpret the gendered dimensions of the threats faced by women journalists and media professionals who identify with genders other than male. To do so, we turned to the Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ), a press freedom organization that publishes reports on the status of press freedom from a gender perspective. We systematically reviewed and analyzed the organization’s monthly, quarterly and annual reports (2020–2024). In cases where incident descriptions lacked sufficient detail, supplementary information was obtained by additional sources, including reports by other organizations and relevant news articles.
This study aims to move beyond the conventional categories of threats and document a broader, more nuanced spectrum of gendered violence and intimidation against female journalists and media professionals identifying themselves as any other gender beyond male. By doing so, we seek to present an analytical conceptual categorization of these threats in the digital age in western media systems. As opposed to authoritarian regimes; where gender is documented to play a crucial role in practicing journalism either because of the limited number of non-male journalists or socio-political barriers toward women practitioners who obstruct their job (e.g. Bulut and Can, 2024), western media systems were selected as journalists in these environments are believed to be able to perform their duties freely, irrespective of their gender. By testing this hypothesis and documenting the existing threats, we seek to map and categorize any threats to press freedom related to journalists’ gender.
The period of the study coincides with the onset of the pandemic crisis, during which overall threats to press freedom were exacerbated (Price et al., 2024) and the notion of press freedom became once again a timely topic for research, especially in western societies.
Findings and analysis
As depicted by the data, women journalists are exposed to many of the same types of threats as their male counterparts (e.g. Blumell and Mulupi, 2021; Kaye-Essien and Ismail, 2020). However, this study found that each predefined category – such as physical, verbal, technological, economic, etc. – often took on new forms and characteristics when directed at female journalists, especially after the onset of the pandemic. Moreover, new types of threats emerged that carried distinctly gendered dimensions, often rooted in misogyny. This observation opens new avenues for understanding, analyzing, and ultimately addressing threats that are specifically shaped by the gender of the journalist.
Online/technological threats
Studies have shown that online/technological threats against media professionals in general are normally provoked by their professional roles specifically in response to their reporting (e.g. Dodds et al., 2026). When the target is a female journalist, however, our data revealed that attacks frequently focus on appearance and character, involve sexist remarks – such as slut-shaming – and often escalate into personal attacks that employ sexualized and gendered language aimed at discrediting them on the basis of their identity rather than their work.
Online harassment: It’s (not) personal
Online and technological threats have acquired a distinctly gendered dimension, as perpetrators increasingly exploit digital anonymity and technological advancements to discredit, sexualize, and intimidate women journalists. In Italy, a female journalist was subjected to a wave of online abuse. Users retrieved personal images from her social media profile and circulated them alongside sexist and derogatory remarks. Among the individuals amplifying the harassment was a former member of the Italian far-right, who insinuated that her career advancement was due solely to her physical appearance (Coalition for Women in Journalism [CFWIJ], 2023a).
In many cases, perpetrators threaten with rape not only the female journalist but also members of her family. In addition to coordinated doxxing campaigns on social media, an award-winning crime reporter based in Northern Ireland received a particularly disturbing message via Facebook, which explicitly threatened sexual violence against her infant son (CFWIJ, nda). A Brussels based journalist who was targeted by gender-based online trolling shared a screenshot of a tweet in which a user explicitly stated that she was “asking to be raped.” (CFWIJ, 2020). Another political editor was targeted with vile, misogynist, and offensive messages after sharing her 10-year-old daughter’s picture (McGonagle, 2022). An unidentified account threatened to rape her daughter. In 2022, the CFWIJ documented at least 13 major organized online trolling campaigns against women journalists in Canada (CFWIJ, 2022) In many cases, perpetrators share journalists’ personal data such as home address or phone numbers publicly, aiming to provoke fear and insecurity. For instance, in Slovakia, a well-known conspiracy theorist published a female journalist’s phone number on his Telegram channel and continued to obsessively make degrading attacks against the journalist (Mapping Media Freedom, 2024a).
Politicians as perpetrators
Political actors also play a direct role in inciting online abuse against journalists, particularly women, thereby contributing to a hostile media environment and undermining press freedom. In Slovenia for instance, former Prime Minister Janez Janša publicly referred to a journalist and her colleague as “prostitutes,” in an apparent attempt to undermine their credibility and professionalism (ECPMF, 2021). On 2 July 2023, members of the Finnish Parliament from both the ruling right-wing party and a mainstream conservative party launched a targeted online smear campaign against a female journalist working for a national news outlet. The harassment quickly escalated on social media, drawing thousands of reactions, including threats of sexual violence and derogatory, gendered insults (Council of Europe [CoE], 2023). In Canada, at least 18 journalists received vile emails after a right-wing politician, displeased by their coverage of his work, and their line of inquiry, tweeted a provocative message encouraging his supporters to “play dirty,” thus initiating a violent targeted harassment campaign. He even went so far as to publish the email addresses of some of the journalists online, making them vulnerable to online abuse (CFWIJ, 2021a). A 2023 report published by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) underscores the pervasive and severe nature of online harassment targeting women journalists. The study found that 73% of female journalists surveyed had experienced some form of online violence. Notably, 25% reported receiving threats of physical harm, while 18% were subjected to threats of sexual violence. Particularly concerning is the finding that 20% of respondents reported that such online abuse had escalated into offline physical attacks or abuse, highlighting the tangible risks associated with digital harassment (Posseti and Shabbir, 2023).
When AI and deep fakes target women journalists . .
In many instances, as data reveal, perpetrators turned to AI to create deepfake videos aiming to spread misinformation and fraudulent content, to discredit and sexualize women journalists. In the UK, a renowned investigative journalist and advocate for women’s rights was subjected to a malicious online attack through the creation of false pornographic profiles and the potential use of deepfake technology to undermine her credibility and silence her voice. She had to reach out to several adult websites, requesting the removal of accounts falsely created under her name by far-right trolls leveraging AI. Another case involved a fake image showing a Denmark journalist (CFWIJ, 2024a) with a black eye or red marks on her face. This manipulated image was accompanied by a false story suggesting domestic abuse, wrongly implicating her husband. The invented narrative claimed that he had been violent after discovering undisclosed secrets. In other cases, AI-generated deepfake videos of well-known female presenters were used to promote a murky investment opportunity or to allege a journalist’s and a politician’s complicity in buying votes prior to an election in Slovakia (RSF, 2024). The gendered nature of this abuse reflects broader societal patterns of misogyny and serves to delegitimize women in the public sphere through personal degradation.
Physical attacks
Women journalists, like their male colleagues, frequently face serious physical threats such as assault, unlawful detention, and, in extreme cases, assassination. However, the physical harassment directed at female journalists often takes gender-specific forms, as they are disproportionately targeted with sexual violence – reflecting the intersection of gender-based and professional risks they face.
Sexual harassment broadcasted live
According to our findings, female journalists are routinely subjected to harassment by bystanders while reporting in the field. These incidents may even occur during live broadcasts, thereby exposing the harassment to a wider audience in real time. This was the case for a female journalist in Madrid, who was approached by a man who appeared to touch her buttocks on camera while she was reporting live on a robbery (Williams, 2023). One of the most notable cases of physical harassment concerns the violation of personal and professional boundaries of a female journalist in Albania by Prime Minister Edi Rama during a press conference. Rama disregarded journalists’ inquiries and instead pushed the journalist by patting her cheek before walking away (Mapping Media Freedom, 2024c). On another instance, several female journalists, who were covering the 2024 Milan Pride parade, were sexually harassed by an individual who appeared to be a member of security personnel (CFWIJ, 2024b). A female football correspondent in the UK also recounted a disturbing incident in which a bystander kissed her on the cheek while she was filming a video (Reddy, 2021). In a separate encounter, another man exposed himself and urinated publicly in her presence. Indeed, data indicate that female journalists covering sports are disproportionately subjected to sexual harassment. Five female sports reporters from the United States alleged that they were harassed by a former New York Mets manager and currently pitching coach. They accused him of sending them inappropriate texts and asking for their private pictures. The women journalists also said they received unwarranted comments about their appearance (Ghiroli and Strang, 2022). In France, more than a dozen women sports journalists talked openly about the derogatory comments and lurid abuse they routinely face both in and out of the newsroom, on and off the field and on social media in a documentary titled “I am not a slut, I am a journalist” (Hird, 2021).
Sexual harassment inside the newsroom
Sexual harassment against women journalists also frequently occurs within their own professional environments, often perpetrated by colleagues and, most commonly, by senior editors or those in positions of authority. In Romania, a female reporter publicly disclosed that she was sexually assaulted in 2015 by her then editor-in-chief when she was only 20 years old. Subsequently, two additional women – both choosing to remain anonymous – came forward with similar allegations. What is particularly troubling, however, is that in some cases, media organizations not only attempted to shield alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment, but also effectively penalized the female journalists who came forward. For example, in Georgia, a pro-government television broadcaster circulated disinformation about a female journalist who had successfully sued its director for sexual harassment. The journalist later acknowledged that initiating legal proceedings against the director effectively ended her career in the industry, illustrating the professional reprisals women may face when they seek accountability (CFWIJ, 2023b).
Body-shaming
Women working in television are particularly subjected to body shaming, reflecting the industry’s heightened emphasis on physical appearance and the persistent gendered scrutiny faced by female media professionals. A female reporter returning from maternity leave got an email in which she was advised to “exercise and lose weight” if she wanted to realize her further TV ambitions. In a public appeal, 150 women sports journalists in France denounced the sexism they face in their line of work. Moreover, they critiqued the superficial roles assigned to women on television sports programs, where they were often included primarily for their appearance rather than their journalistic expertise or analytical contributions (Corbet, 2021). On another instance, in the UK, a female journalist faced a highly sexualized and derogatory comment on a national television program, where a public figure questioned her physical desirability using explicitly misogynistic language. The remark was made in direct response to the journalist’s appearance on a political broadcast, during which she critically assessed a proposal concerning men’s mental health policy (Stavrou and Dalton, 2023).
Economic threats
Job insecurity is an inherent risk in the media profession, and termination based on professional performance is an accepted, although unfortunate, aspect of the field. However, for women journalists, this risk is compounded by additional discriminatory practices including ageism, sexism, and pregnancy discrimination that can lead to dismissals unrelated to job performance and reflective of broader structural inequalities within the industry.
Gendered dismissals: When ageism and pregnancy discrimination prevail . .
In Canada, a veteran journalist and longtime chief anchor was fired abruptly after a 35-year career with the network. According to reports, the network’s executive questioned her decision to let her hair go gray during the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to make disparaging remarks (CFWIJ, ndb). This incident raises serious concerns about the role of ageism and sexism in editorial and managerial decisions within media institutions, and specifically how such biases may have contributed to her termination. Α journalist from Netherlands reported experiencing significant vulnerability and anxiety during her pregnancy leave. Notably, 1 week prior to her scheduled return, she was removed from her solo position on television and reassigned to night radio on a temporary basis (Nos, 2024). This abrupt change underscored the precariousness of her professional standing and highlighted broader concerns about the treatment of women in media during and after maternity leave.
Outspoken female journalists pay the gendered price
Women journalists often appear to be penalized for being outspoken, assertive, or for voicing demands related to their rights, working conditions, or ethical concerns. Moreover, behaviors that are frequently perceived as leadership qualities in male counterparts are, in the case of women, often interpreted as disruptive or unprofessional, reflecting deep-seated gender biases within the media industry. A journalist in Croatia was given a dismissal warning by her employer when she spoke about the misogynistic culture prevalent in the firm during an interview (CFWIJ, 2021b). On another instance, a journalist in Italy faced disciplinary action for publicly denouncing the censorship of a monologue by a writer on her program (Mapping Media Freedom, 2024b).
Social/cultural bias
While this study does not focus on threats based on race or religion – acknowledging that such forms of discrimination can also affect men journalists – there are instances in which these threats intersect with gender, compounding the vulnerabilities experienced by women journalists. Since 2021, according to CFWIJ, attacks on women journalists from ethnic backgrounds have increased amid the rise of populist right-wing nationalism. Data reveal spikes in online hate directed at women journalists of color when nationalist leaders incite their supporters and ahead of events that celebrate national days. For instance, a Moroccan journalist based in Paris had her application for a press card denied by the Commission de la Carte d’Identité des Journalistes Professionnels (CCIJP) solely because she wore a hijab in her identification photo (CFWIJ, 2024c). This case highlights the intersection of professional discrimination and religious expression within journalistic institutions. In Canada, various female journalists were targeted with racist emails by right-wing trolls as part of an organized campaign to intimidate women journalists and journalists of color. A female journalist posted a screenshot of the racially charged and sexist abuse she receives on a weekly basis (CFWIJ, ndc).
What about transgender journalists?
Data concerning the threats faced by transgender journalists remain alarmingly scarce, highlighting a significant gap in media and human rights research. In the UK, a transgender reporter was injured by far-right protestors during anti-drag demonstrations. She was crushed against a pub wall, resulting in significant swelling, bruising, and pain, including a bruise in the shape of a footprint (O’Thomson, 2023). In another incident, a prominent British transgender broadcaster announced that she had reported author J.K. Rowling to the police, alleging repeated and deliberate misgendering on Twitter (X). The journalist, a vocal transgender rights advocate, condemned Rowling’s actions, accusing the author of engaging in “grotesque transphobia” and targeting her personally (Gavin, 2024).
The categorization of gendered threats to press freedom in western countries in the digital age is presented in Table 3.
Gendered threats to press freedom in the digital age.
Conclusions: The “gendered price” of press freedom in the digital age
Being a journalist in today’s volatile environment, where legal frameworks and technological infrastructures are systematically weaponized by those in power to shield themselves from accountability, constitutes an increasingly perilous undertaking. Female journalists, like their male colleagues, encounter the same restrictions on press freedom and confront similar challenges; they have been threatened, jailed, physically assaulted, subjected to online harassment campaigns, dragged into protracted legal battles, doxed with personal information exposed online, and, in the most extreme cases, have even lost their lives as a result of their work (e.g. Blumell and Mulupi, 2021; Kaye-Essien and Ismail, 2020).
Unlike their male counterparts, however, female journalists are subjected to an additional layer of threats and challenges that stem specifically from their gender (e.g. Konow-Lund and Høiby, 2023; Posetti et al., 2021; Sampaio-Dias et al., 2024). These gendered attacks aim not only to curtail their press freedom, but also to undermine their sense of identity and professional legitimacy.
This study sought to systematically identify and document the gendered dimensions of the threats that female journalists in western media systems are facing as well as to detect and analyze new manifestations of gendered threats in the digital age. A first finding that consistently emerged across the data is that all pre-defined and documented forms of threats acquire a distinct gendered dimension when directed at female journalists. For instance, while physical threats are typically understood to encompass assault, unlawful detention, and assassination, in the case of women journalists these are often accompanied by or manifest as sexual harassment. Economic threats, such as dismissals or reassignments that are in most cases attributed to reasons such as professional inadequacy or budgetary constraints are often influenced by subjective judgments regarding perceived attractiveness when the journalist is female. Likewise, digital harassment that in most cases involves death threats or threats of physical violence frequently include the threat of sexual violence (particularly rape) when directed at female journalists. This finding underscores the systemic and pervasive nature of gendered threats in journalism, which compounds the risks already inherent to the profession. It does not suggest that female journalists are targeted solely because of their gender. Rather, it highlights the dual vulnerability female journalists face; they are targeted both for their professional role as public watchdogs and for their gender identity. This intersection – of being a journalist who challenges power and being a woman – exposes them to a broader and more insidious range of threats.
The most important findings concerned the new manifestations of gendered threats in the digital age. As underscored by this study, technological infrastructures are systematically exploited to harass, intimidate, and discredit female journalists. The rise of AI and deepfake technologies has significantly intensified these attacks, enabling new, insidious forms of gender-based violence that extend far beyond traditional online abuse. These tools are increasingly used to create hyper-realistic, manipulated content – often sexualized or pornographic in nature – designed to silence women journalists by damaging their credibility, instilling fear, and eroding public trust in their work. This new form of digital violence has profound psychological, reputational, and career-related consequences, reinforcing existing gender inequalities in the media industry and contributing to a climate of fear and self-censorship.
We also found that female journalists are exposed to a distinct and largely undocumented category of threats. These threats, lacking formal recognition or a clearly defined normative label, often go unnoticed or are subsumed under existing threat categories merely as “gendered dimensions.” However, the data suggest that these are not simply variations within established categories but constitute a qualitatively distinct set of threats that require separate analytical attention. For instance, unlike their male counterparts, female journalists frequently face offline and online criticism centered on their appearance. Achievements are frequently attributed to perceived sexual allure, while their investigative work – especially when it involves exposing scandals – is dismissed or undermined through comments on their lack of attractiveness. Unlike male journalists, who are seen as “tough,” “professionals,” and “leaders” when showing qualities as assertiveness and outspokenness, female journalists exhibiting this behavior are met with professional marginalization and other forms of discipline. Pregnancy is often perceived as a threat to women’s career progression in journalism, while getting older and remaining in front of the cameras seems to be a privilege that only male journalists can enjoy.
This finding underscores that threats against female journalists are not simply additive to those faced by men but are qualitatively different, reflecting entrenched gendered power structures that seek to silence, delegitimize, and drive women, as well as other genders beyond male, out of the profession. By framing them merely as sub-categories within broader classifications that aim to document a presumed universal journalistic experience but, in essence, are grounded in male experiences, their severity and uniqueness risk being diluted.
In this context, the specific vulnerabilities and experiences of women – demonstrated by the findings to be distinct both in form and in impact – are frequently interpreted through male-centric analytical frameworks that obscure or diminish their complexity. Such misrepresentation contributes to what feminist scholars have identified as a form of alienation, wherein women’s lived realities are interpreted through male narratives because methodologies and values remain male-centric (e.g. March, 1982; Thiele, 1986). In some cases, most notably illustrated by the alarming scarcity of data on the experiences and threats faced by transgender journalists, their unique realities are rendered largely invisible. This invisibility, coupled with the alienation experienced by those whose perspectives fall outside dominant norms, results in experiences that are only superficially acknowledged, without prompting meaningful institutional responses. Such dynamics contribute to what scholars have termed pseudo-inclusion, a form of symbolic recognition that lacks substantive engagement or structural change (e.g. Scott, 1995), and point toward features observed in the past.
Addressing these threats and acting on them with concrete, inclusive policy and institutional reforms requires an understanding that they are not merely dimensions or subcategories to the normative threats. Instead, there is a great need for an intersectional understanding and a corresponding vocabulary inclusive and reflective of the full spectrum of journalistic experiences capable of capturing these distinctions. This vocabulary would enable a more comprehensive documentation and analysis, moving beyond male-centric models and acknowledging how threats to journalists are shaped not only by their professional role but also by intersecting identities such as gender, race, sexuality, religion, and class, and interlocking systems of power, discrimination, and symbolic violence.
Ultimately, while it is true that women in western democracies have made significant strides in reclaiming fundamental rights and advancing gender equality, this study reveals that in the digital age female journalists do not enjoy an equal level of press freedom as their male colleagues. On the contrary, women journalists pay a disproportionately high and distinctly gendered price for press freedom as they face threats, both on account of their professional role and their gender. This dual vulnerability exposes them to a broader and more insidious range of threats. In this way, it is not only female journalists’ press freedom that is curtailed, but also their sense of identity and, in some cases, their right to participate in the profession. The absence of a concrete vocabulary capable of articulating a new framework that acknowledges and respects the unique experiences of marginalized journalists constitutes yet another form of threat. Without the linguistic and conceptual tools to recognize these experiences, their realities remain inadequately addressed and persistently marginalized within existing institutional and discursive structures. In the case of transgender journalists, the findings of this work may constitute the starting point for the next level of this study.
Taken together, these intersecting realities – the compounded vulnerabilities faced by female journalists and the ongoing failure to fully recognize their experiences – create a critical divide that profoundly affects which journalists, whether female or male, demonstrate greater resilience, recover from targeted attacks, and persist in holding those in power accountable.
Footnotes
Ethical considerations
This article does not contain any studies with human or animal participants. As such, informed consent is not required.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.