In the Balkans, Online Abuse of Female Journalists is ‘Normal’

In my analysis for News Mavens, I said that Studio B's coverage of the event was unprofessional, manipulative and biased, but that the vast part of the criticism on social networks was targeted at Zivotic and Vucicevic as individuals and - most importantly - as women.

They were judged for their looks, behaviour and "sexual morals". They were labeled "stupid whores", "illiterate cows" and "lying fat sluts".

Zivotic's private photographs were PhotoShopped to mock her, with disgraceful comments on her appearance included. Seeing all of that made me feel very uncomfortable.

Would comments about similarly unfair and untruthful reporting be so harsh if the broadcast had been produced by a male reporter and a male editor? That was the question I raised in my article.

As was to be expected, some social media users gave me an implicit answer. My intention of pointing out the sexist and misogynist online attacks on two female journalists was greeted by rather mean comments about me being "the same as Zivotic and Vucicevic". The comments were much less malicious, but even so, they were focused on me as a woman, which - again - made me feel uncomfortable.

If you're not with us, you're against us. And we will insult you on the internet because there's not much you can do about it. This is the principle behind the verbal violence that online communities use to defeat their opponents.

Gender-based attacks widespread

Lidija Pisker. Photo: Constanze Flamme

An International Federation of Journalists survey last year revealed that 66 per cent of female journalists who were victims of online harassment suffered attacks based on their gender. While half of these attacks were reported, in only 13 per cent of cases...