(Cover Image: Kelsey Borch / Shameless Magazine)

Gendered online violence is silencing women journalists in Fiji, says Pacific media scholar Dr Shailendra Singh.

The harmful trend involves unwanted private messages, hateful language or threats to reputation, often from anonymous sources.

The visibility of women journalists has made them frequent targets, while perpetrators can harness popular online platforms to shame or embarrass them in the public eye.

Dr Singh has dedicated extensive research to this dangerous phenomenon, including a 2022 study with Geraldine Panapasa that found 83 per cent of female respondents had experienced online harassment.

Significantly, respondents reported changes to their journalistic practice because of abuse, such as self-censoring their content or avoiding certain sources or stories.

“The aim is to embarrass female journalists into silence, or punish them for writing a report that someone did not like,” Dr Singh said.

The researchers said the valuable role of the fourth estate in protecting the public interest makes harassment of journalists a critical concern.

But eliminating the problem will need further action, as 40 per cent of respondents said their employers had no systems in place for dealing with online violence.

Islands Business magazine manager Samantha Magick said her staff could come to her for support, but harassment adds another barrier to attracting and keeping journalists in the industry.  

“We’re competing with marketing, or competing with UN agencies that will snap up a great young communications officer after they’ve done a year in a newsroom, and pay them a lot more,” she said.

“The people that stick with the profession are either super passionate about it and willing to sacrifice certain things or are in a position where it can be viable for them.” 

Fiji adopted its Online Safety Act in 2018 which bans harmful online communications and appoints the Online Safety Commission to investigate offences.

Editor of Fiji TV Felix Chaudry said journalists often do not report online abuse because of a lack of faith or awareness around reporting procedures.

“You can have the best laws, but if you aren’t able to enforce the law or have reporting mechanisms in place, then the laws are useless because they’re not going to serve their purpose,” he said.

Mr Chaudry said until these mechanisms are developed, media employers should build a zero-tolerance workplace culture and establish their own protocols to deal with online violence.

“You get very clear from the beginning that you will not tolerate any form of harassment – abuse, verbal, written online…so it’s very clear from the get-go that kind of behaviour is not accepted,” he said.

There is a growing body of data to suggest women’s online safety is a critical concern across Fiji, with new statistics made available earlier this month.

The Online Safety Commission revealed 61.44 per cent of women in Fiji experienced cyberbullying in 2023 at Safer Internet Day on February 6.

Mr Chaudry said the online harassment of women journalists reflected ongoing issues stemming from the explosion of internet use in Fiji.

“Facebook, Twitter and Instagram gave people open territory to abuse anyone and everyone at will, whenever they wanted to. 

“I think there should have been a lot of education on social media etiquette, what’s acceptable and what’s not,” he said.

You can directly report online violence on social media platforms or lodge a complaint to the Fiji Online Safety Commission.