ONLINE HARASSMENT IN SOUTH ASIA AND ITS EVOLUTION INTO PHYSICAL ATTACKS T R 9 1 O 0 P 2 E

R [email protected] wwww.womeninjournalism.org | : @CFWIJ ONLINE HARASSMENT IN SOUTH ASIA AND ITS EVOLUTION INTO PHYSICAL ATTACKS

This report was developed with the support of Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

Data, research and writing: Rabia Mushtaq Editing and Review: Kiran Nazish and Luavut Zahid Design: Damla Tarhan

[email protected] | wwww.womeninjournalism.org | Twitter: @CFWIJ TABLE OF CONTENTS

About us 4 Introduction 5 State of online harassment across South Asia and threats of physical attacks 6 Statistics and data collected by The Coalition For Women In Journalism 7 Pakistan in focus 7 Threatened by ruling government and military establishment 10 Asma Shirazi 10 Marvi Sirmed 11 Gul Bukhari 12 Mariana Babar 13 Threatened by ruling government 14 Gharidah Farooqi 14 in focus 16 Attacked for supporting Kashmiris 17 17 Attacked for critique on ruling government and Hindu nationalism 18 Rana Ayyub 18 Nidhi Razdan 19 Swati Chaturvedi 19 Dhanya Rajendran 20 Radhika Iyer 20 21 What does the rest of South Asia depict? 23 What are the leading social media companies doing? 34 How women journalists are crusading and what needs to be done? 35

[email protected] | wwww.womeninjournalism.org | Twitter: @CFWIJ ABOUT US

The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. Our network of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

This report was made possible with support from The Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

Data, research and writing: Rabia Mushtaq Editing and Review: Kiran Nazish and Luavut Zahid Design: Damla Tarhan

[email protected] | wwww.womeninjournalism.org | Twitter: @CFWIJ INTRODUCTION

The digital era has introduced vast opportunities for journalists across the world. In a world where people are just a click away from getting the latest news, journalists also find technology and social media innovation beneficial for their work. However, the digital era also puts journalists in a difficult position due to which they face their fair share of issues, particularly women journalists, who are vulnerable to online harassment and abuse across the world. Women journalists are far more visible in the era of the internet and become an easy target of online abuse and harassment by attackers, who may have different motives behind the attacks, due to their gender.If observed closely, online harassment of women journalists is the outcome of various motives in different parts of the world. In some countries, harassers, trolls and bullies attack them solely based on their gender, while at other places, they are victims of political maneuverings, religious extremism, surveillance by military and intelligence.Through this report, The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) aims to find out how grave the situation is for women journalists in various South Asian countries when one emphasizes on the threats they face in the digital sphere, which could potentially also creep up into their physical spaces; how the women journalists in the region cope with online harassment; whether they fear its physical repercussions offline; what drives online harassers to attack them; the effectiveness of legal systems in South Asian countries and the role of social media companies to curb online harassment. STATE OF ONLINE HARASSMENT ACROSS SOUTH ASIA AND THREATS OF PHYSICAL ATTACKS

In the past few years, the South Asian region has witnessed an upsurge of online attacks on women journalists. Women journalists are called names, curses and slurs are casually directed towards them, their social media posts are taken out of context, their faces are morphed to be misused, inappropriate memes and videos are made using their photographs, and they are addressed with the most obnoxious labels for simply having an opinion of their own. However, what’s worse is that these attacks aren’t just limited to the online space. In fact, these women journalists are at a risk of bearing the brunt offline, as well. They fear for their safety within their surroundings twice as much as they do on the internet. Online attacks often increase the risk of these women journalists being attacked offline as well. Threats to their physical being increase manifold, particularly if an attacker openly declares to kill or rape them through an online post. 19.6% of the cases involved online harassment overall. STATISTICS AND DATA COLLECTED BY THE COALITION FOR WOMEN IN JOURNALISM

Between January and September 2019, PAKISTAN IN FOCUS CFWIJ documented 164 cases of online harassment of women journalists across the world. The data collected by CFWIJ Being a woman journalist in Pakistan — also found out that India and Pakistan particularly those who cover politics — is were among the five worst countries for a very challenging job. For a woman to women journalists in the world. We found question and gather information about that 19.6% of the cases involved online the country’s political climate or even harassment overall, and of this portion, share views in the context of religion South Asia accounted for 16.1% of all acts as an invitation to her being open cases. The attacks on many of these to incessant trolling and harassment by journalists were not only online but also those who may have taken offence due crept into the offline spaces. In Pakistan, to her journalistic work. online trolling takes a more cancerous form altogether. We documented massive attacks on three of our members early in The current situation of press freedom the year, including Marvi Sirmed, Asma in the country is also at an all-time high Shirazi and Gharidah Farooqi. with journalists, particularly women journalists, attempting to self-censor their opinions and work. MANY WOMEN Pakistan also happens to be one of the most patriarchal and misogynistic JOURNALISTS HAVE countries, not just in South Asia, but also in the world. Prevalent sexism and gender RECEIVED ONLINE bias also makes it very difficult for women THREATS. to do their jobs without being scrutinized and vilified. Women journalists are subjected to online abuse for their gender, Many of the famous women journalists, as their attackers find it easy to tow their who are known for their commentary personal lives into the work they do, if they and analysis on various political and aren’t willing to agree with their views on religious issues, conduct their own various issues. Men are often at the helm television shows, hence making them of tweeting and posting inappropriate public figures and susceptible to comments and content against women unsolicited attacks online. Trolls and journalists, who are in some way or the harassers find it legitimate to publicly other challenging the patriarchal and harass these journalists, particularly chauvinistic fabric of the Pakistani society. using social media platforms, if they do Many women journalists encounter abusive not agree with their political and slurs online and become victims of religious ideologies, the women character assassination by their offenders journalists encounter threats of rape and sitting behind the computer screen. murder. Those who are opinionated about their views on the state and establishment’s interference in a civilian government’s machinery end up becoming targets of state sponsored trolls and attackers online. Many such journalists who have openly condemned the military’s intrusion in Pakistan’s democratic set-up have seen their physical spaces being violated by various entities including the intelligence and law enforcement personnel in civilian garbs, as well as faced malicious campaigns against them. While others have also received online threats for merely sharing facts related to issues at hand. The following case studies have been categorized with respect to being under scrutiny and surveillance by the ruling government, political parties, military establishment, and paid political trolls.

The current situation of press freedom in the country is also at an all-time high with journalists, particularly women journalists, attempting to self-censor their opinions and work. 16.1% of the cases were counted in South Asia. THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

ASMA SHIRAZİ Asma, a senior Pakistani anchorperson, journalist and CFWIJ member, has been maligned and derided for simply doing her job. The online attacks against her have turned into physical attacks twice in July 2019.This summer, two break-ins at Asma’s home in Islamabad left her concerned about her security and that of her family, especially her children. The first break-in took place when she was abroad and the other took place after she was back. Both the break-ins were eye-witnessed, after which they were reported and assessed by the police. The incidents were an act of intimidation to silence the Asma for her journalistic work and brazen opinions on political matters, and raised concerns about her safety.Last year, bullies and trolls attacked and harassed Asma over false allegations. She was targeted in a smear online campaign after she was reporting the arrival of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, ahead of their surrender to the National Accountability Bureau in July 2018, a few days before the elections in Pakistan.

Asma was performing her journalistic duties in the same flight that carried the father daughter duo and consequently received a lot of criticism. She was called a ‘lifafa journalist’ — a term loosely used for journalists receiving bribes for their reporting — among several other abusive comments. The event psychologically impacted Asma, after which she took a break from Twitter for some time and became more cautious of what she said and wrote. Till date, our member faces immense abuse online even if her posts and tweets are not related to her work. Following, which she resorted to limit the use of social media, especially Twitter, only to steer clear of abuse and hate online. THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

MARVI SIRMED Our member Marvi Sirmed is one of the most attacked women journalists in Pakistan. On TV shows and online, she has always been at the center of criticism by those who do not agree with her views as a journalist.

In April 2019, a campaign against Marvi gained over 11,000 tweets in a matter of two hours.Most trollers were identified as supporters of the ruling party PTI, Prime Minister Imran Khan and the military. She was dragged in the mud as a result of misinformation and Marvi’s attackers incited violence against her.

Marvi was falsely linked to a news story regarding incest and the account that started the campaign against her on Facebook was followed by over 225,000 people. The post claimed that Marvi was acting against Islam and wanted a “free sex, incestous society.” the journalist’s photos were stolen and made public from her Facebook account, while personal details including her residential address, ID card number and other contact details were also shared online. The post ended by calling all Muslims to murder Marvi and her “mafia of godless liberals”.

Time and again, Marvi has been put under unwarranted scrutiny. She has faced character assassination and has been docked several times, leaving her feeling vulnerable and threatened about her safety all the time. THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

GUL BUKHARI Gul Bukhari is a fearless Pakistani woman journalist and political analyst, who is known for her blatant views about the state. She has, time and again, received extremely offensive and explicit messages on her social media, particularly on Twitter.

On June 4, 2018 — a day after the DG ISPR Asif Ghafoor held a press conference disclosing about monitoring citizens who criticize the country — Gul was briefly abducted by unidentified men in Lahore, while on her way to appear at a talk show. Despite having returned to her home after a few hours, her abduction was a display of how the online abuse can transcend into one’s physical surroundings. She even spoke of fear and intimidation in the media and politics before the elections were to take place on July 25.

Gul shared that she felt very insecure and had restricted her son’s movement. She even spoke about sending live updates about her whereabouts to her family and friends via WhatsApp.

A few days after her abduction, a supporter of the now ruling political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who went by Twitter handle @mursaleenpti wished “sexual torture” upon Gul almost a month before the general elections took place in the country. It wasn’t just this one man who left vile tweets on Gul’s Twitter timeline, there are many others like him who still bash the journalists for her critical views.

In an interview with a publication, Gul shared that the assault on her was “carefully organized and coordinated” on social media, deeming it as “the last frontier they try to conquer”. THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

MARIANA BAABAR In April 2019, Pakistani journalist Mariana Baabar Pashteen tweeted about receiving threats and wrote about holding Director General of Inter Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor responsible. She tweeted that the person’s cover was blown when he inquired “Why Pashteen?” from the journalist. Mariana wrote that the DG ISPR “would know exactly what’s going on,'' referring to the threats she received. Her Twitter thread was concerning for most of her well-wishers on the social media website, but there were people who bashed Mariana for holding Pakistan’s army responsible for the threats. Some accused her of trying to become famous and seek asylum abroad.

Mariana has been working as a journalist for the past 38 years and has been known for being vocal against injustice and human rights violations in Pakistan. Mariana ‘s German Shepherd was once poisoned a few weeks after she had protested outside FIA’s office in Rawalpindi, along with her colleagues from the Jang newspaper.

Currently, Mariana is vocal and supportive towards the cause of the Pushtoon Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), which makes her vulnerable to the receiving end of abuse and threats from online trolls. THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT

GHARIDAH FAROOQI Prominent television anchor, journalist and CFWIJ member, Gharidah Farooqi, is at the receiving end of immense abuse online almost every single day. Earlier this year in March, she was a target of online harassment after having tweeted a fact about the terrorist who killed 49 people at the Christchurch mosque in New Zealand. Her tweet was taken out of context and she received immense onslaught of abuse online as a result. Gharidah was simply stating a fact, yet she was targeted as if she had shared an opinion of her own. A series of vicious comments and threatening videos went viral, making way for a campaign to begin against the journalist. She shared how the general bullying that began online turned into serious threats to her physical safety. Her attackers stooped to her character assassination and hurled allegations, as well as threatened to murder her.

Gharidah reached out to the Federal Investigation Agency and also alerted the Information Minister about her ordeal. She also tweeted about reaching out to the country’s Prime Minister. Gharidah even demanded security at the time and shared that it wasn’t provided, whatsoever.

Gharidah is also the first female journalist to have taken legal action against her attackers. However, she says that it has not helped her much in the due course. “In 2015, I filed a complaint with FIA against a series of online abuse. Ideally, the agency should have taken my complaint seriously and taken relevant action. But that was not the case,” she said when talking to CFWIJ and added, “People usually assume that anchors and journalists are powerful and everybody listens to them, but it is not like that at all. The FIA has done nothing to address my complaints. Only the powerful can misuse their positions and get cases shut down. So despite the presence of institutions and laws, its implementation is nowhere to be found.” THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT

GHARIDAH FAROOQI The journalist has also been verbally attacked online by ministers of the sitting government in the past for her opinions shared on Twitter. Recently enough, Gharidah was yet again under the spotlight, after she criticized Pakistan’s foreign minister for referring to as an “Indian state” when talking to the Indian media during the recently held session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in Geneva. Her tweet gained traction by the ruling party PTI and its supporters that in turn attacked her for her opinion. She was abused, called names and referred to using sexually explicit terms — merely for a tweet.

For her stance related to Kashmir and Balochistan on Twitter, Gharidah faced dissent online and received an email by Twitter citing complaints by India objectifying her tweets.

Following the immense trolling and abuse she has received online, Gharidah said that she does not resort to self-censor her work.

“Personally, I do not self-censor when threatened and harassed online. Online trolling, abuse, harassment and threats have not led me to censor my journalistic work so far. However, I do agree that journalists practice self-censorship when threatened online. It obviously has a lot of impact, especially on women journalists, as they become cautious of the words they use in their stories. They choose to do safe stories and avoid working on those that have the potential to harm them in any way,” she said, when speaking with CFWIJ. INDIA IN FOCUS

Online harassment in India has become one of the most talked about issues women journalists face. The country has turned into a hotbed of trolls and online harassers in South Asia. Like Pakistan, India is also a conservative society. Despite its claims of being a secular country, the majority of India’s population is under the influence of deeply entrenched patriarchy and misogyny. On the other hand, the hyper nationalist and right-wing Hindu narrative takes over the disguise of secularism worn by India’s ruling elite.

In India, the dignity, and even life, of a woman journalist is at the mercy of an online troll. Online harassers and attackers have been causing mayhem for Indian women journalists for the past few years, particularly with the use of social media platforms like Twitter increasing day by day. Most journalists are forced to tackle abuse and hate by simply blocking the trolls or ignoring them. But the persistence has led to these online threats increasing and infiltrating within their surroundings. Women journalists are a target of state-sponsored abuse and are pressured into self-censorship.

The current situation of press freedom in the country is also at an all-time high with journalists, particularly women journalists, attempting to self-censor their opinions and work. ATTACKED FOR SUPPORTING KASHMIRIS

BARKHA DUTT Earlier this year, Indian journalist Barkha Dutt faced online harassment after she came out in defense of and offered help to Kashmiris who were being attacked following the Pulwama attack. She mentioned that her personal number was shared on social media platforms and as a result she had received about 1000 obscene pictures and threats via calls and text messages from unknown numbers, for which she registered an FIR on February 21. The Police cyber cell arrested four men aged between 23 and 45 in the case. The lack of action and oblivious attitude of Twitter led Barkha to call attention to their incompetency towards tackling online harassment of women journalists, “Over the years Twitter has routinely been used to harass, abuse and smear women in India, including me. None of my complaints have ever been acted upon. Instead our complaints are trapped in legalese and bureaucratic mazes,” she tweeted.

An internationally celebrated journalist like Barkha faces extreme abuse in her home country, so the situation for those who have been silently crusading in their journalistic aspirations tend to possibly encounter much worse in the world’s largest democracy. ATTACKED FOR CRITIQUE ON RULING GOVERNMENT AND HINDU NATIONALISM

RANA AYYUB Renowned investigative journalist Rana Ayyub has been a frequent target of trolls and online harassment. The series of online harassment directed at Rana began after the publication of her much-talked about book, Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, in 2016. Her book focused on the deadly 2002 riots that took place in India’s Gujarat province and killed over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. In her book, she had accused Prime Minister of India Narendar Modi — the then Chief Minister of Gujarat — of being involved in the killing of several innocent people. In 2010, she managed to get the first serving Home Minister of a state, arrested. Now that Shah is the President of the ruling (BJP) and the Home Affairs Minister of India, Ayyub’s life has become a “living hell”. Fake tweets in her name started surfacing across the internet giving an impression that she is a supporter of Islamic terrorism and hates her country.

She was docked, as her private details including her contact number, email and residential addresses were leaked and shared all over the internet. While the worst of what she went through was a smear campaign that morphed Rana’s photographs onto porn videos. The journalist has since been dealing with the nastiest form of online harassment, and keeps receiving death and rape threats on a daily basis.

“The mental intimidation that we suffer on a daily basis is something I do not wish to my worst enemy,” Rana said in an interview.

After the Indian Supreme Court’s recent Ayodhya verdict — India’s longest running land dispute, where the Babri Mosque once stood and was demolished after Hindus claimed their right to the land to create a temple — Rana tweeted her dismay at the verdict, which was in favor of party. For as harmless as tweeting her opinion online, she was legally threatened by Amethi Police’s twitter account for posting a ‘political comment’. The tweet was later taken down by the account following immense criticism. ATTACKED FOR CRITIQUE ON RULING GOVERNMENT AND HINDU NATIONALISM

NIDHI RAZDAN NDTV’s executive editor, Nidhi Razdan fell prey to online harassment for being critical of the Modi government. In June 2018, the journalist received death threats via a private message on Instagram stating, “I will hang you, I will execute you”. On reporting the account to Instagram she was told that the message did not violate the social media site’s guidelines. However, Nidhi was later contacted by Facebook and was assured that the account had been suspended and all the details were being handed over to the police.

SWATI CHATURVEDI Swati Chaturvedi, a journalist and columnist, who has been writing for The Wire received death and rape threats following her journalistic work and criticism of the Modi government and its policies. She was harassed on Twitter for bashing the administration after the Pulwama attack. Chaturvedi previously also dealt with online harassment when a Twitter account started a sexist social media campaign against the journalist and linked her with Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi. But she did not ignore the false link up and filed a criminal case against her attacker. ATTACKED FOR CRITIQUE ON RULING GOVERNMENT AND HINDU NATIONALISM

DHANYA RAJENDRAN Dhanya Rajendran, the editor-in-chief of , became a target of online trolls and abuse for comparing a Tamil action film, Sura, to a Bollywood movie. She was harassed and character-assassinated by fans of Tamil actor Vijay.The journalist later filed a complaint with the Chennai police and an FIR was lodged against four anonymous Twitter handles and others. Her minor joke happened to anger Tollywood fans, who are known for their die-hard appreciation of South Indian cinema.

RADHIKA IYER Radhika Iyer, an NDTV journalist was harassed in London by a group of Indian protestors including men and women both, who were protesting against the Pulwama attack. While interviewing the protestors she was cornered by the crowd who hooted at her for being associated with NDTV and was forced to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” to prove she’s an Indian. ATTACKED FOR CRITIQUE ON RULING GOVERNMENT AND HINDU NATIONALISM

GAURI LANKESH Prominent Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh, who ran an independent weekly Gauri Lankesh Patrike, was shot dead in on September 5, 2017. Before the murder took place, the journalist had been receiving numerous threats, both online and offline. Gauri was openly critical of the Hindu nationalist politics, especially of the BJP, supporters of which were known to have threatened her time and again. BJP’s angst against Gauri can be gauged knowing the fact that her murder was not even condemned by Indian Prime Minister . Previously, she was convicted of defamation following a report she published on local BJP leaders and was sentenced to six months in jail.

For anyone disagreeing with right-wing politics and hyper Hindu nationalism in India has been threatened in the worst possible way and also attacked — case in point, Gauri Lankesh. The journalist’s murder shook the country’s human rights activist, advocates of free speech and social media users that rallied against the Modi through an online campaign on Twitter #BlockNarendraModi, which soon became the top trend in India a day after Gauri was killed. The campaign demanded Modi to apologise and unfollow Twitter accounts that shamelessly celebrated the journalist’s murder.

Following the brutal murder of Gauri and the fear of online threats turning physical, Indian journalist, Sagarika Ghose wrote, “There are women who are attacked on social media, who are then attacked off social media. The threats can be online and then go offline. My colleague and good friend Gauri Lankesh was actually shot in September 2017... She faced social media threats and she never used to take it seriously. But the fact is, she was killed.” THREATENED BY RULING GOVERNMENT

GAURI LANKESH When highlighting the state of Indian media with respect to women journalists facing online harassment, Indian journalists and CFWIJ member, Mandakni Gahlot, said, “It’s only in recent years, triggered by the onslaught of partisan trolling, that Indian women journalists have banded together into networks of support and solidarity. So, when there is an actionable complaint from a colleague, there are networks in place to assist colleagues file formal complaints with authorities, but the real problem remains the implementation of the law.”

She added that while on paper, online harassment is a punitive crime, a police officer in a small station in a small village doesn’t see it as such. “This, in my opinion, remains a huge problem – the inability for many to recognize that online harassment can be so pervasive and needs to be tackled in the same way as we would violence and abuse offline. Take the example of Rana Ayyub who has had her life turned upside down by the most vile form of trolling, putting her mental and physical safety on the line, just for doing her job,” said Mandakni.

The journalists also stated that “the fear of online abuse transcending into real life is ever present, and in the absence of state support, it means that thousands of female journalists have to be constantly vigilant about their own safety.”

On a query regarding Indian women journalists taking legal actions against their harassers and abusers, Mandakni said, “The prevailing attitude amongst so many colleagues remains the same — the process is punishment. If I am to haul a troll to the court, it’s as much punishment for me as for him/her. The legal system is not easy and requires too much of your time, and so most female journalists tend to ignore such threats.” WHAT DOES THE REST OF SOUTH ASIA DEPICT?

Both India and Pakistan are the most vulnerable countries when discussing online harassment of women journalists but in other South Asian countries, the dynamics of women journalists facing issues of online harassment and discrimination may vary.

Afghanistan is considered to be a culturally sensitive country, with respect to women’s rights. Social media is still in its early stages in Afghanistan, used mostly by urbanites and those belonging to the educated, comparatively rich male users. While women fear being harassed online, the reason they are even reluctant to use their real names to avoid being found online, as social media is routinely utilized to question a woman’s morality and honor.

This year in May, an Afghan woman journalist, Mena Mangal was shot dead in broad daylight and her murderers are still at large. She was also a political advisor in the present Afghan There are several government and was known to be an women journalists in opinionated individual. Days before she was Afghan newsrooms; in killed, Mena reported being threatened in a defiant Facebook post. fact women are at the helm of media outlets Mariam Alimi, a photojournalist based in A as well. fghanistan, shares that using social media or putting oneself out there to be scrutinized by the Afghan society can be tricky. WHAT DOES THE REST OF SOUTH ASIA DEPICT?

For women to appear on the media and social media is considered shameful for most Afghan families. It is, therefore, connected with violence against women and may lead up to threats, self-immolation, and murder,” she said when responding to CFWIJ.

Women journalists bear the brunt of technology in the country and the issues of fake accounts and misuse of social media is prevalent. “Racist memes, misogynistic propaganda, viral misinformation and tarnishing the character of journalists are not difficult for those who are against freedom of speech. The use of fake accounts and internet propaganda on social media is easy in Afghanistan,” Mariam said and added that companies have to verify real accounts of journalists and terminate fake ones. Mariam too has been at the receiving end of the ills of social media, as her email and Facebook had been compromised.

There is also a view that the conservative bend of the Afghan society does not necessarily reflect the situation on the ground for women journalists. While it is not easy for women journalists to escape bias, Afghanistan’s capital Kabul has proven to be a much more accepting space for women who aspire to have a career in journalism. ZAN TV, the first all-female TV news It cannot be denied that Afghanistan, as a station in Afghanistan, shows the rarely conflict-ridden country, makes women explored side of the country, as women more vulnerable to life threatening can be seen stepping forward to take on situations; for instance, the 2016 attack professional roles after the fall of the that killed seven employees of TOLO News, Taliban. The findings of the Centre of including three women journalists, was one Afghan Women Journalists state about the of the deadliest attacks on journalists. But declining number of women journalists in considering the space women journalists recent years, the channel is playing its part are reclaiming in the media at present, the to fill the vacant space. Shogofa Sadiqi is dynamic of Afghanistan being an unsafe the channel’s 25-year-old chief director country for women journalists could be an and represents the younger generation of overstatement, for there are examples of Afghan women who have broken the women journalists like Farahnaz Forotan, shackles of Taliban’s fear. The channel who are defying the stereotypes in the faces security concerns and its employees country. She led a social media campaign have also been targets of social media #myredline in a bid for women to stand up harassers but they remain unafraid despite for their rights. Farhanaz deems her “pen receiving taunting letters, social media and freedom of expression” as her own red posts and scary phone calls. A 22-years- line. The online campaign has been joined old news reporter at ZAN, Najwa Alemi, by hundreds of thousands of Afghan had to remove all of her pictures from women. Farahnaz continues to rally for social media after she found out about freedom of speech and expression, and is people using the images to tarnish her known to have worked actively towards character. involving more women in journalism. Despite cultural restrictions and taboos Bangladeshi government is also a key surrounding women being independent in player when silencing voices of dissent Afghanistan’s media landscape, the slow with increasing their scrutiny of online yet effective progress is a breath of fresh expression through agencies like the Rapid air. Action Battalion.

As a South Asian country, women Following the promulgation of the Digital journalists in Bangladesh are less than 20% Security Act, Jennifer Chowdhury, a of people working in the news industry. But Bangladeshi journalist, said, “Journalists in that does not keep them from being Bangladesh, regardless of their gender, unreasonably targeted, harassed and face have to heavily censor their work because facilitated violence online. In cyberspace, of the Digital Security Act, as anything Bangladeshi women receive offensive and they publish can be deemed a violation of defamatory messages from fake and the act. Social anonymous sources. It has, like anywhere in media activity the world, become the norm for women to is be subjected to abuse and unwanted especially Women journalists in advances on the internet. heavily Bangladesh are less monitored than 20% of people The country has 63 million internet users for working in the news and 28 million of those are Facebook journalists users, so the odds of having harassers and and industry. abusers targeting women increase to a citizens massive extent. alike.” Another local photojournalist, Fabeha Monir said that she does not put her opinion online if anything major is happening in Bangladesh, especially in the context of politics. “I have been very careful because anything can happen to us here, if we're vocal. As journalists, we do have influence and followers, and that matters. I'm cautious as a female journalist; for example, during the students’ protests last year, I posted photos, but I didn't post any commentary. I was protecting myself because I didn't feel safe,” she wrote to CFWIJ in response.

In 2016, a Bangladeshi blogger Shammi Haque faced death threats online and on the phone after she organized a Valentine’s Day rally to stand up against religious extremism in the country. The threats that were initially limited to online spaces, including her name on a ‘hit list’ surfacing online, started to creep into her physical spaces, so she flew to Germany and currently lives in exile.

The role of media in Bangladesh is also crucial when women journalists are faced with online harassment and Fabeha says that even though media organizations condemn online harassment of women journalists yet they haven't found a solution to combat it. Fabeha has borne her share of abuse too, merely for exhibiting her work in Pakistan.

“I've had to block a few accounts because of my work on the Rohingya crisis. I had an exhibition in Pakistan, and I was targeted especially because of that and I feel as if it's because I'm a woman, they were more abusive towards me,” she said.

Jennifer also told CFWIJ about being careful when reporting in the rural areas. “I try not to give people, other than direct sources, my full name in case they search for my full name online,” she said. Online spaces are also used as tools for men to keep their women colleagues taking up important positions in the media and journalism industry. In Bangladesh, a woman journalist who was successful for her work in the electronic media became a member of a local press club. After she applied as a candidate for an office bearer’s position, a male colleague was caught sharing her photos online to tarnish her reputation. Despite voicing against the harassment, she received no relief.

However, Jennifer says that the state of online harassment of women journalists in the country is not as aggressive as that in India and Pakistan. “There is a lot of respect for journalists here, which has to do with the literary tradition of Bengali culture. The arts and media are highly respected.”

While it is apparent that the country is framing laws to tackle issues in cyberspaces, those laws are also threatening free speech in the country. The conservative-Muslim- nation dynamic also hovers above women journalists in Bangladesh who, despite harassment, misogyny and abuse are continuing with their jobs.

In Sri Lanka, even though the number of women journalists has increased and they are even sitting at senior positions in media outlets. However, socio-cultural dynamics tend to restrict women to often end up their careers after marriage or childbirth, particularly in the North and East areas, where ethnic Tamil and Muslims live as majority. Independent media outlets also lack representation of women in their newsrooms and the environment in media is yet to be conducive enough for them to practice their profession without being discriminated against for their gender. Women journalists have also explored the online space and taken up work as freelancers. The country’s perilous political dynamics and conformist values have also affected women journalists. A Muslim writer and blogger Sharmila Seyyid, was forced to leave her home in eastern Sri Lanka and fly to India to live in exile, where she currently resides. Her only mistake was to share her opinion about legalizing prostitution during an interview to BBC’s Tamil Radio Service. She was initially attacked online after coming under fire by the local Muslim community. She was given rape and death threats, and was forced to live in hiding. No actions were taken to address the threats she received, despite immense support of the civil society and Human Rights Commission.

Online abuse against women journalists and women in general is a second gravely increasing issue after sexual harassment at the workplace. Dilrukshi Handunnetti, a known Sri Lankan journalist — who previously worked at the state media’s English language paper, the Sunday Observer — also experienced an online attack in April this year. The attack was prompted by her decision to resign from her job at the Sunday Observer, where her decision to quit — albeit personal — was twisted in new stories and by commenters on social media.

Thulasi Muttulingam, a Tamil journalist based in northern Sri Lanka, became a target of online hate after sharing her views on a law banning the sale of alcohol to women in pubs. A friend of hers on Facebook called her out for her views stating that women are weaker and should not be allowed to consume alcohol, to which Thulasi retorted and eventually deleted him from her account. The guy then resorted to posting screenshots of their argument and labeled her as a ‘drunken Tamil woman’ for opposing the ban. Thulasi has also reported on various social issues as a journalist and shared how reporting from a post-war area, where narratives coming out are hijacked by invested parties on both sides of the divided — Tamil and Sinhala.

“Both parties put out media narratives of stark black and white, conducive to their own sides — so when I report on the shades of grey in between, I draw flak from both sides,” she said and added, “So far, it has just been mostly online abuse and slur campaigns against me, which I have chosen to ignore. One cannot do much about them, except continue working undeterred.”

To understand the state of online hate speech against women journalists in Sri Lanka, CFWIJ spoke to Thulasi, who said that one can either choose to be out there and weather the missiles of hate thrown at them or choose to stay away. “Once you are out there, there is precious little you can do to protect yourself. You just grow a very thick skin,” she said.

In the wake of political altercations in the country, women journalists, particularly those who are Tamil, may have to be more careful than others when sharing their opinions and may resort to self-censorship, Thulasi feels otherwise. “They used to pre- 2015, when it meant paying with their lives,” she said and added that active death threats are not as big an issue at the moment. “Yet societal shaming of women — for brazenly discussing certain topics — sexuality, sexual harassment, and abortions etc still continue to make many women self-censor. Either that or their male editors would do it for them,” Thulasi said. Talking about the legal systems in the country to tackle online harassment, Thulasi said that the government may have something on paper but she is yet to hear about any implementation taking place.

“In any case, most of our attackers online hide behind fake profiles — and our police to my knowledge have not bothered with addressing how to crack this,” she opined and further spoke about her own experience of online harassment, “I have never yet gone to the police over the harassment I received — mostly because I have come to think of hate mail as par for the course. Something I ought to put up with. Something the police will barely wiggle an eyebrow at. This is just part of our work, these days.”

Mental health of women journalists is often at stake when they are subjected to online abuse. The label, abusive slurs and harassment leaves them feeling mentally distressed. Sri Lankan women journalists, who receive a barrage of abuse in the digital spaces, reach out to each other in solidarity to cope with dissent online.

“We might gang together to report harassment to Facebook, Twitter etc. We might put up posts detailing the harassment we undergo. But mostly we just develop a really, really thick skin. We will be thrashed online — we take that for granted. And we plough through, anyway.”

Online harassment, especially in the sexual context, has been on the rise in Nepal. The country’s Metropolitan Crime Division shared that 1938 people sought help in various cybercrimes between the year 2018 and 2019. Shahakul Bahadur Thapa, the Senior Superintendent of the division, deemed more than 70% of the reported cases to be linked with online sexual harassment. Currently, 63% Nepalis have access to the internet, which is expected to reach up to 90%. The ease of access has led people to partake in the digital space. Following this increase in the number of internet users, the risk of women journalists being targeted online has also grown manifold. An increase in misogyny has also been observed after the increased use of social media.

When commenting about the intensified behavior among South Asian countries, Era Shrestha, a Nepalese journalist working for NHK World, said that the mindset also exists in journalism and the digital spaces. “Digital Nepal is misogynistic. The memes created are misogynistic. The jokes, weblogs, web videos, almost all of them reek of how society looks at women, as commodities,” she said and added that if someone points out the inappropriate conduct, all hell breaks loose. “They will be mutilated online, with character assassination and moral policing. I have seen/read instances where women have been threatened of rape, gang rape, of kidnapping, molestation for voicing their opinions online. Some even had to deactivate their accounts because of the online harassment,” she informed CFWIJ.

The country’s cyber law — the Electronic Transaction Act (ETA) 2063 — is too vague to help women journalists fight their case. Era says, “Nepal's law is not clear on what to do in terms of online harassment. Only when the powerful men are abused online, some prompt actions are taken, otherwise, there's very little someone can do. Whatever law is there, again, their implementation is very weak. That is one of the biggest issues with Nepali legal system — lack of implementation. “

Era shared that the cyber law deals with online transactions and pornography. But no one is sure where to go and what to do when faced with online harassment. Nepal’s #MeToo movement has also been under discussion both online and offline. Journalist Subina Shrestha shared her #MeToo story on twitter and received replies that demanded proof of the harassment she underwent, which showed a complete lack of disregard for her ordeal. However, her courage to openly discuss her story began a discourse on sexual harassment among women journalists in Nepal, a trend worth noting, as a few women journalists came forward with their own accounts including Era.

“Most of us demanded proof or asked questions 'why didn't you say (anything) then and there? Why wait for so long?’” said Era and further spoke about Subina’s case. “Subina is very vocal and she had to stay quiet when many people started asking her questions, and ultimately, the #MeTooNepal died down. Almost all the women in Nepal have their own stories of harassment to share but are afraid to come out and do so because of the repercussions they will have to face.”

Era also shared about Binu Subedi’s story. Binu, a journalist who now works in Kantipur — a Nepali daily, wrote about her experiences of sexual harassment and many of them were quick to judge her by asking her question like ‘Why only you? Do you think you are Miss World? I would not even look at you’.

“It will take more than a generation or two for this to change. Even some of the 'so called' editors of national dailies do not realize what they write and publish. It is beyond me,” Era lamented over the lack of consideration within the Nepalese society.

The number of women journalists in Nepal is as low as 18% and their representation in decision-making roles is a far-fetched idea. Considering this fact, if a woman faces harassment of various forms including online harassment, there are high chances of her complaint not being taken seriously and sensitively dealt with. Era, too, informed CFWIJ that women are not proper journalists in Nepal, the reason why it is difficult for them to find support outside their organization. Ambiguity also reflects in the country’s acceptance of technology. There exists a social media policy and legal provisions to deal with crimes online are also present, but implementation lacks to a major extent. The country has made provisions to address online harassment under their Information Communication and Media Act (ICM Act 2018). But due to lack of awareness, the law is barely ever referred to.

WHAT ARE THE LEADING SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES DOING?

Every social media platform has its own set of community guidelines and rules for users to follow. They also provide users with a reporting mechanism to flag violations they come across. With reference to the abuse women journalists have faced in South Asian countries, the role of social media, particularly giant organizations like Facebook and Twitter, has not been so satisfactory, to say the least. Social media is being used to harass, abuse, intimidate and threaten women journalists, while it is also being used as a tool to silence dissent using well-organized campaigns.

While Facebook has developed features to keep users safe from harassment, as a result of their community guidelines, the situation for women journalists, especially in Pakistan and India, seems rather bleak. Journalists are harassed via comments on Facebook, as well as Instagram and abusive tweets are sent their way incessantly.

These platforms are used to dock journalists, as their contact numbers, email and residential addresses are leaked online, jeopardizing their security in real time. What may seem like a passive aggressive tweet or comment may also potentially cause physical harm.

Earlier this year, Facebook removed 103 accounts, pages and groups that were connected to employees of the Pakistani military’s public relations wing. This happened as a result of criticism that came towards Facebook for their lack of actions to complaints.

Twitter, on the other hand, has also been under fire for not being able to work towards combating online harassment. The social media platform has already been deemed toxic for women. Alternatively, if users flag an abusive tweet, the platform leaves hollow messages explaining how review of content reported will only finish if the person directly affected by the abuse has reported it, which leaves room to assume that the platform is insensitive towards others’ misery, as long as it does not directly affect them. WHAT ARE THE LEADING SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES DOING?

Nevertheless, in their latest bi-annual report, Twitter shares that with respect to abuse and harassment of users, the social media company has seen a 22% increase in the number of accounts reported for violations of their abuse policies enforcement, where the platform took action against 395,917 unique accounts for abuse violations. The platform also claims to have taken action against 584,429 accounts under hateful conduct policies, 19,679 under private information policies, and 56,219 under violent threats policies.

“We’re suspending 3x more abusive accounts that are reported to us within 24 hours compared to the same time last year,” Twitter stated in April this year.

HOW WOMEN JOURNALISTS ARE CRUSADING AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

The Coalition For Women In Journalism has been closely monitoring the state of online harassment of women journalists in South Asia. In the wake of our research based in South Asian countries, it was observed that online harassment and abuse carries immense physical consequences.

Legal ways to counter attacks in digital spaces in south Asian countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka exist, but when women journalists approach authorities or file complaints to counter online harassment, implementation and redress is absent, leaving them concerned for their safety.

Women journalists who encounter online harassment because of their work, gender or at the hands of state-sponsored campaigns are forced to practice self- censorship and in many cases quit social media altogether to stay safe. Virtual assaults are carried out to intimidate women journalists and isolate them. All in all, it suppresses their right to free speech and expression. HOW WOMEN JOURNALISTS ARE CRUSADING AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

The aspect of women standing up to question and talk about important matters or merely sharing daring opinions on social issues in the digital space, stirs rage among those driven by patriarchy, misogyny and sexism in most South Asian countries. The discrimination they face within their physical surroundings is also evident online, which eventually directs all the mistreatment labeling them as weak and thus, vulnerable to abuse.

The long-term impact of immense online abuse also leads women journalists to suffer from trauma and extreme mental stress. Most South Asian countries have no systems to address mental health issues that these women journalists suffer from. The women journalists become support systems for each other to cope with the stress and mental trauma that comes with the abuse they face both online and offline.

The escalation of these attacks into their physical surroundings makes the situation much worse for not just themselves but also those associated with them — their families, friends and partners — all of whom suffer at the hands of people sitting behind a screen.

In the midst of all the dynamics of abuse and harassment of women journalists, it is pertinent for the state, law enforcement agencies, media organizations and social media giants to devise strategies and come up with robust systems to make life easy for women journalists in the South Asian region. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

Contact Email: [email protected] Website: wwww.womeninjournalism.org Twitter: @CFWIJ Facebook: @coalitionforwomeninjournalism Instagram: @womeninjournalism