social media engagement gender newsroom summit 14

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Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

@julieposetti #Newsroom14

Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

“Journalism is the only category where women received more abuse than men, with female journalists and TV news presenters receiving roughly three times as much abuse as their male counterparts.” Demos, 2014

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Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

• Cybermisogyny (expressed via online sexual harrassment through to stalking and threat of violence) is a genuine psychological – and potentially physical – risk to safety of women journalists

• It is also a threat to the active participation of women in civil society debate, fostered by news publishers, through online commenting platforms and their social media channels

The Problems

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Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

“The violent threats posted beneath YouTube videos, they observed, are pushing women off of this and other platforms in disproportionate numbers.” The Atlantic

Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

Caroline Criado-Perez

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Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

What can we do?

• Provide adequate training for journalists • Stimulate management awareness • Invest in community engagement management

(including clear policies and guidelines for intervention; reporting tools)

• Devote editorial resources to coverage of these issues

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Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

“Policing misogyny is fabulous in theory. In practice, it’s a bitch.”

Amanda HESS in Slate

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Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

“It’s like playing whack-a-mole with a sociopathic Hydra…It’s impacting our ability to do our jobs.” Letter from Jezebel staff to Gawker executives

Navigating the sexist cesspit: audience engagement and gender

• Fark.com has added misogyny to its comment moderation guildeline definitions

• News organisations must be transparent about their online contribution policies

• News organisations need to dedicate more staff to understanding and performing moderation.

• News organisations need to employ more senior women moderators/community managers

UNESCO Internet Study: Privacy and Journalists’ Sources

Contact me

@julieposetti

julie.posetti@wan-ifra.org

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