RSF report on "Journalism in the #MeToo era": Attention to women's rights!
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published its new report titled "Journalism in the #MeToo era." The report highlights significant developments that encourage journalists to investigate the rights of women and gender minorities, while also drawing attention to journalist Hale Gönültaş, who exposed crimes against Yazidi women enslaved by ISIS.
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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a report titled "Journalism in the #MeToo era" to provide a global overview of the notable developments enabling journalists to investigate the rights of women and gender minorities, and to expose the new faces of oppression.
RSF, which previously made headlines with reports titled "Women's Rights: Forbidden Investigations" and "Journalism under the barrier of sexism," has dedicated space in its latest "Journalism in the #MeToo era" report to journalist Hale Gönültaş, who received death threats for bringing to public attention the crimes committed by ISIS against enslaved Yazidi women.
Among the 16 RSF recommendations included in the report are the criminalization of specific forms of cyber harassment, holding social media platforms accountable for preventing and combating these attacks, and the hiring of editors responsible for gender issues.
BOCANDÉ: THERE ARE ATTACKS RANGING FROM CYBER HARASSMENT TO MURDER
Explaining that while the #MeToo wave may have found weak echoes in some countries, it has led to the emergence of new stories and new media outlets worldwide, RSF Publishing Director Anne Bocandé said, "Although some pioneers had already paved the way, such as Awa in Senegal in the 1970s, Sharika Wa Laken in Lebanon since 2012, and the magazine Axelle founded in Belgium in 1998, they also benefited from this new exposure. RSF has found that, in addition to progress in newsrooms, the movement has encouraged a general improvement in journalistic practices and the establishment of many journalist networks."
Bocandé noted, on the other hand, that difficulties and heavy pressures cannot be ignored:
"However, despite all this progress, journalists specializing in women's rights and gender-based violence continue to be the primary targets of attacks ranging from cyber harassment campaigns to murder. These violations must end. To achieve this, RSF has published recommendations for governments, police, judicial authorities, social media platforms, and newsrooms to ensure that the right to information on women's rights and gender-based violence is truly guaranteed."
AWARD FOR HER REPORT, THREATS FOR GÖNÜLTAŞ
In the RSF report, it is stated that Hale Gönültaş, who authored a long investigation in May 2022 titled "The knife-wielding jihad video of the ISIS woman was filmed in the Millet Bahçesi" - https://kisadalga.net/haber/detay/isidli-kadinin-bicakli-cihat-videosu-millet-bahcesinde-cekilmis_30335 regarding the place of women in groups close to ISIS, was deemed worthy of the 2023 Erbil Tuşalp Journalism Award by the Foundation for Social Research, Culture and Art (TAKSAV), while simultaneously being subjected to threats via social media and her phone.
Gönültaş is also referenced in another section of the report, which points out that attacks against journalists in the online sphere are left with impunity. While the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, where the threats were reported in May 2022, issued a decision of non-prosecution with the opinion that there was "insufficient evidence to file a lawsuit," the journalist's final appeal was also rejected on December 18, 2023.
Publishing a report titled "Journalism in the #MeToo era" seven years after the momentum created in the media by the first journalistic investigation launched in the US by the New York Times regarding the Weinstein case, RSF analyzed the changes in the media coverage of women's rights, gender-based and/or sexist and sexual violence at an international level since 2017, from #EuTambém in Brazil to #EnaZeda in Tunisia and #Cuéntalo in Spain.
60 PERCENT UNDER CYBER ATTACK; TOPIC IS DANGEROUS FOR 25 PERCENT
According to RSF, which also shared the results of a survey involving 113 journalists;
More than 80 stated that there has been a significant increase in the number of reports on women's rights, gender issues, and gender-based and sexual violence since 2017, when the #MeToo slogan emerged in the US.
However, although investigations into women's rights and gender-based violence appear more legitimate and visible, working on these topics is dangerous for more than 25% of the participants.
Approximately 60 percent of the participants know of at least one case where a journalist working on women's rights, gender issues, and/or gender-based and sexual violence was subjected to cyber harassment.
BRUTTIN: IT WILL CHANGE JOURNALISM FOREVER
Making a statement on the occasion of the report's announcement, RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin saluted the reporters who brave all kinds of dangers to report on this issue; he cited Wo Ye Shi, who was arrested in China in 2021, as an example.
Bruttin said, "Whether the #MeToo era is over or whether this freedom of expression continues is for commentators to decide. However, there is a before and after #MeToo in journalism. It will change journalism forever: the attention paid to the situation of female journalists and issues of gender-based and sexual violence is proof of this. We must salute the courage of journalists who take risks to report on these issues. Some are paying a high price."
The report was prepared by RSF in collaboration with journalist Laurène Daycard, an expert on women's rights and gender-based violence. The report also includes testimonies from numerous journalists such as Bettie Johnson Mbayo (Liberia), Kiki Mordi (Nigeria), Mariana Iglesias (Argentina), Ghazal Golshiri (France - Iran), Zahra Nader (Afghanistan), Hinda Abdi Mohamoud (Somalia), Marie Barbier (France), Jessica Lopez (France), Julie Bianchin (Switzerland), and Jovanna Mariám Garcon (Guatemala).
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For the French version of the report:
For the English press release regarding the report: