Social media threats to Pakistani women journalists have reached epidemic proportions

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Farieha Aziz, a journalist and co-founder of Bolo Bhi – a civil society organization pitched towards advocacy, policy and research in the areas of digital rights and civic responsibility agrees that online attacks especially on women journalists have not only become more widespread but also more systematic.

“These attacks are being launched in an organized manner and from official accounts,” she said, underlining the harm the attacks have on the mental well-being of journalists. “While women have been facing such issues for a long time, the continuous nature of these attacks and the intensity with which they have increased over time, led women journalists to speak out about it and come together to do that.”

 Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling on Pakistani authorities to take immediate action to stop online harassment against female journalists that puts their professional duties and lives at risk.

The call from the Paris-based advocacy group on August 19,2020 came in response to a joint statement signed by some 50 women journalists of Pakistan condemning a “well-defined and coordinated campaign” of harassment on social media, including abusive language and threats of violence.

“We regard the highest levels of the Pakistani government as either responsible or complicit in these recent cyber harassment campaigns against certain women journalists who don’t toe the official line,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk.

“This tactic, which clearly aims to intimidate all government critics, is a flagrant violation of article 19A of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s constitution. We call on Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure that this unacceptable use of hate speech is brought to a stop,” he said.

Types of harassment include threats of rape and physical violence, releasing personal details of women journalists and analysts, and gender-based slurs. The online-bullying also seeks to discredit and intimidate journalists, referring to them as peddlers of “fake news” and as an “enemy of the people.”

“These have the potential to incite violence and lead to hate crimes, putting our physical safety at risk,” the journalists wrote.

Women in the media, especially those on social-media platforms, are now reportedly finding it untenable to engage on social media, depriving them of their right to free speech and providing information to the public.

“Many now self-censor, refrain from sharing information, giving their opinion or actively engaging online,” the statement said.

In 2019, four journalists and bloggers were killed in connection with their reporting. Among them was Arooj Iqbal, who was shot dead in Lahore in November in a case that has gone unpunished. Iqbal wanted to be the first woman journalist to launch her own newspaper in Pakistan, RSF said.

 The Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ) monitored at least 11 cases of threats and violence against women journalists in Pakistan since the beginning of 2020. Some involved harassment in the workplace, while other journalists covering politics, the government’s handling of the pandemic and social challenges caused by it, were subject to doxing, rape and death threats online.

According to CFWIJ founder Karin Nazish, these virtual threats are very much real. “CFWIJ member and journalist Asma Shirazi was subject to an online smear campaign after interviewing former PM Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif,” Nazish told IPI.

“After the online threats, her home was broken into twice. The threat is so real to the journalists and their families, that some journalists are asked by their families to quit the profession,” Nazish said.

A year ago, a delegation of the CFWIJ met Human Rights Minister Dr. Shireen Mazari to present actionable steps to address the extensive climate of abuse, fear and censorship in the industry. Members of the organization urged the government to thoroughly investigate online and offline attacks against journalists and called for cases to be registered against perpetrators. “The minister’s response was very positive”, Nazish said.

 “We were assured that the government will take action – and for about 6 months it seemed they really did.” In those months, CFWIJ noted a decline in cases of online harassment, and government officials publicly condemned attacks on journalists instead of provoking them.

 “This reinforced the suspicion that trolls are encouraged and activated by the government”, Nazish said.

But this positive trend came to a grinding halt in recent months, as the press was once again vilified and accused of spreading lies and disinformation.

In an attempt to mitigate online content that promotes terrorism, extremism, hate speech, fake news or incitement, the government introduced controversial new rules to regulate all social media usage in the country earlier this year, allowing it to obtain user data and information from social media companies.

But the digital rights and civic responsibility organization Bolo Bhi described it at the time as “draconian attempts to discourage new media journalism”.

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