Especially with the rise of social media, threats and harassment of journalists have increased significantly in recent years. When talking with The Washington Post, Jodie Ginsberg, president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, described the terrifying situation and said, “We’ve seen a huge explosion in harassment of journalists online, and unfortunately, the highest number of victims of that are female journalists.”
In 2017, UNESCO provided a prime example of how bad it could be for just one individual, Maria Ressa (pictured), the chief executive and co-founder of Rappler in the Philippines. On Facebook, the journalist received around 2,000 messages that were either harassing her or even threatening her life.
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A growing number of media professionals have spoken out about their own scary experiences, including Bill Jaynes, editor of the Kaselehlie Press in Pohnpei. He told The Guardian, “In the 15 or so years I’ve been at this desk I have had several death threats.” For journalist Joyce McClure who worked on a remote island in the Pacific, the fear pushed her to follow her passion elsewhere. She made the troubling admission, “Eventually, the threats to my safety were too much to handle. I spent too much time looking over my shoulder, living behind locked doors, and never going out alone after dark.”
