UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 17 MAY 2023
Online abuse targeting journalists’ sexual orientation and gender identity is now commonplace, a study commissioned by the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity (LHC) has revealed.
Details collected by journalist and LHC Fellowship Finbarr Toesland for the Birmingham City University-based research centre also suggest that LGBTQ journalists across the UK see their role as dangerous and that media organisations are not doing enough to support affected employees.
Using data from organisations including the DCMS, IPSO, NUJ, ONS, YouGov and UNESCO as well as a number of academic research stories, and through a survey of 40 LGBTQ journalists working in the United Kingdom and one-to-one interviews with six media workers, the report charts intermittent and consistent abuse and harassment faced by LGBTQ journalists.
It also explores whether the level of support offered by media organisations is sufficient to protect LGBTQ staff from abuse.
Journalists at varying points of their careers working for local, national, and international media outlets across print, online and broadcast were surveyed, spanning news, sport, SEO, social media, and specialist subjects such as science and technology.
82% of respondents said they had faced trolling, with homophobic harassment ranking second with 56% dealing with this abuse. 88% of respondents say they have received harassment or abuse through Twitter, with 33% receiving abuse through Facebook and 24% receiving abuse through Instagram. Four in five respondents said they had experienced stress, with almost three in four respondents (74%) reporting anxiety.
Specific abuse targeted at trans people was mentioned by participants throughout the research. For LGBTQ journalists, engaging in the current media coverage and debate related to trans issues, especially on topics related to self-ID policies, has proven to lead to high levels of abuse.
Toesland, an award-winning journalist with 10 years of experience reporting human rights and underreported issues, said: “A concerning 76% of those journalists surveyed, either disagreed (62%) or strongly disagreed (14%) that media organisations in the UK are adequately protecting LGBTQ journalists from harassment and abuse.
“Many professionals who took part in the study called for managing online threats to be included in journalism training, and further training for media executives on the impacts of abuse against journalists as well as better advice on combating abuse, especially in the digital space.”
The research report, entitled was produced by Toesland with academic supervision from researcher Dr Poppy Wilde at Birmingham City University’s School of Media.
Marcus Ryder, Head of External Consultancies at LHC, said: “Newsrooms across the UK must do a better job at protecting their LGBTQ journalists – this damning report exposes the hostile environment far too many LGBTQ journalists face just for doing their job and is a call for action for media organisations can support them.
The Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, based at Birmingham City University, is an independent research body working to promote accurate representation of all sections of society across contemporary UK media.
The report is available to download here