In North Macedonia, women journalists are often targeted by sexualized online violence, defamation campaigns, and coordinated (digital) harassment, especially when reporting on power and corruption, gender equality and human rights issues at large. These attacks often involve sexual threats, doxxing, trolling, and even physical threats, aiming to silence women’s voices and undermine press freedom.
Institutional responses remain inadequate to address this issue. So far, apart from online stalking, there is no official protocol addressing digital violence. While there are some when it comes to offline violence, their implementation remains challenging, newsroom policies are inconsistent, legal remedies are slow or ineffective, and psychological and digital safety support is largely absent. The upcoming 2025 local elections heighten the urgency of this problem, particularly for women covering politics and public institutions.
Moreover, women journalists often face structural discrimination in their workplaces—ranging from contract terminations during pregnancy to being passed over for editorial roles. Such violations are underreported and normalized, especially in politically affiliated or poorly regulated media outlets.
In this research project, we focus on journalists’ experiences with digital and offline harassment, personal coping strategies, reporting, protection mechanisms and editorial policies. Given that available research studies with a focus on gender and media primarily focus on female journalists as participants, we take a comparative approach by including men journalists to clearly delineate gendered differences.
The intersection between gender, corruption, and press freedom, which lies at the core of this project, forms the basis for further research and advocacy for policy change towards the protection of women, and particularly women in media.
Objectives:
- Document the scope and patterns of online and offline (gender-based) violence against women and men journalists.
- Raise awareness among the public, media sector, and policymakers about the democratic costs of silencing women in journalism.
- Facilitate dialogue with researchers, editors, civil society actors, trade unions, and institutions on legal and regulatory responses.
- Strengthen solidarity within the journalist community and increase youth engagement through interactive workshops led by key experts in the field.