Tracking Digital Violence Against Female Journalists

Our Salam@ team recently shared insights on digital violence against women (DVAW) with investigative journalists from across the MENA region.

Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) has become an important partner for The SecDev Foundation. And we were honoured to be part of ARIJ’s 17th annual forum this December 6-8 in Amman, Jordan. This year’s conference (Journalism Unbound) explored key barriers that investigative journalists and fact-checkers are facing across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

For female journalists, those barriers include the growing scourge of online violence. To dig deeper with ARIJ members, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) sponsored a panel that included Dr. Raed M. Sharif, who leads the Foundation’s MENA programming.

Dr. Sharif shared what our Salam@ team has learned from its 2022-24 IDRC-supported regional research effort on DVAW  He also updated the group on a new “ecosystems” approach to tackling DVAW that’s been informed by that research.

From left: Alaa Mufleh, Sawsan Zaideh, Dr. Raed M. Sharif, Rania Sarayreh, Dr. Meriem Narimane Noumeur.

Pathbreaking DVAW research

Three years ago, Salam@ set out to fill wide knowledge gaps on DVAW across the MENA region. With IDRC support and a growing cohort of female researchers, that project has produced 35 studies and manuals unpacking the psychosocial and legal realities of DVAW.

Access 30+ new studies of DVAW across MENA.

Covering 20+ countries, some of these studies are the first-ever national data sets on DVAW. And many of our  researchers found that women in leadership roles—including journalists—disproportionately face sexualized online violence. They found this violence taking many forms, from harassment and cyberstalking to reputational attacks based on deep-fake photos. They also examined how digital violence can ravage these women’s mental health and dampen their professional voices.

One extraordinary outcome of this research has been a new regional network of researchers, organizations, activists and journalists active on DVAW. The role of journalists here has been key.  Ultimately, female journalists who are so directly targeted for abuse are also effectively pushing back—shifting narratives by reporting and writing about DVAW.

“Ecosystems” response to DVAW

With support from IDRC, Salam@ is piloting a holistic new response to DVAW, starting in Iraq and Jordan. This pilot builds on lessons learned from our research and from the regional network that formed to move it forward. And once again, female journalists are emerging as central players.

Our earlier responses to DVAW generally prioritized single tracks, such as digital safety training or psychosocial support for victims. But our research consistently emphasized how DVAW unfolds in complex social contexts. That’s why this new project seeks to strengthen fuller “ecosystems” of support for female tech users and survivors. This means  simultaneously strengthening governance (law, policy, enforcement), health-sector and education-sector supports—and building robust inks between them.

The approach prioritizes fostering networks of stakeholders to drive policy advocacy and research. Fortunately, we’ve been able to launch this project with substantial networks of professionals already in place—mostly women. They range from judges to educators; and one of the most exciting developments has been the coming-together of a strategic cohort of female journalists. We’re working with them both to strengthen their digital resilience and to build their capacity to report on DVAW. And our frontline partner here is the Jordanian Network to Combat Violence Against Female Journalists. This is the organization co-founded in 2022 by Rania Sarayreh—fellow panelist at the ARIJ forum—with support from the Foundation and IDRC.