Online harassment and hostility against journalists: experiential and gender dimensions

Despite the potential benefits of closer relationships between journalists and au- diences in the digital environment, the audiences' possibility to comment or easily contact journalists also became a problem. Online attacks and harassment of these professionals, more visible with the increase of the far-right, are relevant problems that include gender dimensions. Based on a tridimensional study that included mapping of a sample of news comments, a survey of journalists and a set of in-depth interviews with women journalists, this research seeks to analyse the situation in Portugal. The results confirm the presence of abusive discourse on news comments, the percep- tion of the journalists that the digital environment has increased hostility against the press, a lack of confidence in the protection mechanisms, and that aspects such as gender are relevant on online harassment.