Online Harassment and Trolling of Political Journalists in Pakistan

Bibliographic Data

ID12909212
AuthorsMingjuan Li (0000-0001-8719-2428, Linyi University), Shabir Hussain (0000-0002-7381-1918, Bahria University, corresponding author), Sana Barkat, Hajra Bostan (0009-0004-8758-0606)
Year2023
Volume19
Issue7
Pages1499-1516
Publication date2023-09-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17512786.2023.2259381
OpenAlexW4386892917
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited26

This study examines the online harassment faced by political journalists in Pakistan on Twitter, specifically focusing on the actions of users affiliated with various political parties. By selecting the 12 most active journalists on Twitter, we combined both content and textual analyses to examine comments posted on their tweets. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of the practice-based theoretical approach, the findings reveal that these journalists predominantly encountered negative comments encompassing personal abuses, culturally sensitive expressions, and attacks on their professional lives. Commenters associated with the populist political party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf, were more likely to engage in uncivil comments compared to those affiliated with traditional political parties. Interestingly, both male and female journalists received a comparable number of comments on their tweets; however, the nature of the comments differed significantly. Male journalists were primarily criticized for their perceived lack of professionalism, whereas female journalists were subjected to gender-targeted offensive comments. The study highlighted how socio-cultural conditions were exploited by political parties and netizens to suppress critical journalists. Overall, this research sheds light on the multifaceted dynamics of harassment faced by journalists in the digital age, emphasizing the need for effective measures to safeguard freedom of expression and counteract online abuse within the Pakistani media landscape.KEYWORDS: Trollingmob censorshipjournalistsPakistanonline harassmentpolitical partiesTwitter Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Criminology · Harassment · Incivility · Journalism · Media studies · Offensive · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social media · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Social Media and Politics

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