Expanding the Analytical Boundaries of Mob Censorship

How Technology and Infrastructure Enable Novel Threats to Journalists and Strategies for Mitigation

Bibliographic Data

ID22010953
AuthorsJennifer R Henrichsen (0000-0003-4527-151X, Washington State University, corresponding author), Martin Shelton (0000-0002-6130-5823, Freedom House)
Year2023
Volume11
Issue10
Pages1848-1867
Publication date2023-11-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2022.2112520
OpenAlexW4295763104
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited27

Mob censorship, which “expresses the will of ordinary citizens to exert power over journalists through discursive violence” is traditionally considered a grassroots phenomenon. However, within technically mediated systems, who is behind the mob is sometimes unclear. We therefore ask how the technical affordances of the Internet and telecommunications networks complicate the identification of attackers and their motivations and multiply the forms of retaliation that attackers level against journalists. We conducted 18 semistructured interviews with seven current or former journalists, as well as 11 professionals with experience defending news organizations, including security specialists, press freedom advocates, and newsroom infrastructure support staff. Through a constructivist grounded theory approach and in conversation with Lewis and Westlund’s (2015 Lewis, S. C., and O. Westlund. 2015. “Actors, Actants, Audiences, and Activities in Cross-Media News Work.” Digital Journalism 3 (1): 19–37.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) 4A framework, we found that journalists and those defending news organizations do not reliably identify sources and motivations behind attacks, which may be grassroots in nature but may also be instigated by corporate or government actors. Journalists nonetheless infer attribution and motivation from the context surrounding attacks. Systemic issues related to the lack of diversity, ongoing financial constraints, and journalistic norms of engagement, alongside a lack of internal and platform support, exacerbate repercussions from these attacks and harm journalism’s role in a democracy

Conversation · Grassroots · Internet privacy · Journalism · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social media · Sociology · Technical Journalism · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Social Media and Politics

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