Fojo and UI to establish international centre to fight hate and threats
Threats and harassment has become part of everyday life for many female journalists. What makes this hate so special is that they are most often not attacked based on what they are reporting, but simply because they are women. As in all cases where journalists and media are attacked, this may result in self-censorship and investigations that fail to materialise, which is a threat to our democracy and something that may lead to closed societies in the long term.
Fojo Media Institute and The Swedish Institute of International Affairs have now been given a commission by the government to establish an international centre that will work for a free and open media climate. The centre will gather knowledge on threats and hate, help media houses and journalists counteract harassment, support those who have been targeted and find routines for analysing and handling online hate.
"I find it repulsive that this work is necessary, but this is what the world looks like, so I'm happy that Fojo has been given this commission by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It also goes hand in hand with our new commission to work to prevent hate and threats towards journalists in Sweden", says Kersti Forsberg, operations manager.
In the first stage, this project will be carried out as a pilot at five editorial offices in different countries. During this pilot period, methods for handling hate and threats towards female journalists will be tested and evaluated.
For more information about the project, please contact project manager Lars Tallert, +4670-831 88 00 or lars.tallert@lnu.se.
If you want to know more about the media institute in general, contact operations manager Kersti Forsberg, kersti.forsberg@lnu.se or +4673-092 64 13.