Online Threats to Journalists in Sweden and the US : An investigation into the orgnizational protections of journalists in an era of outrage-culture

The growing presence of social media in our modern-day world has changed the nature of journalism, as the introduction of Twitter as a tool in modern newsrooms has introduced new threats against journalists. This subject of Twitter in the newsroom has been thoroughly researched in the past; however, the research has largely been quantitative and the consequences of the behavior of journalists using Twitter somewhat less explored. Therefore, this research aims to answer the following questions: How has twitter affected the newsroom? How do journalists cope with online threats and hate on Twitter? and How do Aftonbladet (Sweden) and The New York Times (US) protect their journalists from threats and hate on Twitter? The research methods for this study have mainly been from semi-structured qualitative interviews with six journalists. Interviews were chosen to get a deeper understanding of individual experiences at large news organizations. It explores two different newspapers, the Swedish based Aftonbladet and US based The New York Times. The theoretical framework consisted of the Spiral of Silence Theory and Uses and Gratifications Theory. The findings indicate that (1) Twitter effects the newsrooms in terms of online threats, causes journalists and news organizations to cater to the few, Twitter can negatively affect people, and creates the opportunity for journalists to become brands outside of their employer; (2) journalists cope with online hate and threats by reporting threats, ignoring threats or hate, filtering social media, turning off their phones and avoiding topics; and lastly (3) Aftonbladet recognized that social media use is up to the journalist and that there should be less reliance or emphasis on the platform, they protect their journalists by offering training for the current online environment (threats training, persona training). While training is unknown for The New York Times, the organization put too much emphasis on the platform as a reporting and feedback tool which led to providing little protection for journalists who receive hate and threats on the platform (unless threats are deemed as a physical danger to the journalist)