Trolling of Female Journalists: The Case of Twitter Space in Pakistan

Online harassment of citizens has become a disturbing "normality" worldwide, with female journalists facing a particularly severe brunt of such abuse in the digital age. Human rights activists and female advocates from diverse backgrounds have been increasingly voicing their demands for basic rights in society. This research delves into the treatment of female journalists in Pakistan, a society that is relatively traditional, less educated, and democratic in its outlook. Female journalists in Pakistan have been actively protesting the rampant online abuse they endure, and hashtags like #AttacksWontSilenceUs and #TogetherAgainstAbuse have been used to raise awareness about this issue. In this study, the focus is on analyzing the comments posted on their profiles to understand the patterns of engagement between online journalists and Twitter users. The findings reveal distressing figures, with 37% of the comments received by female journalists being negative and filled with hate speech, abusive language, sexism, threats, and personal attacks. A significant portion of these comments is based on gender, indicating gender-based harassment and criticism. Notably, the study identifies that 76% of the top 100 commenters on the profiles of most female journalists have political affiliations, while only 24% are ordinary netizens. Furthermore, anti-government journalists are subjected to higher levels of attacks compared to their neutral and pro-government counterparts