Keyword – online harassment

Tófalvy, Tamás:

Online Harassment of Journalists in Hungary

This report, prepared for the International Press Institute (IPI) in 2017, presents the findings of a study focused on mapping, observing and analysing the online harassment of journalists in Hungary. It is aimed at identifying the types of harassment journalists are subject to, and at mapping which journalists are typically harassed, who the harassers are, and how journalists cope with harassment. The report identified eight basic types of harassment present in Hungary, including rhetorical aggression, trolling, bullying, threats, public shaming, violations of personal privacy, cyber attacks and site hacking, and malicious social media activity. It found that the most common types of online harassment were trolling and rhetorical aggression, experienced by Hungarian online journalists on a daily basis on both public and private channels. Based on the analysis of data, this report defines three main challenges for Hungarian online journalism with regard to the ubiquitous nature of online harassment: a soft chilling effect, a ‘desensitisation effect,’ and the significant volume and intensity of harassment targeted at traditionally oppressed social groups, against women in particular.

Keywords: Hungary, IPI report, journalists, online harassment