The International Center for Journalists conducted two “big data” case studies that looked at digital disinformation campaigns designed to discredit women journalists and chill their reporting.
The group’s research team partnered with University of Sheffield computer scientists to examine more than 13 million tweets directed at two particular journalists - Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub and Al Jazeera Arabic anchor Ghada Oueiss.
The leader of the research team said their findings illustrate the chilling ways in which patriotic trolls and foreign States target women journalists online in ways designed to discredit them, their journalism, and the news outlets they report for.
She also said she was alarmed at the ferocity of the attacks and the offline risks associated with them. The journalists have faced prolific abuse for years, and are routinely threatened with murder and rape.
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier and the students at student radio station The Dog: Jessica Martin, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and is news director of NEWS3-TV at WIU; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
