The International Press Institute (IPI) recently launched the first-ever cross-border collaboration project between media organizations in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal. As part of this innovative effort “Covering and investigating attacks against journalists in South Asia: a Cross-Border cooperation”, IPI’s media partners have documented the hostile environment and attacks faced by women journalists in the region.
To mark International Women’s Day, journalists at The Daily Star in Bangladesh, The Week in India, Dawn in Pakistan and the Republica and Nagarik in Nepal, have investigated the vicious online attacks that women journalists face in their respective countries and how the journalists cope with these attacks. The stories have been cross-published today in all four publications.
“Violence against journalists and impunity for those who commit these crimes have become rampant around the world”, IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said. “The attacks on women journalists, especially online harassment campaigns that draw on misogynist sentiments in society to become viral, are extremely vicious but often go unreported. By publishing these stories IPI and its partners want to draw attention to the venomous attacks that have become a common occurrence in the professional and personal lives of women.”
The stories are published in the context of IPI’s cross-border journalism project in South Asia, supported by UNESCO’s Global Media Defence Fund, a multi-partner trust fund that supports investigative journalism contributing to tackle impunity for crimes against journalists, and Free Press Unlimited (FPU). The IPI South Asia cooperation endeavours to highlight attacks on journalists in the region to create public awareness and influence policymakers to end impunity for crimes against journalists.
Read the reports below:
Bangladesh | Digital Security Act: The law that does not protect
Pakistan | In the crossfire
India | Fear in the air
Nepal | Social media is ‘dangerous’ to women journalists in Nepal
