Estonian Male Journalists’ Experiences with Abusive Online Communication

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Authors

RIIVES Armas MURUMAA-MENGEL Maria IVASK Signe

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Sociální studia
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Social Studies

Citation
Web article - open access
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.5817/SOC2021-2-31
Keywords male journalists; abusive online communication; masculinity; coping strategies; journalism
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Description Several studies have established that female journalists experience (sexual) harassment and online abuse considerably more than their male colleagues. Understandably, this has resulted in a gap in research – male journalists’ experiences with abusive online communication have not yet been thoroughly studied. This paper seeks to understand how abusive communication is contextualised and defined by male journalists in the context of hegemonic masculinity, and to explore which coping strategies are employed to overcome such experiences. From qualitative in-depth interviews with male journalists (n=15), we found that participants considered different forms of abusive online communication from readers/sources a normalised practice, “feedback” that one must just ignore or overcome. Experiences are interpreted predominantly in the frame of hegemonic (complicit) masculinity, but the results also indicate that shifts in these rigid norms are emerging and can be embraced when acknowledged and supported by surrounding structures.
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