Here’s what it’s like to be a media company’s first-ever online safety editor

Dr. Rebecca Whittington: I have different experiences as a journalist and as an editor. But that was really when we were starting to understand what digital really meant for journalism. And so from there, I went to do my doctorate and teach journalism. I taught journalism for seven years at Leeds Trinity University and did my PhD at Leeds University, studying the impact of digital tools on information production processes and journalistic and product identity within regional and local newspapers UK

[I found] that journalists recognized the opportunities offered by online tools — but also a lack of understanding, on the part of news outlets and individual journalists, of how to manage the changes that these tools bring about in terms of news production.

For example, if you have social networks and use them to promote your work and interact with online communities, that’s fine. It also means that when you relax in the evening after a day at the office, you receive messages. They can be invasive or abusive and this makes you more vulnerable in some ways, while strengthening your position as a journalist in the community in other ways.

I don’t think I would be in this role without the research skills my PhD gave me. I will apply many of these to gather evidence for Reach and hopefully contribute to some of the amazing research that has already been done in this area.

It’s only the beginning, but I’m already starting to know from the journalists I work with what their personal problems have been, what problems their colleagues have faced and what scope [has already] ended.

Whitton: This is now a real critical point. Reach is the first media company [in the U.K.] have that kind of role. I imagine we will see other organizations follow suit.

[Online abuse] is an unfortunate fact of life. The opportunities offered by the Internet have also resulted in obvious disadvantages for people working as public figures or journalists in the online sphere. The UNESCO research group has demonstrated Rise of online hate against women journalists. Really interesting research done at Cardiff University called Hate Labdemonstrates that there is a correlation between online abuse and violence in physical space.

In the UK, the Online security bill is considered. A Member of Parliament was recently stabbed to death and he was receiving threatening messages online. So it’s not just journalism, and it’s not just Reach; it goes in our public spheres and in society as a whole.

How to regulate the online spaces hitherto difficult to regulate? I won’t be able to fix this problem on my own. No one will be able to solve this problem alone. We need to work collaboratively with online platforms, we need to look at accountability within our own networks, and we need to engage others to do the same. I think collaboration will be absolutely key to this because collaborative voices can be heard more strongly.

Whitton: What really struck me was the variety of issues I’ve seen reported over the past few weeks. None of them were the same. Anecdotally, we hear that there is more abuse and hate against women and people of color. I hear there’s been quite a bit of piling on Twitter. We asked a journalist to write a balanced and fair report on Covid and the steps taken within a community to protect it, and there was a real online backlash against this journalist. It looked reasonably coordinated. His pitch went out and people responded to that. I’m pretty sure some of this answer was unrelated to the community she was working in. But obviously, there were elements where it made her feel very vulnerable. It was this kind of growing hatred that had just been poured out on this individual.

Not everything is as extreme as that in terms of volume or numbers. But we also see journalists, on a daily basis, being told that they are worth rubbish, why shouldn’t they look for another job elsewhere. That kind of thing, being undermined and demoralized on a daily basis. It goes from one extreme to the other.

We have seen hate crimes, racism, threats to life. In these circumstances, we always encourage the victim to report it to the police and we support them in this report.

In a recent case, where very indirect threats were made on a social media platform, it was really unclear where they came from. We ended up involving our security officers in this so that they could support this journalist.

It’s a real variety of things that we see. And I think that’s why it’s such a difficult issue in some ways – we don’t expect anyone to experience or accept any type of abuse, but there is a variety of abuse. Not only that, but there are many different reasons why people to hire in abuse and so we are not going to find a one-size-fits-all solution. We can come up with a series of solutions that will hopefully work together.

Whitton: I think [the challenges are] the variety of types of abuse that have taken place and the reasons why. I monitor and document abuse as it occurs so that we can examine the demographics of the people who are victimized, the platforms and how the abuse occurs. If we see a certain type of abuse becoming more prevalent over time, this will hopefully help us deal with it.

As part of that, we need to have good systems in place so people can report easily and then we can help them be heard within the organization. Reach has some very good policies and procedures in place, but part of my role will be to make sure they are up to date.

Whitton: I’m really happy to have joined a company that cares about diversity and inclusion, and has given enough thought to it to have a policy and procedure in place. However, there is certainly room for improvement. I want it to be really easy for people to report. I want them to be able to report [even] when they feel like they don’t necessarily want anything else to happen – they just want to be able to say somebody. I want to make this as simple as possible. And then obviously for people who are reporting and want to see action happen, I want them to feel supported and happy with the outcome.

[Reach did] a health survey in 2021 that asked journalists about online safety issues. Of the editors who responded, half said they had experienced online abuse. And of that number, 85% said it was in response to something they posted, promoted or shared online. It’s a big challenge, because we have to help our staff to work with confidence in this online space.

The other key element, for me, will be to work with the public who are there for the right reason: because they are engaged, because they are interested in what we produce, because they have a with our products. I think it’s also very important to help them feel safe online. We have people who come into these spaces and do [others] feel in danger. It’s not just our journalists who are offended.