Protesters march against sexual violence on Dec. 7, 2019, in Beirut. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanon was the only member country in the Media Freedom Coalition to refrain from signing a statement that calls attention to the safety of women journalists and media workers, according to a report published by SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom on Tuesday. On International Women’s Day 2022, 49 out of 50 member countries signed the statement.
Here’s what we know:
• The statement from the Media Freedom Coalition — a partnership of countries formed in July 2019 at the Global Conference for Media Freedom to advocate for media freedom and safety of journalists — highlighted the plight of female journalists and media workers in the field, who are “disproportionately targeted by harassment, threats, sexist hate speech, trolling and violence.”
• “Attacks on women journalists distort the media landscape by threatening diversity and perpetuating inequalities. Furthermore, the escalation of sexual and gender-based violence and harassment is of urgent concern and forms a serious threat to an inclusive and diverse media landscape,” read the statement. “It is a risk to media pluralism and democracy as a whole. The threats women journalists and media workers face tend to silence their voices and limit their ability to exercise their freedom of speech.”
• The statement stressed the importance of a gender balance in the field, as such balance “is critical for independent journalism to effectively pursue the public interest as it performs its information-gathering and -sharing roles in society.”
• The statement described how women have often been left out of powerful positions, limiting their access to leadership roles. According to the statement, these unbalanced gender roles jeopardize “media pluralism and democracy as a whole.”
• “Women should always be able to speak out without fear of harassment, discrimination or violence,” read the statement, so that their voices do not remain “unheard.”
• Amid the Oct. 17, 2019 uprising in Lebanon, many female reporters and media persons were verbally harassed on social media and often on live television as well. MTV reporter Joyce Akiki was insulted by music composer and Free Patriotic Movement sympathizer Samir Sfeir while covering the protest held by FPM supporters outside the Baabda Justice Palace, SKeyes reported on Oct. 25 of that year.
• Journalists Dima Sadek, Luna Safwan and Mahassen Moursel were also victims of online hate campaigns in Lebanon. The women were “hounded” on social media as documented in an article by Reporters Without Borders.