The cost of being a journalist: Investigating hostility and violence against journalists across seven European democracies
When discussing threats to media freedom in democracies, the focus often falls on direct control mechanisms, such as opaque media ownership, weak regulation of media concentration, political capture of public service media, or non-transparent distribution of state advertising. This project focuses on hostility and violence against journalists as a means of undermining the media’s democratic role. It examines the extent and forms of hostility and violence journalists face while doing their job and how these experiences affect their personal and professional lives, especially if, as a result, journalists start to avoid certain topics, reduce engagement with their audiences, and change the type of outlet for one where they are less publicly exposed, etc. Towards that end, I surveyed over 400 journalists across seven European countries: Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. These individual experiences point to a broader question: “What happens to democracy when those responsible for informing the public and holding those in power to account do so under threat?” Safety of journalists is not only about protecting journalists as individuals. It is also about protecting democracy, which depends on access to independent information and accountability.
