An Assessment of the 'Safety' of Nigerian Women Journalists Online

Abstract

Having a variety of online voices is good for democracy. The democratizing of information dissemination which the internet has brought, good as it is, continues to unveil some negative trends. Online bullying and threats are spreading and journalists are not spared. In Nigeria some women journalists have faced threats of rape; some have been attacked physically while others receive threatening graphic imagery in their inboxes or on social media platforms. Although this is evident for both genders, women appear to be more threatened. The harassment of women online is not a new concept, but in recent years it has become a cause for concern and has become a constraint for the freedom of expression for many women journalists. Nigeria, though a developing economy has seen a rapid rise in internet use. Although access to the world via the net is a good thing, there is a need to examine whether this freedom is being misused in Nigeria to stie the freedom of expression of women journalists. There is also a need to assess the level of awareness among women journalists in Nigeria, of digital threats/harassment, if there are institutions enabled to address any case that may arise and what coping strategies exist when cases arise. The Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) adapted for this study explains a process of threat and coping appraisal in which the behavioral options to diminish the threat are evaluated. The decisions that are made in a way of protecting oneself are how people respond to perceived threats. A quantitative survey of 29 members of the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) was conducted. They were purposively selected to ll in the structured questionnaire. The data was presented and descriptively analyzed using tables and percentages. The data revealed an average awareness of digital harassments mostly from social media. The data also revealed different levels of exposure to threats online and a lack of protective policies for Nigeria's women journalists. The paper notes the virtual absence of machinery to check such threats and recommends the creation of policies to protect women journalists and empower Nigerian Journalists Internet Rights Initiative (NJRI) to enforce protection and forestall a deterioration of the trend.