Half of all cases of sexual harassment come from newsroom colleagues, and a third from supervisors, according to a major comparative regional study on sexual harassment of women in the media.
Every second woman working in the media has experienced sexual harassment, with half of the cases coming from newsroom colleagues and a third from supervisors, said Dina Vozab and Emil Čančar on Tuesday at the Croatian Journalists’ Association headquarters in Zagreb, presenting the results of a major comparative regional study on sexual harassment of women in the media. According to a survey conducted by the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists’ (TUCJ) among more than 600 women media workers, most media outlets lack preventive measures and clear procedures for handling cases of sexual harassment. Additionally, 50 percent of female journalists do not know whether existing protection mechanisms cover sexual harassment, and the vast majority of cases go unreported due to fear of losing their job, retaliation, and distrust in their newsroom.
According to research by the Croatian Journalists’ Association, a total of 86 attacks and threats against journalists and media outlets were reported in Croatia between 2021 and 2024.
TUCJ’s results show that nearly 60 percent of surveyed female journalists have not experienced threats or physical attacks, while almost 29 percent have experienced threats, and 12.5 percent have received death threats. In most cases (45 percent), the perpetrators were members of the public whom journalists encountered on assignment, and in 40 percent of cases, the perpetrators were individuals they were reporting on. As many as 44 percent of female journalists report discrimination based on sex or gender, and the most common violations of labor rights include disregard for working hours and the right to rest. Unwanted comments based on gender and women’s sexuality were experienced by 57 percent of female journalists, with newsroom colleagues identified as the most frequent source. They are also the most common perpetrators of sexual harassment in newsrooms (48 percent), slightly more often than supervisors (33 percent).
When it comes to sexual assaults, colleagues in the newsroom are again the most frequent perpetrators (60 percent), followed by supervisors (30 percent). Overall, 39 percent of women reported experiencing sexual assault. Insights from interviews suggest that journalism today is affected by both internal harmful factors (poor working conditions, discrimination related to motherhood, everyday inappropriate comments, fear of stigmatization when reporting attacks or harassment) and external ones (violence in everyday life, pervasive online abuse, rhetoric from politicians that fuels attacks by portraying journalists as legitimate targets…).