In Colombia, the negligence of a major media outlet in the face of a case of sexual assault by an editor against a journalist led the Constitutional Court to establish that public and private companies are responsible for preventing and sanctioning gender-based violence in workplaces.
In Argentina, a group of journalists presented a report to the Senate bringing together allegations of sexual harassment from 19 women against a renowned journalist. He initially denied the accusations, but days later published a video taking responsibility and apologizing to the women for his “inappropriate attitudes.”
The two cases had repercussions inside and outside these two countries and made public an issue known to women journalists in the region: the prevalence of gender-based violence in newsrooms, in the field and other work environments.
A recent study collected data to highlight this scenario. Researchers of the #MediosSinViolencias (Media Without Violence) survey, carried out by the Argentine organization Comunicación para la Igualdad with support from UNESCO and published in full in August, interviewed 108 women and men journalists and managers from 95 media outlets in 14 Latin American countries.
Three-quarters (75%) said they knew of at least one case of gender-based violence against women journalists, both online and offline. Almost half (48%) said that these cases of violence took place in the journalists' main place of work (newsroom or TV or radio studio).
The main aggressors in offline environments were allegedly people in management positions (49%) in the media outlets where the victims worked and colleagues at the same hierarchical level (27%). The predominant forms of gender-based violence against women journalists, according to people interviewed in the study, were psychological and verbal violence (65.6%) and sexual harassment (28%).
In more than half of the cases cited by respondents (54.5%), the attackers were not punished. Less than a third (28%) of cases generated a complaint, whether within the media outlet itself or in court. In 41.5% of reported cases, there was reprisal against the people who reported it, such as pressure at work, threats and dismissals.
These last three data form “a triangle that highlights the impunity of power within media,” Sandra Chaher, coordinator and editor of the study, told LatAm Journalism Review (LJR).
Sandra Chaher, coordinator and editor of the #MediosSinViolencias study and president of Comunicación para la Igualdad. (Courtesy)
“You have there a pyramid of power that has to do with companies where there is impunity, that is, the aggressors are not punished and instead the victims are attacked, and therefore the victims withdraw,” she said. “If you saw the case of a colleague who went to report and was either fired, moved to another job or threatened, this is not an incentive for you to report. This is what surprised us the most, because it shows how entrenched the violence associated with power is in the region's media.”
In addition to interviews with journalists, the study also analyzed 27 protocols for addressing gender-based violence at work. Of these, 22 are in force in media outlets and five were drawn up by journalists' unions in the region.
According to the study, a protocol is “a tool that standardizes procedures for action in a specific situation, in a specific area.” In cases of discrimination, harassment and violence at work, the protocol “allows us to address the situation that arises and address it appropriately in all aspects, through a comprehensive intervention,” the study said.
Among the protocols analyzed, only two were drawn up before 2015. That was the year in which the feminist movement Ni Una Menos emerged in Argentina, which guided gender-based violence in the public debate in Latin America.
“For us it is a bit of evidence of everything that Ni Una Menos created in Latin America: the fact of starting to talk about violence, starting to have some level of sensitivity and concern about this issue. Then the journalistic companies began to think that they had to do something,” Chaher said
Based on this analysis and with the collaboration of at least 30 Latin American media outlets, those responsible for the study developed a Framework Protocol for Prevention and Action against Discrimination, Harassment and Violence in Journalistic Work.
“We understand the existence and application of protocols that address violence as one of the strategies that news organizations could develop to promote better work environments,” the study said. It also emphasizes that the protocols must be implemented in the context of a comprehensive violence prevention plan that develops other actions, and that the commitment of managers and media owners to such policies is essential.
“Without an active role of the leadership bodies in defusing violence and generating inclusive work spaces, the existence of the protocol alone will not be enough,” the study said.
The #MediosSinViolencias survey also found that more than half (57%) of the 95 media outlets represented in the sample do not have a protocol for addressing gender-based violence. Around a third (32%) have a protocol, and in 12% of cases the people interviewed said they did not know how to answer.
Chaher highlighted that, in media outlets where there is an area specialized in handling this type of complaint, 41% of people said they evaluated its operation positively. For her, this is an incentive for organizations and companies to adopt protocols and specialized areas to deal with gender-based violence at work.
“The work environment greatly improves, that is, people are more satisfied because they also feel that these issues are being addressed,” she said. “If you have to work every day in a violent environment and you don't really want to go to work, your work will probably be of lesser quality.”
The study makes reference to the regional and international legal framework on this topic, and cites Convention 190 of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which deals with violence and harassment in the world of work.
According to the Convention, established in 2019, “gender-based violence and harassment” are “violence and harassment directed at persons because of their sex or gender, or affecting persons of a particular sex or gender disproportionately, and includes sexual harassment.”
Convention 190 determines that countries that ratify it must adopt the necessary measures to eradicate violence and harassment in workplaces. To date, 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have ratified the convention: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay.
Chaher said Convention 190 “is a huge step forward precisely because there was a legal vacuum in relation to this issue.”
Although Colombia has not yet ratified Convention 190, the norm was one of those that informed ruling T140/21 of the country's Constitutional Court.
The Court established that the Colombian State and companies have “the obligation to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for acts of violence and/or discrimination against women journalists and those who work in the media and, to that extent, they must act in a deferential, non-neutral and intolerant manner in relation to violence and or gender-based discrimination against women journalists.”
Laura Martínez helped develop Cuestión Pública's protocol. (Courtesy)
Laura Martínez, lawyer and leader for access to information for the Colombian media outlet Cuestión Pública, told LJR that following this ruling, issued in May 2021, the country's media began to look at this topic more closely.
This year, Cuestión Pública also developed, in partnership with the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP, for its acronym in Spanish), its own protocol for addressing gender-based violence against journalists, Martínez said.
“Cuestión Pública is a feminist media outlet. So for a long time we had been thinking that if we were a feminist media outlet, we had to have our own tools to also protect our women journalists,” Martínez said. “We wanted to make it very clear that there was violence against women journalists because they were women.”
For this reason, Cuestión Pública was invited to collaborate in the preparation of the Framework Protocol for the #MediosSinViolencias project, she said.
“We were present at some meetings, we were discussing it. It was a space of great growth for us as well, because we already had prior knowledge of what the protocol was like and how it was done, but discussing with other colleagues and learning what their points of view were seemed wonderful to me,” Martínez said.
She highlighted that one of the points of the Framework Protocol that seemed most relevant to her is the comprehensive approach to the problem of gender-based violence against women journalists. In addition to pointing out solutions for cases that may occur, the protocol also requires organizations to assess risks, detect potential situations of violence and adopt preventive measures. They must also dedicate themselves to transforming the organization's culture to ensure working environments free from discrimination, violence and harassment.
Martínez also highlighted that the important thing is to “start in a very basic way.”
“When you are in a risky situation, you don't need a lot of technical words. It really [is important] to make a protocol that is very fast,” she said. “That was what we tried to do in Cuestión Pública. It seems fundamental to me that it is something that, more than being bureaucratic, is fast and agile.”
