This project asks: ‘What might ethical journalistic representations of online hostility directed at women and girls look like and how might such representations protect the digital citizenship of these groups?’ This project will undertake semi-structured interviews with Australian journalists and editors to understand how they may be better supported to represent online hostility against women and girls in ways that avoid victim-blaming, that acknowledge the harms of this abuse, and that suggest how this abuse might be safely addressed by victims and media outlets. The researcher hypothesises that such representations can play a vital role in protecting the digital citizenship of women and girls.

The project’s findings will result in a website containing resources for journalists and editors on producing the ethical representations discussed above. Findings will also be promoted via academic and media articles, and papers presented to scholarly and industry audiences.

Dr. Jay Daniel Thompson is a Lecturer in Professional Communication in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. His research investigates ways of cultivating ethical online communication to mitigate digital hostility and networked disinformation.