Reciprocal journalism’s double-edged sword: How journalists resolve cognitive dissonance after experiencing harassment from audiences on social media

Abstract

Reciprocal journalism is a daily practice for American journalists. Previous studies show it benefits journalists, newsrooms, and audiences (e.g. Coddington, Lewis & Holton, 2018). Conversely, journalists also experience harassment when interacting with audiences online, causing them to view audiences less favorably (Lewis, Zamith, & Coddington, 2020). Through in-depth interviews with 24 professional and former journalists, this study finds journalists experience cognitive dissonance after experiencing harassment during reciprocal journalism, but they are not likely to stop the practice due to organizational and individual benefits perceived as greater than the negatives. The study finds journalists feel personally responsible for resolving dissonance and often use unhealthy resolution techniques like normalization, victim blaming, or perspective-taking to deal with online abuse. The end result could mean dangerous consequences for individuals and the industry long-term. Results suggest a cultural shift in the industry would be necessary to significantly ease dissonant cognitions among individual journalists.

Unprepared for Reality: Early-Career Journalists Ill-Equipped for Hostility in the Field

“…By focusing on early-career journalists’ experiences with hostility in the field, this project identifies a gap in journalism students’ preparation for the industry. Scholars previously called for a stronger focus on hostility and harassment in journalism classrooms (Deavours et al, 2022; Eckert & Steiner, 2018; Heckman et al, 2022; Mesmer, 2022a, 2022b; Miller, 2021; Miller & Lewis, 2022; Steiner, 2019); however, interviews with journalists in this sample revealed a focus on hostility in journalism courses is lacking, leaving them unprepared for hostility on the job. This was true even at the most basic levels, such as when handling angry phone calls.…”

“…We know journalists often forgo bringing online harassment, including threats, to the attention of their editors because they assume it is not serious enough to mention (Deavours et al, 2022). Newsroom management has been found to offer no or insufficient support in regard to online hostility and harassment (Holton et al, 2021) and that social media policies regarding how to engage with audiences who are hostile online are vague or lacking entirely, with little to no intervention from superiors (Miller & Nelson, 2022), which puts the onus of dealing with hostility on individual reporters.…”

“…And although hostility has long been understood as a problem faced by political journalists and those reporting on polarizing topics (Posetti et al, 2021), and for women journalists (Chen et al, 2020) covering “masculine” subjects such as sports (Everbach, 2018), journalists have also experienced hostility while reporting on lifestyle and feature topics (Perreault & Miller, 2022) and while doing vox pop interviews, even at light-hearted community gatherings (Mesmer, 2022a). Many journalists have normalized hostility as just another part of the job, especially in the case of online hostility (Deavours et al, 2022), some even consider the hate they receive in response to stories as a “badge of honor” and sign of a job well done (Miller, 2022), therefore ignoring the serious consequences that can stem from hostility. But the consequences are real.…”

“…Aspiring journalists are entering a field wrought with challenges, some of the most perilous and prevalent among them being hostility from news sources, readers, and the general public both online and offline (Deavours et al, 2022; Holton et al, 2021; Mesmer, 2022a, 2022b; Miller, 2021, 2022; Miller & Lewis, 2022; Posetti et al, 2021; Post & Kepplinger, 2019). Despite these challenges, calls surrounding the need to prepare journalism students for and teach them to resist hostile encounters and harassment are just beginning to emerge (Eckert & Steiner, 2018; Heckman et al, 2022; Reed, 2018; Steiner, 2019).…”

Who Teaches About Hostility? Examining Factors for Inclusion in Journalism Curriculum

“…educación periodística, hostilidad hacia la prensa, pedagogía, eficacia docente A host of scholars have focused their attention on hostility toward individual journalists (see Deavours et al, 2022;Ivask & Lon, 2023;Waisbord, 2022b) and news media more broadly (see Carlson et al, 2021;Holton et al, 2023;Lewis et al, 2020;Post & Kepplinger, 2019) in recent years. This is especially so in the United States, where antimedia rhetoric was reinvigorated by former President Donald Trump and like-minded politicians (Waisbord, 2020).…”