November 2 is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. —Unsplash
WHEN journalists are vilified online for doing their job, the damage extends beyond the individual. It corrodes public debate, deters independent reporting, and weakens democracy.
Across Western Europe, the pattern is clear: coordinated waves of digital abuse, aimed mainly at women and minority journalists, with almost total impunity for the perpetrators.
I’ve seen it up close. As editor-in-chief of Dutch broadsheet NRC Handelsblad, I saw columnist Clarice Gargard targeted by a ferocious digital mob in 2018. Her “crime” was livestreaming an anti-racism protest. Within days, she received more than 7,600 abusive messages – one just threatening her to “shoot her in the neck”.
Dutch prosecutors eventually convicted 24 offenders – a rare success – yet most walked away with fines of less that €500 (RM2,400) or community service. The verdict was symbolic, not deterrent.
In June, as CEO of publishers Mediahuis Ireland, I saw how it could be done differently. In Dublin, three women journalists working for one of our papers, The Sunday World, endured months of intimidation before their harasser, who threatened to “put a bullet” in one of them, was jailed for 11 years. Ireland’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) hailed the judgment as “an important signal”. It was also a reminder of how seldom such justice is achieved.
These stories are part of a wider trend. Media Freedom Rapid Response (which tracks, monitors, and reacts to press freedom violations in EU Member States and candidate countries) documented 1,548 press-freedom violations in Europe in 2024, including 359 online attacks – up sharply from the year before. In 83.8% of those cases, the perpetrators were never identified.
Private citizens, not governments, are now the main aggressors. Social media anonymity and algorithmic outrage have turned ordinary users into digital mobs. The NUJ’s safety tracker for the United Kingdom and Ireland found three-quarters of journalists say online hostility has worsened in the past year; 95% percent call it “widespread”.
Unesco’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) global data paint the same picture: 37% of women journalists say political actors are among their online attackers, and one in five report that digital threats later spilled into real-world intimidation.
Online abuse isn’t just unpleasant – it shapes coverage. In 2025, German broadcaster Dunja Hayali stepped back from social media after months of hate campaigns. Others simply avoid reporting on topics such as migration, gender, or extremism. The result is self-censorship by exhaustion.
As an editor and a CEO I increasingly see reporters withdraw from social platforms or contentious beats because the personal cost is too high. The chilling effect is real, and measurable.
Europe has legal tools – national laws on threats and stalking, the EU’s Digital Services Act, and the UK’s Online Safety Act – but enforcement lags behind intent. Police units are overstretched, prosecutors hesitate to pursue digital hate crimes, and platforms still profit from engagement, however toxic.
Only the most spectacular cases reach a courtroom, and even then, sentences are light. Most journalists quietly block, report, and give up when nothing happens.
Europe likes to present itself as a haven for press freedom. But when nearly 84% of online attackers remain anonymous and unpunished, that claim rings hollow. Online abuse has become the cheapest way to silence a journalist. This is not just a safety issue; it’s a test of democratic will. When reporters stop speaking, citizens stop hearing. Diversity of thought erodes. The loudest voices – often the angriest – dominate the conversation.
Three urgent steps could start to reverse the trend:
> Professionalise digital policing. Law enforcement needs trained cyberharassment units capable of tracing threats quickly and prosecuting them effectively.
> Hold platforms accountable. Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, social media companies must act on coordinated harassment – removing content, preserving evidence, and cooperating with investigators.
> Support journalists inside newsrooms. Media organisations must treat online abuse as a workplace hazard. Training, digital-security tools, and psychological support should be standard.
Defending journalists online is not about protecting fragile egos. It is about defending the public’s right to be informed without fear or manipulation.
Peter Vandermeersch was editor-in-chief of De Standaard and NRC Handelsblad, and later CEO of the Irish Independent and The Belfast Telegraph. He is currently a Mediahuis Fellow. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.
These articles were made available by WAN-Ifra, the World Association of News Publishers.
November 2 is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
