Journalist Asma Shirazi is once again targeted by a gendered disinformation campaign perpetrated by well-entrenched political forces.
This statement was originally published on digitalrightsfoundation.pk on 10 January 2025.
The Network of Women Journalists for Digital Rights (NWJDR) strongly condemns the ongoing relentless harassment and gendered disinformation campaign against senior female journalist Asma Shirazi by prominent political party supporters, and political commentators and vloggers.
This is not the first time Asma Shirazi has been targeted, and is the most recent in a disturbing trend of online harassment and tech-facilitated gender-based violence against female journalists that is becoming increasingly normalised. In 2020, 150 journalists issued a statement against the trolling of female journalists. The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) took notice of this statement in 2022, demanding an update from the government, which had not taken any action in two years. Shirazi, who has repeatedly been a target of gendered character assassination, won a two-year long case in the Islamabad High Court against ARY News and PEMRA in 2023, which involved a fabricated news story undermining her journalistic integrity. The court absolved her, and found her online and on-air character assassination to be baseless. Now, in January 2025, the situation is just as dire, and Shirazi is once again on the receiving end of an endless slew of abuse, hatred, accusations, and trolling by politically motivated and backed actors.
The continuation of such targeted campaigns not only places individual journalists’ lives at risk, but also shrinks space for freedom of expression and press freedom as a whole. According to a recent report by the Digital Rights Foundation, at least 47 of 225 posts analysed across platforms during the 2024 Pakistan general elections targeted journalists covering the elections. These journalists “became vulnerable to online threats of physical assaults, organized trolling campaigns and gendered insults”. Platforms like X and Facebook have also failed to provide adequate recourse: a study by the International Centre for Journalists found that women journalists rated Facebook and X as the two least safe platforms, with 39% and 26% of respondents, respectively, expressing concerns. The research further revealed that nearly 73% of women journalists experience online violence.
The harassment and vile comments against Asma Shirazi are baseless and hinge upon character assassination by online trolls and political commentators with huge followings. NWJDR urges relevant authorities to take notice of Shirazi’s targeted harassment, as well as the growing trend of online harassment against female journalists. We urge political parties to take disciplinary action against those involved in the targeting of female journalists, and to formally dissociate from the actions of these trolls. The Ministry of Human Rights and the NCHR must also take action and develop a strategy for addressing such gendered attacks and campaigns against women journalists and women public figures.
These targeted disinformation and harassment campaigns cannot become the norm. Every time female journalists face gendered harassment, NWJDR will continue to raise its voice and assist survivors in finding avenues to justice.
