In the face of increasing harassment of journalists and media workers online and in-person, made worse by polarizing politics and the anonymity of social media, Unifor launched the Help is Here website to allow journalists and media workers to get the support they need when they need it.
The site was developed by Unifor in conjunction with Unifor journalists and media members on the front lines, drawing on our experiences in bargaining and developing workplace anti-harassment procedures. It also draws on existing resources in the community available to journalists and media workers. The site will be updated regularly as new tools and resources come available.
Unifor conducted a survey in late 2021 to early 2022 to document experiences of harassment journalists and media workers faced. The key takeaways were:
- women, workers of colour, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+, and other equity-deserving groups were disproportionately targeted for harassment,
- that media workers wanted a point person to go to address harassment, and
- the need for clarity through collective agreements on how to report harassment.
Now, we are launching Breaking the News - Media Workers Under Attack, our new media policy paper that outlines the complex issue of abuse and harassment media workers face online and in–person and how Unifor is confronting the problem.
Support for media workers is also available on Unifor’s Media Action Plan and Unifor Media websites.