By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw
The debate surrounding indigenous journalist Stan Grant standing down after harassment from some traditional media and cyberbullying underscores the importance of our research into the online safety of various journalists.
The research project by our joint team from Griffith University and Macquarie University was titled ‘Online Safety of Diverse Journalists’.
It was commissioned by Media Diversity Australia (MDA) and funded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Meta (Facebook), Google News Initiative, the e-Safety Commissioner and Twitter.
The main findings were well explained in this Conversation piece by my research colleagues Bronwyn Carlson, Susan Forde, Madi Day and Faith Valencia-Forester.
My role in the project was to write a law and policy summary about cyberbullying and online safety for various journalists and a 15,000 word appendix to the report.
The extended policy report (see Appendix A of the report) reviews the legal, regulatory and self-regulatory landscape of the online safety of diverse news media workers/journalists in Australia – that is, media workers living with disabilities, culturally and linguistically diverse ( CALD), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and/or LGBTQIA+. It benchmarks those policies against comparable Western democracies.
The summary of the policy landscape in the area contains 28 key laws and policy measures with varying utility and availability, ranging from international human rights instruments down to criminal laws of particular jurisdictions.
Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that you consult a lawyer before taking any legal risks.
© Mark Pearson 2023 – the moral right of the author has been asserted.
