Women Journalists on the Frontline: Exploring Violence Enacted Against Women Journalists in Brazil and South Africa

Abstract

Violence in its various forms (be it physical, verbal, or structural) is enacted by political figures against women journalists across the globe. This study focuses on the violence experienced by women journalists reporting on politics in Brazil and South Africa. The paper examines the question: How are elements of violence enacted against women journalists by political actors in South Africa similar to those in Brazil? The study samples eight pieces of visual data in which the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and President Jair Bolsonaro verbally and physically assault women journalists. The research explores the individual and intersecting tenets of gender-based violence in both contexts. Videos from Brazil and South Africa were sourced from YouTube and Twitter and analysed using thematic analysis. The two main themes the paper explores are: strategic gender-based violence and the avoidance of accountability, and the intersections of power, patriarchy, and physicality. The research concludes that the political figures are aware of the woman journalist’s position in society and use strategic forms of violence to wield their power to both undermine and silence the journalists. Their strategy requires a violence toolkit that consists of the structural and patriarchal gender-based violence embedded in both contexts. The politicians want to avoid accountability for their actions as well as ensure that the woman journalist understands the risk and violence they face if they continue to probe and question them. The paper recommends that further studies should research the strategies that are used to address the gendered violence experienced by women journalists.