MORE than half of journalists have been subjected to violence, harassment, threats and abuse, a survey published today by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which represents workers in Britain and Ireland, has found.

The union has laid bare the experiences of individuals, which include being threatened with knives, hit with glass bottles, having their homes fire-bombed and targeted by online stalking that has extended to contact with their families, friends and children. 

“I have had to leave home on occasions due to death threats, and my house has had to be fitted with extra security measures such as cameras and a reinforced door,” one journalist told the NUJ’s researchers.

“When I had death threats and rape threats for one piece I wrote, nobody understood how bad it was,” another one said. “I felt completely alone. There was nobody to talk to and no procedure to follow.”

The report is released to coincide with the United Nations international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists.

Union general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “It is wholly unacceptable and outrageous that NUJ members are being routinely abused, harassed and intimidated in the course of doing their job.”

She said that women and black and minority ethnic journalists were being disproportionately affected, and that violence, threats and abuse “also risk silencing journalists and censoring debates.”

The union is part of a newly established National Committee for the Safety of Journalists, which is calling on employers to do more to ensure the safety of journalists facing abuse, provide adequate training, ensure freelances are given better support, and for police to “deal with cases more robustly and consistently.”