2022-07-25

Safety of Female Journalists Online (SOFJO) in Central Asia

On 22 July 2022, the OSCE Academy hosted a presentation of the preliminary results of the study on 'Safety of Female Journalists Online (SOFJO) in Central Asia'. This project is run by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM). In Central Asia, the OSCE Academy serves as implementing partner responsible for the coordination and management of the research.

The event was opened by Dr. Indira Satarkulova, Deputy Director, OSCE Academy in Bishkek, highlighting the importance of the event and the conducted research: "We are glad to be a part of the SOFJO Project that supports media freedom, democracy, and protects female journalists from online aggression".

Paloma Madrigal, Project Officer, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, noted that "media freedom can only exist when all journalists regardless of gender are safe to do their work, to investigate, to report and shed light on the significant issues in society". She introduced SOFJO Project and underlined that the project aims to develop policies, procedures, and measures to build a safe space for women journalists online.

Following the welcoming and opening remarks, Dr. Elira Turdubaeva, Project Manager, provided the preliminary results of the study, that was conducted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Female journalists from mentioned countries participated in the event and shared their own experiences of being attacked online, as well as offered recommendations for developing new approaches to combat discrimination against women journalists on social media.

The participants of the workshop also had an opportunity to meet online Dr. Julie Posetti, Deputy Vice President, Global Research, and listen to a presentation about the global trends and international experience. Dr. Posetti also greatly contributed to the research  by designing the survey’s questions and together with the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, adapting them to the Central Asian context .The final results for Central Asian region will be ready in Fall 2022.