Cease harassment, intimidation and doxxing of journo

 

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) notes with alarm the recent doxxing and harassment of a journalist today at Free Malaysia Today.

At a public lecture held on Jan 12, the journalist posed a line of questioning which then resulted in a social media outrage, leading to targeted harassment, intimidation and doxxing of the journalist.

While we note that media organisations are responsible for ensuring the highest ethical and responsible reporting standards, and the media organisation has indeed addressed the matter through an internal inquiry, we strongly condemn the actions by actors who seek to threaten the journalist’s safety and privacy.

We are particularly concerned with this issue of doxxing, where many social media users have taken it upon themselves to reveal personal information about the journalist. Many netizens have also used inflammatory, racist, and dehumanising speech against the journalist. These actions have amounted to viable threats against this journalist.

All journalists are expected to uphold ethical reporting principles in the course of their work and to responsibly conduct their due diligence when covering any issue. Questions posed by journalists should foster critical thinking, healthy dialogues, and generate constructive debate and counter opinions.

In this respect, we do continue to emphasise that no amount of dissatisfaction or criticism towards a journalist’s manner of carrying out their duty warrants an attack on their safety and privacy.

We must unequivocally condemn all forms of doxing, harassment, and threats directed at journalists. Accountability must be pursued through appropriate and legitimate channels, such as the Malaysian Media Council, and not through online mob behaviour or the weaponisation of personal data.

We must place our trust in these institutions as they have been given the mandate to address these issues in the interest of the public, as a multistakeholder body, following international standards. They are equipped to handle these issues with various persons of expertise.

Do no harm

As Malaysians, we must exercise our constitutional right to freedom of expression responsibly and not use our freedom to harm any person.

While freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed to all, it is not absolute and is subject to legitimate restrictions that meet the foundational principles of legality, proportionality and necessity.

Inciting violence, harassment and doxxing any person is a direct violation of a person’s basic human rights and undermines the safety of individuals and media workers in Malaysia. Article 5 of the Constitution guarantees this as it states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.

Therefore, we urge all parties responsible to ensure that the journalist’s safety and privacy are upheld and guaranteed. In this regard, we call on Free Malaysia Today to also adopt adequate measures to ensure the safety of its journalists and prevent further harm, especially given the current threats.

We also urge the public to flag and report any such attempts to dox or weaponise hate speech against him or any other journalist carrying out their duties. Media freedom cannot thrive when journalists are subjected to privacy and safety threats while performing their duties. - Mkini

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WATHSHLAH G NAIDU is CIJ executive director.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.