INTERVIEW

PMA’s UNESCO IPDC-funded project, Covid’s Legacy: The Role of African Media in Keeping Women Journalists Safe, has supported a research-driven initiative examining the safety challenges facing women journalists in Ghana and Nigeria, with a focus on physical safety, digital security, mental wellbeing, and the gap between newsroom policy and practice. Through interviews with media managers, focus groups with women journalists, and desk research into national media environments, the study is mapping how duty of care is understood and applied across the region, identifying existing protections, where they are falling short, and what urgent action is still needed.

To explore the research in more depth, Keiran Turner, PMA’s Development and Partnership Officer, spoke with the project’s lead researcher, Professor Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, University of Lagos, about its aims, emerging insights, and the importance of strengthening safety for women journalists.

Keiran Turner: What drew you to focus on women journalists’ safety in Africa and what you’ve observed over your career that compelled you to prioritise this work?

Professor Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika: Early in my journey, during my postgraduate studies in Gender and Development at the University of Sussex, I began analysing how media structures reinforce vulnerabilities. Over the years, I watched a troubling paradox emerge in our African media ecosystems: women journalists are increasingly leading the charge on the frontlines of investigative reporting, yet they are simultaneously exposed to an escalating, unchecked wave of physical, digital and psychological threats.

What compelled me to prioritise this work was the sheer silence surrounding the risks female journalists are facing. In addition, in my field-level realities, I saw how easily structural vulnerabilities were treated as “part of the job”. Currently, as the Lead Researcher for the Public Media Alliance (PMA) project, “COVID’s Legacy: The Role of African Media in Keeping Women Journalists Safe,” I am steering the critical mapping assessments in Nigeria and Ghana; and preliminary findings indicate that, the post-pandemic reality has weaponized online harassment, economic precarity and institutional apathy. As a result, documenting these risks is no longer enough; we must actively codify protection mechanisms because securing the safety of female journalists is a fundamental requirement for the health of our democracy.

KT: In your view, why is women journalists’ safety such a critical but often overlooked issue in African media systems?

AO-N: The crisis of women journalists’ safety in Africa is hidden in plain sight; and it remains overlooked because our media systems are largely caught in a web of historical patriarchal norms that treat safety through a highly gender-blind lens. Also, traditional safety protocols, where they exist, are often designed around physical conflict zones such as wearing a bulletproof vest or navigating a riot.

However, the threats women face are distinct, insidious,and layered. They include weaponised online misogyny, targeted digital stalking, sexual harassment within the newsroom and the subtle psychological exhaustion of navigating an unsafe workplace. Though, due to the fact that, these threats are frequently digital or psychological rather than visibly physical, newsrooms often dismiss them as personal grievances rather than severe, structural attacks on press freedom. Notwithstanding, we fail to realise that ignoring gender-specific vulnerabilities means we are actively silencing the very voices needed to bring nuanced diverse truths to light.

KT: What do you see as the main barriers preventing African newsrooms from prioritising duty of care and support for women journalists?

AO-N: The barriers are a complex mix of systemic inertia, economic frailty and institutional culture. Let’s unbundle these factors. A major barrier is Economic Precarity because post-pandemic, many African newsrooms are fighting for survival. So, when operating budgets are lean, “duty of care” is mistakenly viewed as an expensive luxury rather than an operational necessity.

Another barrier is Policy-to-Practice Gap, because while some media organisations possess written codes or anti-harassment frameworks, implementation is notoriously inconsistent. As such, policies end up as decorative text on HR portals rather than active shields for field reporters.

Let me wrap up this question with another factor which is Cultural Resistance as there remains a pervasive, stubborn culture of silence. In most media organisations, leadership structures, often dominated by male executives, lack the gender-sensitive frameworks needed to recognise that online trolling or workplace harassment causes deep, systemic harm. If a reporter is told to simply “grow a thick skin,” the institution has fundamentally failed its duty of care.

KT: How do you think fear and insecurity affect a journalist’s (male or female) ability to report independently and pursue stories that hold power to account?

AO-N: Fear is the ultimate, quiet censor of a free press. When a journalist, regardless of gender, operates under a constant state of insecurity, it triggers a survival mechanism that is toxic to investigative journalism: self-censorship. Holding power to account requires a clear mind and a secure foundation. If a reporter knows that pursuing a story on public corruption or human rights abuses will result in unaddressed death threats, coordinated online smear campaigns or physical violence, the mathematical calculus of risk changes. They may choose to soften their reporting, avoid controversial angles or drop the investigation entirely. Insecurity doesn’t just threaten the individual; it actively dilutes the boldness of our journalism, allowing corruption to thrive in the shadows because the cost of truth-telling has become life-threatening.

KT: What’s the broader impact on media pluralism when talented women journalists feel unsafe or unsupported enough to leave the profession?

AO-N: When a talented woman journalist walks out of a newsroom because she feels unsafe or unsupported, our collective democratic landscape shrinks. Media pluralism is not just about having a high number of radio stations or newspapers; it is about a vibrant diversity of perspectives, voices and lived experiences.

So, we should recognise that women bring critical, distinct lenses to societal issues, from governance and economic equity to health, conflict and human rights. When they are driven out of the profession by toxic digital spaces or institutional neglect, we lose those narratives. Therefore, the media landscape becomes monochromatic, dominated by a singular perspective. This situation discounts the fact that democracy cannot function healthily when half of its population’s stories are underreported because the women qualified to tell them have been systematically forced into silence or career pivot.

“This is not about tweaking a human resources manual or checking a corporate compliance box; it is about fundamentally re-engineering the DNA of African media management.”

KT: In your assessment, what role does journalist wellbeing play in sustaining independent, diverse media landscapes?

AO-N: Wellbeing is the literal fuel of independent journalism. We often speak of press freedom in terms of legal frameworks and constitutional protections but we forget that press freedom is executed by human beings. If our journalists are burning out, dealing with unaddressed trauma from reporting on tragedies or constantly anxious about their physical and digital safety, the entire media infrastructure becomes brittle.

Therefore, a resilient, diverse media landscape requires a healthy workforce, which requires investing in the mental, physical and digital safety of journalists to ensure that, they have the longevity and clarity required to pursue complex, long-term stories. So, we must stop viewing wellbeing as a peripheral wellness trend and start treating it as a core, strategic pillar of media sustainability.

KT: Do you believe there’s a connection between how newsrooms treat their journalists and how audiences perceive the credibility of news?

AO-N: There is an absolute, unbroken thread connecting institutional integrity to public trust because audiences are incredibly perceptive. They can sense when a newsroom is compromised, fractured or failing its own people. As a result, if a media house gains a reputation for exploiting its workers, ignoring sexual harassment or abandoning its reporters when they face legal or physical backlashes, its moral authority dissolves. A newsroom cannot convincingly lecture society about accountability, human rights, and transparency if its internal practices are opaque and abusive. Ethical journalism must begin at home; internal institutional integrity is the bedrock upon which external public credibility is built.

KT: How might audience engagement with news media be affected by perceptions of journalist safety and organisational integrity?

AO-N: When audiences perceive that a media organisation lacks integrity or fails to protect its own, engagement plummets from active trust to cynical consumption. In an era over saturated with misinformation and social media information overload, audience trust is the only currency that truly matters. So, if the public sees that women journalists are being bullied off digital platforms or physically threatened without their employers lifting a finger, the audience begins to view that news brand as weak or compromised. Conversely, when an organisation aggressively champions its reporters, implements transparent safety protocols and demonstrates strong organisational integrity, the audience responds with deep loyalty. They would not just consume the news; they’ll support it, engage with it, defend it and actively subscribe to it because they see it as a legitimate pillar of their community.

KT: What do you think are the most important shifts newsroom leaders need to make in how they approach duty of care for women journalists?

AO-N: To truly transform how we protect women on the frontlines of truth-telling, newsroom leaders must abandon outdated passive approaches and embrace a profound cultural shift. This is not about tweaking a human resources manual or checking a corporate compliance box; it is about fundamentally re-engineering the DNA of African media management.

The first and most critical shift is moving from gender-blind safety to gender-responsive duty of care. Historically, newsrooms have viewed safety through a purely physical lens; worrying about reporters in a riot or a conflict zone. However, for women journalists, the frontline is often digital, psychological and domestic. As such, leaders must recognise that weaponised online misogyny, coordinated smear campaigns and digital stalking are not merely personal inconveniences or things to be dismissed with a directive to grow a thick skin; rather they are direct, targeted assaults on press freedom. Therefore, newsrooms must formalise digital defence mechanisms and psycho-social support structures that actively protect women from these insidious, invisible threats.

Secondly, leadership must pivot from a reactive crisis posture to a proactive, institutionalised shield. For far too long, media houses have operated on an after-the-fact basis; only addressing safety when an emergency occurs or a scandal breaks. This must change! The duty of care must become an active, everyday reality embedded into standard operating procedures. This means implementing continuous digital security training; providing accessible mental health resources to deal with trauma and online abuse; and creating safe, independent internal reporting channels where structural harassment can be exposed without fear of professional retaliation.

Finally, we must bridge the wide gulf between policy and practice. Having a beautifully written anti-harassment policy means nothing if it sits forgotten in an employee handbook while toxic cultures persist in the newsroom. Therefore, newsroom leaders need to demonstrate radical transparency and accountability. They must actively enforce a zero-tolerance culture for harassment and discrimination at all levels, modelling an environment where safety is treated not as an operational luxury but as a non-negotiable prerequisite for excellent journalism. Only when newsroom leaders make these shifts will we move from simply documenting the risks women face to actively building a resilient, inclusive environment where they can thrive, lead and report without fear.

“Media pluralism is not just about having a high number of radio stations or newspapers; it is about a vibrant diversity of perspectives, voices and lived experiences.”

KT: Looking ahead, why do you believe investing in women journalists’ safety and wellbeing is essential not just for individuals but for the health of African media systems overall?

AO-N: Looking to the future, this investment is an absolute democratic and structural necessity. The challenges facing African journalism, ranging from political pressures to digital disinformation, require our most brilliant and courageous minds. As a result, we cannot afford to fight these battles with one hand tied behind our back by letting our female colleagues be systematically targeted and sidelined.

Hence, investing in the physical, digital and mental safety of women journalists is an investment in the resilience of the entire African media ecosystem because it ensures that our newsrooms remain vibrant, pluralistic and deeply reflective of the societies they serve. All said, when we protect the safety of the women on the frontlines of truth-telling, we are protecting the public’s right to know, preserving the integrity of our media landscapes and fortifying the foundations of our democracies. For me, it is the only way forward!