Newsrooms grapple with online safety as journalists face influx of anti-trans abuse

Anti-trans abuse directed at women working in journalism has increased markedly, reporters say, as newsroom leaders across the country are forced to take further steps to protect their staff online.

There was a distinct anecdotal uptick in abuse following the Australian tour of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull in March. Keen, who also goes by “KJK” and “Posie Parker”, is a self-described women’s rights activist from the United Kingdom whose campaigning efforts centre around claims that transgender people are “silencing” and discriminating against women. 

Journalists who covered the tour in several cities, including Melbourne, Canberra, and Perth, reported an “avalanche” of abuse on social media, and even physical threats following publication of their stories. Among them was Kate Emery, social affairs editor at The West Australian, who likened the “huge” spike in abuse to that seen from anti-vaxxers at the height of the pandemic.

“Anecdotally I have seen a huge spike in particularly anti-trans abuse directed towards journalists who write about it, which is scary,” Emery told Crikey.

“It doesn’t put me off covering the space but it has discouraged me from engaging much with strangers on social media — these days I mute first and ask questions later.”

Emery said the blowback from Keen-Minshull’s supporters resulted in official complaints to The West Australian, where management was quick to offer support. 

The issue of online abuse has become a live issue for some newsroom leaders after Q+A host Stan Grant took eight weeks’ leave following a sustained conservative media campaign criticising his role in the ABC’s coverage of the coronation of King Charles. ABC leadership has since been widely criticised for failing to come out in defence of Grant and the coverage, and for its failure to address institutional racism.

In Melbourne, Keen-Minshull and her supporters were pictured outside Victoria’s state Parliament alongside first-term Liberal MP Moira Deeming. Also present was a group of masked neo-Nazis who performed the Nazi salute and offered the campaigners a ring of protection alongside police from a group of counter-protesters stationed across the road.

Days later, in Canberra, Keen-Minshull’s supporter numbers dwindled and were met with condemnation from a counter-protest led by Greens Senator Janet Rice and independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, who was knocked to ground by police.

Trans Justice Project director Jackie Turner said that while there has been an uptick in anti-trans hate online and in person since the Keen-Minshull tour earlier this year, last year’s federal election and Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter also saw an increase in “misgendering” and the “dogpiling” of transgender people who speak out online.

“I’ve experienced that myself as someone who used to use Twitter a lot more. The abuse basically meant the platform stopped being useful for me. And that really started when Twitter removed their protections around misgendering and deadnaming trans people,” Turner told Crikey. “That was seen by the anti-trans folks as licence to abuse; they weren’t going to face any consequences for it anymore.”

Turner noted that most of the abuse levelled at transgender people, their supporters, and journalists covering these events came as the result of fervent campaigns led by disinformation groups in the US and the UK, which are now “bleeding over” into Australia through “far-right circles” and conspiracy groups. Turner said it’s important not to lose sight of the fact, however, that there’s a “clear link” between anti-trans rhetoric and real-world harm, regardless of where it comes from. 

Emery made similar observations, and took some comfort in the fact that her abusers weren’t her “neighbours”, but instead appeared to be linked to accounts from Australia’s eastern states, or abroad.

For other reporters covering Keen-Minshull’s tour, the abuse can be enough of a deterrent to dissuade journalists from covering anti-trans campaigners, particularly for those earning entry-level wages in newsrooms where leadership considers what happens on social media to be beyond the bounds of their responsibilities.

One reporter told Crikey, on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, that a failure to support and shield reporters from anti-trans abuse has already resulted in coverage blindspots, as journalists fear being targeted online or physically harmed.

A spokesperson for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said news organisations have a “legal responsibility” to provide a safe environment to staff, “and that extends to the online sphere”. 

“This is particularly the case for sectors of the community who are more often targeted by online abuse — women, First Nations and People of Colour, and people who openly identify as LGBTQIA+,” the spokesperson said.