United States: CFWIJ Concerned About The Incessant Online Trolling Towards Journalist Sulome Anderson
Location: United States- New York
Date: July 3, 2021
Journalist Sulome Anderson has been at the receiving end of vicious online attacks over the past two years. The trolling is especially with regards to her dispute with digital magazine Grayzone. While it is true that Sulome did make some mistakes in the process, she has repeatedly corrected herself and held true to journalistic principles. She took down and apologized for the factual errors that she made in two of her tweets. However, the attacks have remained incessant and personal and have not ceased.
The dispute began around three years ago when digital media company Grayzone published an article about some news Sulome had mistakenly shared on social media and quickly removed upon the knowledge that it was inaccurate. The deeply unprofessional tone of the article by Grayzone however, prompted Sulome to file a libel case against the company for spreading misinformation and trying to defame her in the process. Over the course of the time period when the case was under review, Sulome was repeatedly harassed on social media. In response, Sulome, too, responded angrily to those attacking her. However, despite this fact, Sulome did not commit any actions that could challenge her professional integrity. The attacks on her, however, do appear to be a coordinated effort of the Grayzone management.
Sulome has been fairly open about her mental health challenges in the past. It is reprehensible how the deeply personal information she put on social media to empower those struggling with similar concerns were weaponized against her. It is also condemnable how men, who call themselves journalists that are facing “McCarthyist” attacks, have also repeatedly harassed her with unprofessional and vindictive articles on her platform when she tried to address the conflict on twitter. Both the articles, the one which Grayzone initially published prompting the lawsuit, and the one they published after the case was dismissed are extremely offensive and unprofessional pieces of writing.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism acknowledges that Sulome made some missteps along the way. However, we also stand by the fact that hounding a person on social media, and constantly attacking their emotional well being by weaponizing their past experiences against them is deeply problematic. CFWIJ asserts its support for Sulome Anderson at the time and reminds its audiences that journalists are allowed to factual errors as long as they correct them at their earliest realization. To use human mistakes to defame a person’s character and question their professional integrity is an ill-intended effort to bully them.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.
