When online commentary turns into violence: The role of Twitter in slander against journalists in Colombia

• Main Authors: Marta Milena Barrios, Lina María Vega Estarita, Luis M. Gil
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Berlin Regener Publishing House 2019-04-01
• Series: Conflict & Communication Online
• Subjects: Journalism; Post-conflict; Peace; Threats; Social Media
• Online Access: http://www.cco.regener-online.de/2019_1/pdf/barrios-et-al2019.pdf

The 55-year long Colombian conflict with the FARC guerrilla movement ended in 2016 with the signing of a peace agreement, which resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of victims of socio-political violence. Paradoxically, this did not improve security for journalists, who were targeted: one was killed, another suffered sexual abuse (Medicina Legal, 2016), and 262 received threats (FLIP, 2017). In a qualitative case study, we content analyzed 592 tweets in order to document how threats from a political powerholder contributed to the formation of networks engaging in verbal violence on Twitter. Results showed that attacks on freedom of the press originated from a legitimate actor, caused an extremely polarized discussion among citizens who took sides, and provoked further threats and accusations. Conciliatory positions were hard to find.