Between Institutional Inertia and Systemic Vulnerability: Understanding Invisible Threats to Journalists’ Safety

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.48(2025).6404

Keywords:

journalism safety risks, online harassment, strategic lawsuits against public participation, institutional theory, Latvia

Abstract

Research on journalists’ safety reveals two intertwined dimensions: physical risks in conflict zones and less tangible risks to performance in comparatively safe environments. In Latvia, as elsewhere in Europe, journalists face online humiliation, harassment, hate speech, and attacks on their professional credibility. This raises two central questions: how do journalists perceive safety risks, and are media institutions equipped to provide adequate support? This paper examines the perceptions of Latvian media professionals regarding work-related safety issues and the mechanisms available to mitigate stress and risks. A mixed-methods design was applied, combining literature analysis, a two-round Delphi expert survey (25 and 23 participants from national and regional media, non-governmental organisations, and journalism-related organisations), eight semi-structured interviews with solicitors and media law specialists, case studies of court decisions, and three focus group discussions (with legal experts, media managers, and investigative journalists). The results highlight a complex threat environment in which multiple risks coexist, while support structures remain limited. Women, regional reporters, Russian-language journalists, and freelancers emerge as the most vulnerable groups, revealing safety risks shaped by both group invisibility — where their professional identities are insufficiently recognised — and concerns of invisibility — where persistent threats are normalised or dismissed. While institutional shortcomings are partly due to resource constraints and insufficient legal or psychological expertise, reluctance and reactive practices further weaken organisational responses. A lack of effective action from law enforcement and courts, combined with the rise of strategic lawsuits against public participation, reinforces a “culture of impunity”. A paradox emerges: online humiliation and harassment are omnipresent and thus routinised, making them effectively invisible despite their persistence. By contrast, cyberattacks and strategic lawsuits against public participation cases are highly visible, as they directly affect media companies’ legal and financial interests. This asymmetry of visibility exacerbates the erosion of journalists’ professional integrity and their societal role.

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Author Biographies

Anda Rožukalne, Faculty of Social Sciences, Rīga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia

Anda Rožukalne is a professor and senior researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Riga Stradiņš University in Latvia. Rožukalne holds a doctoral degree in Media Sociology and has extensive experience as a journalist, editor, and scholar in the fields of mass communication, journalism, and media studies. Her fields of expertise include research of journalism, media and communication effects, media literacy, media regulation and self-regulation, and media audience studies. Since 2011, her research interests have focused on developing innovative, artificial intelligence-aided tools for audience and media research, including the Internet Aggressiveness Index. Rožukalne is the author of many educational and academic publications on various public communication issues, journalism, and media. She represents Latvia in the EC Media Pluralism Monitor, Euromedia Ownership Monitor and in the global Worlds of Journalism Study. Anda Rožukalne is one of the founders of the Association of Latvian Journalists, a member of the Latvian Media Ethics Council, and a member of Academia Europaea.

Alnis Stakle, Faculty of Social Sciences, Rīga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia

Alnis Stakle is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Riga Stradiņš University. He teaches photography, visual content analysis, and visual literacy, and he is the author of several academic and peer-reviewed articles. His current research interests include visual culture, photojournalism, media literacy, and visual arts. As an artist specialising in photography, he critically explores visual representation themes such as collective and personal trauma, loss, memories, and the physicality of photography as a medium. Working both documentarily and conceptually, his works reveal how sociopolitical ideas can be explored through the interplay of fact and fiction, as well as collective and subjective experience.

Ilva Skulte, Faculty of Social Sciences, Rīga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia

lva Skulte is an associate professor at the Faculty of Communication, Riga Stradiņš University, Latvia. Her research interests include communication theories, media literacy, cultural journalism, analysis of media and political discourse, analysis of (literary) text and media as well as media literacy and children studies.

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Published

2025-10-28

How to Cite

Rožukalne, A., Stakle, A., & Skulte, I. (2025). Between Institutional Inertia and Systemic Vulnerability: Understanding Invisible Threats to Journalists’ Safety. Comunicação E Sociedade, 48, e025019. https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.48(2025).6404

Issue

Vol. 48 (2025): Invisibilities in and of Journalism

Section

Thematic Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Anda Rožukalne, Alnis Stakle, Ilva Skulte

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