Online abuse stifles freedom of expression, undermines equity and inclusion, and threatens livelihoods. In the United States and around the world, it has become a major occupational hazard, affecting everyone from scientists and academics to election officials and journalists.1 Journalists in particular, whose work can involve challenging the status quo and holding the powerful to account, have become lightning rods for online abuse. Because journalists increasingly need an online presence to do their jobs, “just getting offline” is not an option.2 News organizations, like all employers, have a responsibility to help mitigate these risks. Civil society organizations, professional associations, academia, and news organizations have done a substantial amount of work to reduce the incidence and mitigate the harms of online abuse, particularly by bolstering digital and physical safety.3 Online abuse, however, can never be completely eradicated, any more than spam or online scams, and it can be profoundly isolating and deeply harmful to emotional, psychological, and physical well-being.
In this report, we focus on promising approaches to reducing harm and increasing resilience in its wake. We explore the efficacy of existing support networks to help journalists in the United States persevere in the face of online abuse, with a focus on the journalists of color who are disproportionately attacked online. We then examine a specific model deployed in other high-stress professions that we argue has particular promise for the journalism industry: small-group support provided by peers who share a profession, identity, background, or other meaningful lived experience. Finally, we offer recommendations for how the journalism industry—including news organizations, professional associations, unions, civil society organizations, and philanthropists—can strengthen existing support networks and experiment with new models.