DUB Speak

Do Student Journalists Feel Safe?

Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr

Nowadays, free speech and safety of student journalist are at stake. The internet, while being one of the most convenient and easy tools of communicating one’s opinions, has become a breeding ground for all sorts of ugly trolling and young student journalists are being coerced into self-censorship and presentation of mild and soft opinions. 

George Orwell once said, “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” If liberty could actually be reiterated in Orwell’s locution, then maybe today is not a very liberal time. It has always been presumed that student journalism is a product of a hobby, enthusiasm, or just a part of résumé. When young minds actually do come out to pursue this avocation, they want to speak out their minds, feel liberated and important in penning down opinions, and be vigil about their surroundings. Social media can be seen both as a boon and bane for all the students who want to express, but the ‘bane’ factor is now showing its true colour in all forms.

As a young writer myself, I feel unsafe. Why? Because of the fear of trolling, online harassment, or being tracked down to express slightly radical or anti-establishment views. Almost all the student writers now undergo the pressure of self-censorship, that is, before publishing anything online or elsewhere, we need to deliberate upon who will get offended with which statement and how will it be seen in whatever context. Ugly trolls on any opinionated piece creep out from anywhere and the writer is excessively abused/mocked at for being even slightly leaning towards any side. For female students, it’s even worse.

I duly understand the vital fact that freedom of expression works both ways and if a young journalist has expressed one’s views, then the people who read/hear them are also entitled to express counter views and opinions. What goes wrong is the mockery in the form of filthy abuse and threats (rape threats, too) being associated with the counter views expressed in a journalist’s piece. The art of intelligent and less verbally violent disagreements based on facts and logically consistent arguments is being lost out in this growing illiberal world. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., “Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter”, young independent student journalists should not lose their spirit of expressing and being opinionated while what the society can do is to create a safe space to counter those opinions in less derogatory manner.
Feature Image Credits: Tech Crunch
Oorja Tapan
[email protected]

Comments are closed.