One Russian journalist said she was informed by the FSB (state security apparatus) that her phone was tapped and her apartment bugged. A respondent from Turkey also encountered state phone surveillance: “I called a news source and we arranged a meeting point for an interview. When I arrived there, the gendarmary [sic] was already there waiting for us.” A Zimbabwean respondent described her experience with phone tapping, saying,“I even had conversations with the intelligence officers who were listening in!” Surveillance by official actors spanned the globe. A Canadian journalist reported her phone was tapped by the Canadian Ministry of the Interior, and an American journalist discovered her personal records were being sourced by the National Security Agency. A number of respondents said their emails or websites had been hacked. One Pakistani journalist said her email was hacked and subsequently published on several blogs. Many respondents reported suspicions that they were being hacked or surveilled but were unable to find out for certain. Some said that the rising prevalence of surveillance has made them cautious about how they convey information. A journalist from Sri Lanka said, “I have been constantly observed by the state apparatus and the military. I have been followed and threatened in different ways and my communication is scrutinized. As a result, I no longer drive and hardly travel alone. I have enhanced my security on all my social networking sites and email accounts.” She went on to say that in spite of added preventive practices, she feels “insecure.”
V I OLEN C E AND HARASSMENT AGA I NST WOMEN I N THE NEWS MED I A : A GLO B AL P I C TURE
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