Canada: CFWIJ condemns the hate speech targeted journalist Lauren Boothby

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May 18, 2021, Vancouver - The Edmonton Journal reporter, Lauren Boothby, was targeted online over her coverage about vaccination of Covid_19. The reporter received abusive hate mail after her article on May 15. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) condemns the vicious hate speech targeted at Lauren. We demand Canadian authorities to identify the attacker and apply the necessary sanctions. Journalists are risking their health to report on the pandemic and deserve nothing but the utmost respect for it. 

Lauren Boothby received abusive hate mail over her coverage about the coronavirus. The journalist took her Twitter account to reveal the inappropriate messages she was targeted. She said she was accused of getting her and her media outlet informing the questions ahead of time at coronavirus updates. 

“He also seems to think that the government/Dr. Hinshaw gets our questions ahead of time at covid updates? Absolutely not,” she added. 

The reporter underlined that she used to be subjected to more online abuse before and included that she is not concerned about these targets.

She said, “These made me laugh – I'm not worried. I don't get a lot of hate mail anymore thankfully, so the occasional one doesn't set me off. It's not great but I guess I'm used to it by now?”.

This incident is not Lauren’s first time. She was verbally harassed by a group of men outside the GraceLife church while working on a story. Lauren took her social media to talk about the incident. She clarified that the group was not associated with the state, and approached them after the police vehicles left the location.

CFWIJ closely monitors the online attacks against women journalists. Since the beginning of 2021, we documented 40 journalists who have been targeted with the organised trolling campaign. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the horrific attacks of women journalists who work with great dedication, especially during the pandemic. We are with all our colleagues who continue to work by putting their health at risk. We demand Canadian authorities to identify the online abuser and the implementation of necessary sanctions. We remind once again that this vicious hate speech may cause severe consequences.