March 29, 2021- Brenna Smith, an investigative intern at USA Today, was viciously harassed by right-wing trolls for her first byline. Brenna wrote an investigative piece on how online crowdfunding is used to aid extremist movements. In her article, Brenna discussed how rioters involved in the Capitol insurrection on September 6, 2021, are using these platforms to raise money to pay for legal fees. Despite efforts from tech companies to ban such campaigns, users continue to change accounts and switch online platforms. Brenna’s article caught the attention of right-wing zealots, who berated the journalist for her work. The organized troll campaign accused Brenna of calling defendants extremists. Brenna’s piece thoroughly explains the systematic loopholes in crowdfunding. CFWIJ condemns the barrage of online attacks against Brenna and commends her for writing an insightful report. 

Brenna was subjected to hateful, humiliating comments for her story about how rioters involved in the Capitol insurrection raise money to pay their legal fees. In her article, Brenna argued that online payment platforms and crowdfunding sites help the right-wing extremist movements. The journalist explained that certain convicted criminals also benefited from these resources. After the story was published, right-wing members and Trump supporters aggressively targeted Brenna online. They accused her of prejudice and questioned her journalistic capabilities.

Many seasoned journalists defended Brenna and applauded her for writing the elucidative article. They defended that tech companies need to establish concrete policies to end crowdsource funding that supports extremist movements. Tech reporter Taylor Lorenz tweeted her support for Brenna and described her article as "fantastic and incredibly important piece, every newsroom leader or aspiring newsroom leader or editor should read this."

The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with Brenna amidst the online harassment and hate. We denounce the trolling targetting Brenna for her work.  No journalist should suffer such turmoil for doing their job and reporting facts.