{"id":45893,"date":"2026-10-14T13:11:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/?p=45893"},"modified":"2026-10-14T13:11:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:11:42","slug":"women-and-new-digital-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/women-and-new-digital-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Women and New Digital Threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalism has always been a profession involving risks. In the digital age, however, these risks take on new forms. That is why, on Wednesday, 21 October, in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, we are organising a forum dedicated to online harassment and threats against women journalists.<\/p>\n

As part of the events in our discussion series Sofia Talks Media: Women<\/b>, we invite you to an evening discussion, \u201cWomen and New Digital Threats\u201d<\/b>, featuring French journalist and researcher Elodie Vialle, Romanian investigative reporter Luiza Popovici, and AEJ-Bulgaria chair Maria Cheresheva.<\/p>\n

Online harassment, doxing (the malicious disclosure of personal information) and the misuse of artificial intelligence can target journalists simply for doing their jobs, with consequences that extend beyond the digital space. Women journalists are particularly vulnerable, and attacks often intensify around elections, including through coordinated disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining trust in the media and reporters.<\/p>\n

These attacks affect us all. Internationally and across Europe, similar tactics of online harassment and intimidation are also used against researchers, scientists, environmental advocates and experts who contribute their knowledge and expertise to public debate. When those who inform us are attacked, discredited or forced to withdraw from public life, our own access to free and independent information is also at stake.<\/p>\n

When: 21 October 2026, 19:00\u201321:00<\/b><\/p>\n

Location: Sofia (the venue will be shared with approved participants)<\/b><\/p>\n

Working language: English<\/b><\/p>\n

Register<\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Programme<\/b><\/h3>\n

19:00\u201319:30 <\/b>New Digital Threats to Journalism and Why They Matter to Us All
\nSpeaker: <\/b>Elodie Vialle<\/p>\n

19:30\u201319:45 <\/b>An Abuser in Disguise: A Case from Romania
\nSpeaker: <\/b>Luiza Popovici<\/p>\n

19:45\u201320:30 <\/b>Discussion: In the Crosshairs
\nPanellists: <\/b>Elodie Vialle, Luiza Popovici and Maria Cheresheva<\/p>\n

20:30\u201321:00 <\/b>Networking<\/p>\n

More About the Speakers:<\/b><\/b><\/h3>\n

Elodie Vialle<\/strong> is a journalist, digital policy adviser and digital safety trainer based in France. Elodie has more than ten years of experience supporting journalists and newsrooms facing digital threats. She has taken part in several prestigious fellowship programmes, including at Harvard University and the University of Michigan. Elodie has trained and advised more than 3,000 journalists and newsroom leaders around the world. She has worked with international organisations such as PEN America, UNESCO and International Media Support.<\/p>\n

Luiza Popovici<\/strong> is an investigative journalist who has worked at the Romanian media outlet PressOne for the past three years. She authored a widely discussed investigation exposing a prominent psychiatrist who frequently appeared on television and at high-level forums. Behind his media persona, he turned out to be a fraud who not only lacked a degree but also sexually harassed female patients. Luiza also covers pseudoscientific practices in psychology that mislead people with empty promises.<\/p>\n

Maria Cheresheva<\/strong> has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist working for various Bulgarian and international media outlets. Her work has appeared in the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), ZDF, ARTE, Deutsche Welle, Le Monde, OCCRP, BBC, Der Spiegel and others. For more than a decade, her investigative journalism has centred on human rights issues, with a focus on migration and the arms trade from the Balkans. She has worked as a radio host and is currently involved in various documentary and podcast projects, while also teaching journalistic writing at the American University in Blagoevgrad. She has received various Bulgarian and international awards for her work, including the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee\u2019s \u201cJournalist of the Year\u201d award in 2023. Maria is the chair and one of the founders of the Association of European Journalists \u2013 Bulgaria (AEJ).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalism has always been a profession involving risks. In the digital age, however, these risks take on new forms. That is why, on Wednesday, 21 October, in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, we are organising a forum dedicated to online harassment and threats against women journalists. As part of the events in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45896,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45893\/revisions\/45896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aej-bulgaria.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}