Journalists report physical attacks and death threats to safety tracker
The NUJ has published findings from the first year of its NUJ Safety Tracker.
Article by Kathryn Torney
Content warning: this report contains offensive language and descriptions of distressing incidents – including threats of sexual violence.
Disturbing reports of death and rape threats, racism, physical attacks and intimidation have been logged during the first year of the NUJ’s Journalists’ Safety Tracker.
The union launched the tracker on 1 November 2024 against a backdrop of growing online and in-person threats against journalists.
By the end of 2025, 32 reports had been submitted confidentially online by 26 freelance and staff journalists based in the UK and Ireland.
Fewer than half (15) reported the incidents they experienced to the police and only 13 told their employers.
The vast majority of the incidents took place between 2022 and 2025, except one outlier case relating to a physical assault in 1994 when a reporter had a knife held against his throat during an interview.
Journalists can provide information to the tracker about online and physical incidents, including threats received on social media platforms, impersonation via malicious emails and the use of spyware. They can also inform on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), including the identities of suspected claimants.
Some reported details have been redacted to prevent identification of individuals.
Who reported incidents?
- 11 of the respondents were women journalists and 15 were men
- 23 provided details on their employment status; 14 were freelances, and nine directly employed
- 25 of the reports related to specific journalistic work or reporting
- When asked who was responsible, 15 reports stated an “organisation”, ten blamed members of the public, five said it was anonymous, and two pointed to the police. Most reported incidents occurred in Greater London
- Greater London was the area where most reported incidents occurred
Online abuse
Eighteen of the 32 reports related to online abuse with 13 saying the abuse occurred on Twitter/X.
This included online abuse sent publicly or by direct message, impersonation using malicious emails, a social media account being hacked, suspected state surveillance, and online abuse related to race, religion, age and sex.
One journalist based in Dublin wrote about messages they received on X/Twitter, Facebook and TikTok during the summer of 2024.
They said: “I was threatened by thousands because of a court report I wrote on protesters being charged with public order incidents.”
The journalist continued: “They threatened to find my home, threatened to burn me out of my home, threatened to follow me to and from work, threatened to expose my personal details and my family’s details. The threats left me in real fear, unable to sleep or function, do my job as a journalist, or attend public events.”
A female journalist provided details of her experience of online abuse in 2024 by an anonymous member of the public:
“Over the course of a fortnight, I received daily rape and death threats. Businesses and charities I visited for work were contacted after I’d been there to say I was going to be cut up and killed. Images of me were taken from my public platforms, doctored to make me look naked, and sent to all of the councillors on my local council and various charities. He also threatened to abduct me from our offices and rape me.”
She reported it to the police, her employer and local MP.
Another female journalist was sent a disturbing message in 2024:
“I received a very explicit email to my work address after sharing a story highlighting fraud in a [business]. It was anonymous and threatened to r**e me after work. I was a new junior journalist and deleted it immediately. My office has a 'stiff upper lip' culture and I was too embarrassed to share it with anyone or escalate.”
Another journalist said: “Whilst reporting on an anti-immigration protest, I was filmed and put on the group’s Facebook page with people in the comments attempting to identify me.”
A freelance logged details of a message sent to his website during the summer of 2024.
“It said far-right people were searching for my address online. I took it not as a friendly warning but a veiled threat.”
Another journalist wrote: “I posted on X about strike action at the publication I work for. Someone commented ‘I hope you all get Hebdo’d’” - a reference to the massacre at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015.
Physical incidents
Eighteen reports included physical incidents with seven people reporting physical assaults. There were two reports of sexual assault; six reports included stalking/harassment; six involved in-person verbal abuse; and two cases included people being arrested.
One case outlined the physical assault of a photographer during riots in the Republic of Ireland. They said:
“I was attacked by an angry mob during riots which began shortly after three children and a school care assistant were stabbed outside a city centre primary school in November 2023. I was attacked for being a member of the press - I was punched, kicked, and had gear stolen, and was filmed with verbal threats to my safety.”
A freelance journalist reported an assault at a protest in 2025. They said:
“I was physically assaulted by several members of the public at a protest including punching, strangling and pepper spray causing physical and psychological harm. I have struggled with PTSD since this attack and has caused me to be more cautious with what events I attend and report on.”
Another journalist reported an assault by a security guard in London last year.
“I report on disability rights and discrimination. I was challenged for filming the obstruction of the barriers on the footway. Whilst waiting to see the manager I was physically assaulted by the venue's security personnel. I was spat on, shouted at, my wheelchair was pushed and a camera/torch waved in my face. As I moved it away, I was cut by it, bleeding profusely. I called the police, but they were far from helpful.”
Eleven people who reported to the tracker said they considered themselves to have a disability or health condition.
A journalist from Northern Ireland reported in 2024 that a viable pipe bomb was thrown from a car at their house in 2023.
“This came three days after the Police Service of Northern Ireland uncovered a death threat message to my house. Since then, the police have delivered seven further death threats as a result of intelligence that I was to be attacked by an armed gang. They include threats that I will be shot at as I arrive for work and information that a bomb had been left under my car.”
A report published by Amnesty International in June 2025 confirmed that journalists in Northern Ireland face regular deaths threats and attacks while living and working in the most dangerous place in the UK to do their job. Research for the report uncovered more than 70 incidents of threats or attacks on journalists in Northern Ireland since the start of 2019.
The incident from 1994 reported by a journalist related to an interview with a “known criminal” in Scotland.
The journalist said:
“During the course of this interview, the criminal who was directing operations held a knife to my throat for a significant period of time (around an hour) and threatened to kill me unless I paid a significant sum of money. The incident came to an end when someone else entered the room and told the man with the knife to let me go.”
The journalist didn’t report this to the police as: “It was part of a running story, from which I hoped to get more. I thought that police involvement would jeopardise my ability to work with contacts.”
A freelance journalist who described their ethnicity as Pakistani also reported an assault by a police officer at a protest in London in 2025. He said:
“During a protest I was grabbed and shoved by a police officer when I filmed the officer and his badge number. A sergeant then threatened to damage my camera and I confronted him about attacking a journalist. He then said I wasn't a real journalist after I showed him my press pass. I felt very upset and felt targeted for the colour of my skin as the white journalists around me and in front of me were not pushed, shoved and questioned if they were press.”
‘These cases are just the tip of the iceberg’
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
“We hugely appreciate the time journalists have taken to submit information - including distressing personal testimonies that can be incredibly painful to recount - to the Journalists’ Safety Tracker.
“It is always shocking to hear accounts of sexual and physical abuse and serious online threats. Abuse should never be viewed as part of a journalist’s job.
“We are carefully considering the responses and our officials have been in contact with some of the respondents to offer them support.
“It is important to say that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg and reflect only a fraction of the incidents of abuse and intimidation we know journalists face across the UK and Ireland.
“Some journalists who didn’t report the incidents may, worryingly, see threats and abuse as part of the job. We’re also considering ways to improve and increase awareness of the tracker.
“We are continuing to survey members to gather more cases and identify other reasons that discourage journalists from reporting. Many journalists express a lack of faith that those responsible for abusing them will be held accountable. Some submissions even highlight harassment of journalists by police forces, particularly while covering protests.
“We remind the police that bona fide newsgatherers have the right to report freely and we call on the government to protect journalists from online and offline harassment, threats and physical attacks.”
Take action:
Submit an incident to the Journalists’ Safety Tracker.