• While anti-Semitism was primarily directed at journalists who are Jewish( or perceived to be Jewish), non- Jewish journalists also received anti-Semitic tweets following criticism of Mr. Trump – presumably intended to be either an insult or threat. This is likely connected to the anti-Semitic tropes related to Jews“ controlling” the media, and the media“ controlling” the government.
• As previously stated, there is no evidence suggesting these attacks were explicitly encouraged by any campaign or candidate. In fact, ADL has been able to identify individuals and websites in the white supremacist world that have played a role in encouraging these attacks.
• While this report did not investigate whether social media attacks have a chilling effect on journalists, it does show that targeted anti-Semitic tweets raised the cost of entry into( and staying in) the marketplace of ideas for journalists, particularly Jewish journalists.
Please note that this is the first stage of a two-stage reporting process. This data gathering and analysis phase will be followed by a series of recommendations, to be released on November 19, 2016.
NOTE ABOUT THE REPORT AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
ADL is a nonprofit organization and does not take sides for or against any candidate for elective office, so it is crucial to be perfectly clear about what this report says and what it does not say.
This report identifies some self-styled followers of presidential candidate Donald Trump to be the source of a viciously anti-Semitic Twitter attack against reporters. Accordingly, we wish to make it clear that based on the statistical work we have performed, we cannot and do not attribute causation to Mr. Trump, and thus we cannot and do not assign blame to Mr. Trump for these ugly tweets. While candidates can and do affect the environment in which social media operates as well as the tenor of its messages, the individuals who tweet hateful words are solely responsible for their messages.
BACKGROUND: ADL TASK FORCE ON HATE SPEECH AND JOURNALISM
In June 2016, in the wake of a series of disturbing incidents in which journalists covering the 2016 presidential campaign were targeted with anti-Semitic harassment and even death threats on social media, the Anti-Defamation League( ADL) announced the creation a Task Force on Harassment and Journalism.
Building on ADL’ s decades of experience in monitoring and exposing hate and hate groups, as well as its critical work with the tech industry in efforts to address online harassment, the Task Force sought insights from a group of experts from the world of journalism, law enforcement, academia, Silicon Valley and nongovernmental organizations. Their advice and counsel will help ADL to do the following:
• Assess the scope and source of anti-Semitic, racist and other harassment of journalists, commentators and others on social media;
• Determine whether and how this harassment is having an impact on the electorate or if it has a chilling effect on free speech;
• Propose solutions and / or countermeasures that can prevent journalists from becoming targets for hate speech and harassment on social media in the future.
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