Anti-Semitic Targeting of Journalists During the 2016 Presidential Ca | Page 4

With the release of this landmark report, ADL has unveiled the extent to which the 2016 presidential election cycle has
exposed journalists to anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter. Our first-of-its-kind investigation included wide-ranging surveys of
journalists as well as a quantitative analysis of anti-Semitic Twitter messages and memes directed at reporters.
This initial report, produced by ADL’s Center on Extremism, which has worked closely with social media and internet
providers for more than two decades in responding to anti-Semitism and online hatred, will be followed by a final report,
which will incorporate a broad range of recommended responses to bigotry on social media. The final report will be
released at ADL’s Never is Now Conference on anti-Semitism on November 17, 2016.
*Participation in the Task Force does not imply agreement with, or assent to, the findings of this report.

INTRODUCTION
Over the course of the 2016 Presidential campaign, an execrable trend has emerged: reporters who voiced even slightly
negative opinions about presidential candidate Donald Trump have been targeted relentlessly on social media by the
candidate’s self-styled supporters; reporters who are Jewish (or are perceived to be Jewish) have borne the brunt of
these attacks.
There is evidence that Mr. Trump himself may have contributed to an
environment in which reporters were targeted. Indeed, he repeatedly
denounced reporters as “absolute scum,” and said of “most journalists” in
December 2015, “I would never kill them, but I do hate them. And some
of them are such lying, disgusting people. It’s true.” Accordingly, while
we cannot (and do not) say that the candidate caused the targeting of
reporters, we can say that he may have created an atmosphere in which
such targeting arose.
The social media attacks on journalists were brutal.
When journalist Julia Ioffe wrote a profile of Melania Trump for the May
2016 issue of GQ magazine, a firestorm of virulently anti-Semitic (and
misogynistic) responses on social media followed. One tweet called Ioffe a
“filthy Russian kike,” while others sent her photos of concentration camps
with captions like “Back to the Ovens!”
On May 19, New York Times editor Jonathan Weisman tweeted about casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s support for
Trump, and the anti-Semitic response to Ioffe’s article. The reaction was immediate, with Twitter user CyberTrump leading
the charge against Weisman: “Do you wish to remain hidden, to be thought of one of the goyim by the masses?” As
other racists and anti-Semites piled on, Wiseman received images of ovens, of himself wearing Nazi “Juden” stars, and
of Auschwitz’s infamous entry gates, the path painted over with the Trump logo, and the iron letters refashioned to read
“Machen Amerika Great.”
After criticizing Mr. Trump, conservative writer Ben Shapiro became the target of a wave of anti-Semitic tweets calling
him a “Christ-Killer” and a “kike.” Jake Tapper, John Podhoretz and Noah Rothman have all received similar messages
after voicing opinions perceived to be critical of Mr. Trump. In the midst of the attacks, Rothman tweeted: “It never ends.
Blocking doesn’t help either. They have lists, on which I seem to find myself.”
While much of the online harassment of journalists is at the hands of anonymous trolls, there are known individuals and
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