In recent years, Ghana has experienced a notable increase in digital threats—particularly those targeting journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. Women journalists have become especially vulnerable to gender-based abuse, including threats of violence, doxing, and smear campaigns. These attacks are often strategically orchestrated to discredit journalism, silence critical voices, and erode public trust in the media.

According to UNESCO, more than 73% of women journalists globally have experienced some form of online harassment, with many African journalists facing increasingly coordinated attacks. In Ghana, these digital threats are worsened by limited institutional support, weak reporting mechanisms, and inadequate digital safety training in newsrooms, as highlighted by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).

DisinfoEye is iWatch Africa’s strategic response—designed to empower journalists, especially women, with the tools, training, and support necessary to navigate and counter online abuse and misinformation. This initiative is part of the organization’s broader commitment to defending digital rights and press freedom across the region.

As part of the DisinfoEye campaign, 20 journalists were selected to undergo intensive training in digital safety, fact-checking, and online harassment response. These journalists will act as focal points in their respective newsrooms, leading the establishment of Online Safety Units to track and respond to abuse and disinformation.

“The rise in coordinated online attacks against women journalists is alarming,” said Gideon Sarpong, co-founder of iWatch Africa. “DisinfoEye is a bold response that combines data, advocacy, and training to ensure the digital space does not silence those who hold power to account.”

Real-time digital platform for reporting and support

A core component of the campaign is the upcoming launch of an interactive digital platform that allows for real-time reporting and monitoring of online abuse and disinformation incidents. Journalists can anonymously report cases of harassment and receive timely support. The platform will also serve as a critical data resource for policy advocacy and coordinated stakeholder responses.

DisinfoEye is driven by strong partnerships with technology companies, human rights organizations, regulatory bodies, and media watchdogs. Data collected through the platform will be shared with these stakeholders to inform policy changes and tech interventions, ensuring a more secure online environment for journalists.

Digital campaign to reach over 5 million Ghanaians

Beyond the newsroom, DisinfoEye includes a nationwide digital awareness campaign aimed at reaching over 5 million citizens. The campaign features engaging videos, infographics, and interactive media to educate the public on the harms of disinformation and the importance of protecting women journalists online.

iWatch Africa envisions a democratic society where journalists—especially women—can work free from fear and intimidation. DisinfoEye is not only a response to immediate threats but a forward-looking initiative that redefines how digital safety and accountability are pursued in Ghana.

The launch of DisinfoEye represents a critical milestone in the fight against online abuse and disinformation in Ghana. Through a combination of training, real-time data tracking, public advocacy, and institutional collaboration, iWatch Africa is addressing both the symptoms and root causes of online violence.

By empowering journalists, establishing newsroom safety units, and promoting a culture of digital responsibility, DisinfoEye reinforces the message that no journalist—especially women—should be silenced, intimidated, or forced offline for doing their job.

The digital space must be a platform for constructive dialogue, not a weapon of harm—and with DisinfoEye, Ghana takes a bold and necessary step in that direction.

Source: iWatch Africa

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With support from the Impact Amplifier Foundation, iWatch Africa is equipping journalists from  newsrooms across Ghana to establish online safety units within their organizations. This initiative responds to the increasing threats and online violence faced by journalists, especially female journalists.

This program is part of iWatch Africa’s broader digital rights initiative to track, document, analyze and counter threats against journalists and media workers within West Africa’s digital ecosystem.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must:

• Be a Ghanaian nationals, aged between 18 and 45 years.
• Be a journalist or work within the media ecosystem.
• Be committed to influencing positive change in their newsroom or media organization.
• Media development practitioners and activists involved in media support programs in Ghana are also encouraged to apply.

Note: Female journalists are strongly encouraged to apply.

Requirements:

All selected applicants will be MANDATED to participate in the tracking of online abuse and harassment of journalists across Ghana.

Program timeline

• Application Deadline: 13th June 2025 at 11:00 PM GMT.
• Notification of Selected Applicants: 27st June 2025
• Training Date: TBD
• Tracking of abuses and harassment: TBD
• Please consider your application unsuccessful if you do not hear from us by the close of June, 2025.

Costs related to participation will be fully covered by iWatch Africa.

Apply here by clicking here or copy and paste URL into your browswer https://forms.gle/ue1hDrkaNjV6uE3d7

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iWatch Africa with support from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), through the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) is equipping and assisting 20 newsrooms in Ghana and Nigeria to set up online safety units in response to the growing online violence experienced by journalists, particularly female journalists.

This project is a sequel to iWatch Africa’s digital rights initiative launched in 2020 to track, document and analyze threats against journalists, media workers within the digital ecosystem in West Africa.

Eligibility
Applicants are expected to be:
• Ghanaian or Nigerian nationals aged between 18 and 45 years old, and must be prepared to influence change in their newsroom or organization.
• Must be a journalist or work within the media ecosystem.
• People or activists who directly contribute to media development programs in Ghana and Nigeria may apply.
Deadline for applications:  14th July 2022

NOTE: Female journalists are strongly encouraged to apply.

Apply via link here: https://forms.gle/6Dyixd2GQ3EXTRWBA

Send an email to info@iwatchafrica.org if you encounter any difficulties in completing the form.

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Online harassment of journalists in Ghana and Nigeria is a phenomenon that has prompted growing concern in recent years. Journalists who report on contested social and political issues increasingly find themselves the target of abuse through social media and other online means, in some cases including violent threats of death and rape.

Women journalists and right activists face an additional burden in that they are also attacked purely on the basis of their gender.

The initiative which is the second phase of iWatch’s digital rights initiative will assist twenty newsrooms in Ghana and Nigeria develop online safety units to tackle the evolving threat against journalists within the online ecosystem.

Gideon Sarpong, project lead for the initiative and co-founder of iWatch Africa, indicated that in 2020 alone, iWatch Africa “tracked over 5000 instances of online abuse” directed towards journalists and rights activists in Ghana.

“A 2021 UNESCO survey of 714 journalists also revealed that 73% of women journalists have experienced online violence, with chilling psychological effect and self-censorship” he added.

“The initiative will include designing reporting protocols for the participating news organisations and a digital campaign to deal with the real threat facing journalism today, which has the potential to erode press freedom in West Africa if it goes unchecked,” he stated.

Expected to last until the end of the year, the initiative will leverage on work (Guideline to protect journalists online) produced by Gideon Sarpong as a Reuters Fellow at University of Oxford.

The project is supported by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), through the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF).

Interested media representatives can send an email to info@iwatchafrica.org.

Credit: iWatch Africa

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Gideon Sarpong, Policy and News Director of iWatch Africa described the initiative as an “important step” in pressuring relevant institutions to act on cases involving rights abuse and corruption.

“We are dedicated to promoting transparency and holding institutions accountable and one important step in doing this is by educating Ghanaians within the digital ecosystem. This campaign will continue into the foreseeable future and we expect to expose a lot of wrong doing by highlighting data in simple graphic formats and videos which can be shared and viewed widely.”

“So far, we have engaged the Ghana police and Commission on Human Rights Abuse and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and we would share some of our findings and reports with them,” he added.

The Human Rights Abuse and Corruption project was launched in September 2019, and it is being supported by the United States Embassy in Ghana.

Credit: iWatch Africa

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