Information Disorders, Hateful Discourses, and Journalists. When the Messenger Becomes the Victim

Journalists are not only actors in the spread of some current communication problems, such as disinformation or hate speech, but they are also victims of these phenomena. Particularly, given their public visibility, they easily become targets of discursive threats, such as hateful discourses or accusations of spreading misinformation. Following the existing literature on the legitimacy of journalism, this chapter seeks to further understand how the increased relevance of these attacks, mostly associated with the surge of social media and polarization, contributes to the challenge of the legitimacy of institutional news media. It is argued that these discursive threats add up to the complex working conditions of journalists in a context of low media trust and high precariousness and need for immediacy. Besides, they can take a toll on the mental health and overall well-being of professionals, which in turn also affects their labor practices.