A recent study has shed light on the unique challenges faced by women journalists in Northeast India, highlighting the intersectional risks they encounter in their profession. Conducted by researchers Sayan Dey and Aloy Deb Barma of Mizoram University, the study interviewed 16 women journalists from across the eight Northeastern states, with careers spanning from 2.5 to 40 years. The study reveals that these women journalists are caught in a bind, being treated as ‘not national enough’ by mainland media, while being expected to act as community spokespersons at home.
This double addressability means they are seen as too peripheral for the national conversation and too implicated in it locally to be treated as neutral reporters. Furthermore, the study found that physical intimidation and digital abuse increasingly reinforce one another, rather than occurring as separate experiences. Nine of the 16 journalists described a sequence in which an offline threat was quickly followed by a coordinated online pile-on, which the researchers describe as ‘platformed risk spillover.’ The study also highlights the protective patriarchy paradox, where women are frequently kept off conflict, political, or investigative beats ‘for their own safety,’ but receive little or no institutional support when they are sent into volatile situations.
Eleven of the 16 journalists reported this contradiction, with one journalist recalling being denied conflict-beat assignments due to gender and safety concerns, yet being left without protection amid an angry mob while covering a protest. The researchers argue that without structural reform, this intersectional risk ecosystem will continue pushing talented reporters towards self-censorship, or out of the profession altogether. They propose context-specific measures for the region, including journalist unions and press clubs acting as first responders, regional media houses providing vernacular-language digital safety training, and beat allocation based on competence rather than gender.
The study ultimately argues that improving press freedom in Northeast India cannot be separated from improving the safety and professional recognition of women journalists. Without structural changes in newsrooms, stronger institutional support, and greater recognition of the region’s distinct realities, the overlapping pressures of gender, ethnicity, and regional marginalization will continue to shape not only who reports the news but also which stories are told.
