Harassment of Journalists: Legal Response in England and Wales

Protection from Harassment Act 1997: criminal and civil routes

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (PHA) created both a criminal offence and a civil tort of harassment. It applies to online conduct as much as to offline behaviour. The PHA is the primary legal tool for journalists facing sustained campaigns of abuse from readers, activists, or organised trolling operations.

• ›Section 1 PHA: prohibits pursuing a course of conduct that amounts to harassment of another, knowing or ought to know it amounts to harassment. A 'course of conduct' requires at least two occasions.
• ›Section 2 PHA: criminal offence of harassment — summary conviction, maximum six months' imprisonment and/or fine. Police can charge without needing the victim to pursue civil proceedings first.
• ›Section 4 PHA: more serious offence of putting a person in fear of violence — indictable offence, maximum ten years' imprisonment. Relevant where threats include physical violence.
• ›Section 3 PHA: civil remedy allowing a victim to apply to the county court or High Court for an injunction. Breach is a criminal offence under s.3(6).

For journalists facing organised pile-ons where multiple individuals each send a small number of abusive messages, the PHA can still be engaged. Each individual must meet the two-incident threshold for a criminal charge, but a civil injunction against a named individual or group can be framed more broadly. Courts have held that harassment does not need to be directed at a named individual: a campaign targeting a journalist in their professional capacity can suffice.

Communications Act 2003 s.127 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988

Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 makes it an offence to send, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that is grossly offensive, or of an indecent, obscene, or menacing character. It also covers false messages sent to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety. This is a summary offence with a maximum sentence of six months and is frequently used in prosecutions involving abusive social-media messages.

The Malicious Communications Act 1988 covers letters, electronic communications, and articles sent with intent to cause distress or anxiety — including threats and grossly offensive or indecent communications. Following the Online Safety Act 2023 (which repealed and replaced some MCA 1988 provisions), the current framework for online harm is now primarily governed by the OSA 2023 offences.

Courts have interpreted “grossly offensive” under s.127 narrowly following DPP v Chambers [2012] EWHC 2157 (Admin), which required a high threshold to avoid criminalising robust online speech. Threatening, menacing, or specific messages directed at a journalist are more likely to meet the threshold than general abuse or insults.

Online Safety Act 2023: new offences relevant to journalists

The Online Safety Act 2023 introduced several new communications offences relevant to harassment of journalists:

• ›The threatening communications offence (s.181 OSA 2023): sending a message containing a threat of death or serious injury, intending the recipient to fear the threat would be carried out. Maximum five years' imprisonment.
• ›The false communications offence (s.179 OSA 2023): sending a message that conveys information the sender knows to be false, intending to cause non-trivial harm. Maximum 51 weeks on summary conviction.
• ›The cyberflashing offence (s.187 OSA 2023): sending unsolicited sexual images. Relevant to some forms of targeted harassment of female journalists.

The OSA 2023 also imposes duties on large platforms to reduce the prevalence of priority illegal content (including the above offences) under Ofcom's oversight. Journalists can report harassment to platforms and to Ofcom where platforms fail to take adequate action. Ofcom's enforcement powers are at an early stage as of 2026 but are expected to develop rapidly.

Doxxing and identity disclosure

The non-consensual disclosure of a journalist's personal information (home address, family members' names, daily routine) — commonly called doxxing — does not have a single specific statutory offence in England and Wales as of 2026, but it can engage multiple existing offences depending on context:

• ›PHA 1997 s.1: where doxxing is part of a course of conduct intended to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
• ›Computer Misuse Act 1990: where personal information is obtained by unauthorised access to a computer system.
• ›Data Protection Act 2018 / UK GDPR: where personal data is processed without a lawful basis — a complaint to the ICO may be appropriate.
• ›OSA 2023 false communications offence: where doxxed information includes false details designed to cause harm.

See our dedicated guide on harassment and doxxing for the digital security response, and harassment by platform response for platform-by-platform reporting steps.

Evidencing harassment: what to collect and preserve

Good evidence is essential for any criminal complaint or civil application. Collect and preserve the following as soon as possible after harassment begins:

• ›Screenshots of every abusive message, including the sender's username, profile URL, timestamp, and platform. Use a tool that captures the full URL, not just the content.
• ›A chronological log of incidents: date, time, platform, exact wording, and any response or escalation.
• ›Archived copies of posts using services such as the Internet Archive or archive.ph, in case the harasser deletes content.
• ›Any identifying information about the sender: account creation date, other posts, any real-name associations.
• ›Records of any reports made to the platform and the platform's response or non-response.
• ›Medical or professional evidence of the impact of the harassment if claiming damages or seeking a civil injunction on grounds of distress.

Police response, reporting, and escalation

The College of Policing's authorised professional practice on online hate crime and harassment requires forces to treat online conduct with the same seriousness as offline conduct. In practice, the response from local forces is inconsistent. If an initial report to 101 receives no substantive response, escalate through the following channels:

Civil injunctions in practice

A civil injunction under PHA 1997 s.3 can provide faster practical relief than waiting for criminal prosecution. Applications can be made to the county court, and in urgent cases on a without-notice (ex parte) basis if there is a risk of immediate harm. The injunction can:

• ›Prohibit the respondent from contacting the claimant by any means, including social media accounts not yet created.
• ›Require the respondent to stay a specified distance from the claimant's home or workplace.
• ›Order the removal of specific posts or content relating to the claimant.

Breach of the injunction is a criminal offence under s.3(6) PHA, allowing police to arrest without a warrant. The civil route is often more practical than criminal prosecution for anonymous or pseudonymous online harassers, as you can seek a Norwich Pharmacal order compelling the platform to disclose the harasser's identity before or alongside the injunction application.

Newsroom and employer responsibilities

Employers have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to assess and mitigate foreseeable risks to employees, including risks from third-party harassment. A newsroom that sends a reporter to cover a controversial story and takes no steps to protect them from foreseeable online or physical harassment may be in breach of its duty. Journalists should raise harassment concerns formally with their employer and request a risk assessment. The NUJ model health and safety policy for journalists includes a section on online harassment. If you are a freelancer, your commissioning editor or publisher may share responsibility for your safety. See also platform-by-platform harassment response.

Related guides

Primary sources

• Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Communications Act 2003 s.127 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Online Safety Act 2023 (legislation.gov.uk)
• College of Policing — online hate and harassment guidance
• National Union of Journalists — harassment support
• Glitch UK — online abuse against women and minorities

Frequently asked questions