Five Colombian journalists involved in a movement exposing sexual harassment in the country’s media industry have faced death threats, misogynistic abuse and intimidation after publishing accounts from alleged victims of abuse by a prominent Colombian journalist. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Colombian authorities to urgently protect the five targeted journalists and ensure that they can continue their work without fear of retaliation.
Since March, a wave of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power has shaken Colombia’s media industry, in what has been described as a #MeToo moment for Colombian journalism. At the centre of this movement is Yo Te Creo Colega (“I Believe You, Colleague”), an initiative created by journalists to collect, document and bring visibility to accounts of sexual and workplace harassment in the news sector. According to journalists from Yo Te Creo Colega, the initiative has collected more than 300 first-hand accounts from women journalists and journalism interns, many of which are confidential.
According to a forensic report commissioned by the collective and shared with RSF, five journalists involved in the initiative were subjected to threats and harassment between at least 30 July and 9 August: Mónica Rodríguez, Juanita Gómez (Semana), Catalina Botero (RTVC Noticias), and Paula Bolívar and Laura Palomino, founders of Brava News. The journalists were targeted mainly through social media and other digital channels with death threats, misogynistic messages and intimidation directed at them and their relatives. Paula Bolívar also reported intimidating phone calls from unidentified callers. The forensic analysis, covering 26,000 mentions from 10,060 accounts between 28 July and 9 August, identified 248 mentions containing explicit threats or advocacy of violence and 1,543 involving gender-based insults. Some of the journalists also reported attempts to access their social media, email and bank accounts.
The attacks intensified after 30 July, when Yo Te Creo Colega and the independent digital outlet Brava News published two first-hand accounts containing allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against prominent Colombian television journalist and Testigo Directo presenter Rafael Poveda.
The attacks have already affected their ability to work. Mónica Rodríguez suspended her Facebook account, made her TikTok account private, disabled comments and messages and stopped conducting interviews on YouTube after her guests were also targeted by online harassment. Calls for Juanita Gómez to be fired circulated online, while Laura Palomino was targeted with misogynistic, racist and xenophobic messages on social media insulting her appearance, Indigenous identity and Bolivian nationality. Paula Bolívar reported recieving threatening phone calls from unidentified callers.
On 1 August, Laura Palomino filed a criminal complaint with Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía General de la Nación), identifying the five journalists and one woman who had recounted the gender-based harassment she endured to the collective.
“These threats are an attempt to silence journalists who are exposing allegations of sexual violence and abuse of power within the media industry itself. Gender-based cyberharassment does not remain online — it’s already restricting these five journalists’ ability to work and risks silencing not just these five news professionals, but also the hundreds of women who have trusted them with their stories. The Colombian authorities must ensure that no journalist is forced to choose between her safety and her right to inform. The Attorney General’s Office must investigate these attacks, identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”
Hundreds of accounts of harassment in the Colombian media industry
The cases documented by Yo Te Creo Colega are part of a broader pattern of allegations of gender-based harassment and violence in Colombia’s media industry. Inspections by the Ministry of Labour published on 4 May 2026 documented 200 cases of workplace harassment across six media outlets, 58 of which involved sexual harassment.
An investigation published on 12 April by the digital outlet Revista RAYA, based on official documents and protected sources, also documented allegations at Caracol Televisión dating back to at least 2021, adding fuel to the current wave of allegations in Colombian journalism.
On 29 May, Jineth Bedoya, gender editor at the Colombian national dailyEl Tiempo and director of the campaign No Es Hora de Callar, a Colombian initiative combating sexual and gender-based violence against women, particularly women journalists, brought alleged cases of workplace sexual harassment involving fellow journalists to the attention of the Attorney General’s Office. At the time of writing, the Attorney General’s Office response is still pending
In response to the threats against the five journalists, Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) has called on the Attorney General’s Office to apply Resolution 00119 of 2026, which establishes mandatory guidelines for investigating threats and attacks against journalists, and to assign the case to the competent unit. RSF is helping coordinate aid for the five journalists alongside the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) and the Ombudsman’s Office.
