Tra lavoro emotivo e disconnessione. Come i giornalisti gestiscono il «vetriolo» online

This contribution investigates how journalists deal with online vitriol – i.e. unpleasant interactions and harassment on social media platforms – the resulting emotional labor, and the disconnection strategies employed to curb the phenomenon. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews with 16 Italian journalists, this work detects feelings of annoyance, anxiety, and fatigue due to both the need to cope with aggressive communication and platform logics. Using disconnection strategies such as tone-down responses and communication breakdown, journalists manage to deal with online vitriol. Nevertheless, these interactions affect the well-being of the journalists, the quality of news products, the interaction with readers.