Dr Sara Torsner (she/her)

Sara’s research examines the socio-political dynamics that shape journalism, seeking to understand how these factors either undermine or support journalism’s capacity to contribute to the discursive quality of associative life. In this context, Sara investigates how external pressures - stemming from state and market forces - create conditions of precarity for journalism. She also examines how journalism responds to and resists various forms of diminishment and attack.

Sara’s ESCR-funded research project Profiling impunity for human rights violations against journalists seeks to develop a framework to compare the political conditions that engender impunity – or the lack of accountability for human rights violations against journalists - in different socio-political contexts. Using a mix of qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods, along with Participatory Action Research, it brings together a global group of stakeholders to develop more effective strategies for addressing impunity and protecting journalists and their work.

Sara is also leading research into the strengthened documentation and monitoring of human rights violations against journalists. This has included collaborative work with Free Press Unlimited and UNESCO, to develop methods and tools to support monitoring in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Agenda and Indicator 16.10.1. Sara has also worked with civil society organisations globally to implement a human-rights based approach to document threats and attacks targeting journalists and media organisations. 

Sara has been a consultant to institutions such as the OSCE, the European Parliament, and the European Commission. She is also a co-investigator for the UNESCO-funded global study on the Online Harassment of Female Journalists, led by International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), where she served as lead researcher for the Swedish case study.