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This study examines how local journalists in Sweden view, understand and manage threats, hatred and harassment in their professional role. The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight journalists, four men and four women, from different local newspapers in Sweden. The interviews are analyzed through a theoretical framework inspired by discourse theory. The purpose of this study is to examine how journalists are affected by threats, hatred and harassment. All material has been collected throughout the study and is used to understand how journalists being victims of hatred, threats and harassment affects their duty to society as being a democratic vessel for the public opinion. The research questions for the study are: 

1. How do journalists experience safety risks in their professional practice?

2. How do journalists weigh the risk of being exposed to hatred, threats and harassment as opposed to reporting about subjects they are interested in and find important?

3. Do journalists experience institutional support and how safe does the support make them feel? 

Theories such as the media's democratic role in society and the journalistic standard of practice are used to answer the research questions and analyze the material. The result of the study shows that hatred, threats and harassment is an established part of journalistic practice that is known throughout institutions and by journalists themselves. Furthermore the result shows a lack of institutionalized support. Neither their previous education discussed how they’re supposed to handle hatred, threats and harassments nor does their current workplace discuss it. In line with previous research, the informants believed that hatred, threats and harassment take different forms depending on the gender of the journalist and that women are more vulnerable, which they claimed were because of the patriarchal structures of our society. The result shows that the informants use avoidance strategies when it comes to reducing the risk of exposure. Subconsciously, they may have reframed, changed the narrative or censored themselves – but in such cases without their direct knowledge.