Science at FSV UK: Lenka Vochocová about her research on the role of gender in Czech journalism and the spread of disinformation
Science at FSV UK: Lenka Vochocová about her research on the role of gender in Czech journalism and the spread of disinformation
Lenka Vochocová from the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism was inspired for her research topics, among other things, by working in the media and non-profit sector. In her research, she deals with the role of gender in Czech journalism, online political participation and the spread of disinformation in the digital environment. One of her goals is to help people think more about the fact that the words they write or speak can hurt others more than they would like or realize.
Vochocová has been associated with FSV UK since the beginning of her university studies. She completed her bachelor’s degree in journalism and then her master’s and PhD studies in media studies at the ICSJ. In her dissertation, she dealt with the topic of gender in the professional discourse of Czech journalists. “I am a supporter of a sociocentric view of the media, i.e. one that sees them as institutions influenced by general social relations. And the position of women is still not good, on the contrary, we are now seeing increasing misogyny in many different contexts and its normalization in the public sphere,” she emphasizes. “Even from the student projects that I supervise, it is clear that female journalists are the target of symbolic gender-based violence. And we hear this from the female journalists themselves who publicly address this issue,” she adds.
Since 2025, she has been researching digital media as part of the project Gender aspects of disinformation dissemination and reception from the perspective of the theory of social media performativity and identity theory, which was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GACR). As the main researcher, she and her team map the users spreading gender disinformation and so-called anti-gender narratives. “In addition to clear-cut misinformation, we are also interested in people and institutions spreading hatred towards women or LGBTQ+ people, attacks on so-called gender ideology and feminism, but also profiles that emphasize the gendered identities of women and men – it could be a man advising others on how to be ‘real men’, or a woman advising women on how to be properly feminine,” she explains.
