Final week, I attended a media coaching on investigating and reporting sexual and gender-based violence crimes, organised by Lagos State Home and Sexual Violence Company (Lagos DSVA). The coaching aimed to arm media practitioners with the required data and expertise to report on delicate points, particularly on gender and violence successfully and responsibly.
As of final 12 months, the Home and Sexual Violence Company recorded nearly 6,000 cases of gender-related violence, and are recording a mean of 250 circumstances month-to-month. 91 per cent of those survivors are feminine and 9 per cent are male. For kids, 45 per cent of survivors are boys and 55 per cent are women. In the meantime, these are simply circumstances which were reported to DSVA. This exhibits that circumstances of gender-based and sexually associated violence are fairly prevalent in our society. Thus, we should shine a light-weight on points like this for survivors to get justice. However in shining the sunshine, we should additionally study to report these tales in methods that don’t deliver survivors to ridicule; in methods that don’t disgrace them for no matter occurred. And in methods that don’t make them a goal for cyber and bodily bullying. That’s the reason on this time and age, I discover coaching like this handy and well timed. Whereas this coaching was for media practitioners, I imagine in a method or one other, we’re all media individuals. From the way in which you share information about survivors on social media to the movies you document, and the information tales you amplify, we’re answerable for reporting these tales as responsibly as we are able to.
So I’ll be sharing suggestions that can assist you report tales like this, each as a media practitioner and as somebody who has a smartphone, all discovered from the coaching.
Report from the survivor strategy
One widespread mistake we make is handing the mic over to the perpetrator on many events whereas the survivor is silenced. Ever been tempted to say “I need to hear his aspect of the story” when a person rapes a girl or when a husband beats his spouse to dying? There, you’re giving the perpetrator a microphone. When you’re additionally fond of claiming “She should have achieved one thing” if you hear {that a} lady is a sufferer of gender-based violence, you’re subconsciously supporting violence. Somewhat, what do you do? Inform the survivors’ tales. Do not forget that crimes fester in darkness so deliver their tales to gentle, and accomplish that from some extent of empathy. Do not forget that the essence of your reportage is to assist them get justice. They usually gained’t get this justice in case your reportage is already exonerating the perpetrator.
Don’t water down language
When reporting about gender-based violence, don’t write or say (because the case could also be) issues like “The 35-year-old xxx slept with (or had intercourse with) a 17-year-old xxx.” When an grownup ‘sleeps with’ a minor, it’s referred to as rape. One of the best ways to report that is to make use of the fitting terminologies, “The 35-year-old xxx raped the 17-year-old xxx.” Utilizing “slept with,” “had intercourse with” “knew her intimately,” and so forth are you making the crime sound much less grievous than it’s.
Know what to inform the general public
When reporting problems with gender-based violence, it is necessary to not give info that would jeopardise the protection of survivors. Their photographs ought to be protected and sure info like their names, residential addresses, relations, areas the place they dwell or work, cellphone numbers, e mail addresses, and so forth, shouldn’t be uncovered. It will be significant to not give out private info by way of which individuals can hint or assault victims. Let’s be moral in our journalism.
Don’t bully survivors into having interviews with you
Whereas it is very important deliver these tales to gentle, it’s equally essential to be moral whereas at it. If survivors will not be prepared to speak about their ordeal, go away them be. Don’t hound or bully them into speaking to you, or provide them cash to have unique interviews with you. Respect their privateness for so long as they need.
Issues you could study/unlearn as a journalist
Social norms
The concept that women and men have to be in sure methods, in accordance with the expectations society has positioned on them, must be unlearned, and never mirrored in the way in which we report. In reporting, we should respect everyone’s individualism and perceive that folks can act how they need, particularly in the event that they’re not breaking the regulation. We should study to throw our biases into the abyss and report from a spot of objectivity.
The concept that survivors had a job to play of their abuse
Through the lecture, somebody requested, “We all know abuse is dangerous however what of these those who costume scantily, sporting crop tops and all?” To which the facilitator responded by telling us to understand nobody ought to really feel entitled to individuals’s our bodies just because they’ve chosen to put on what they’re snug in. Each one in every of us people should study self-restraint and self-control and should study to not blame different individuals for our lack of each. Understanding this, as media practitioners, will assist us report these tales higher, and never report in ways in which recommend survivors could/could not have been at fault.
An instance of stories which can be suggestive of victim-blaming is, “Eyewitnesses say that the sufferer was present in a lonely half at ungodly hours and was sporting a skirt above her knees.” Particulars like this recommend that the sufferer could have been assaulted as a result of they have been wearing a mini-skirt or strolling down a lonely path. We have to test our biases always and unlearn them too, in order that they don’t seep into our reportage.
The way to get assist
The Lagos State Home and Sexual Violence Company (Lagos DSVA) has an inventory of devoted police stations and contacts devoted to investigating circumstances of GBV. When you need assistance, please contact the numbers beneath. When you additionally know anybody who wants assist, please share this with them.
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Function Picture by Yan Kruko on Pexels
