Vision Spring Initiatives Engages Southwest Journalists on Fairness While Reporting Women -Girl Child Violations
Media Practitioners have been advised to make their reporting gender sensitive by avoiding the use of stereotypes in their portrayal of women, sensationalistic and blown-up titles that highlight the brutal details in their accounts about violence against women.
They were told to focus on investigative stories that shows the impacts of violence against women, its causes and consequences.
A social change and justice advocate Omolara Oriye, made the call at a day Media Training Workshop organised by a non-governmental organisation, ‘Vision Springs Initiatives’ (VSI) for journalists in the South-West.
Speaking on the topic, Reporting Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), “Intersectionality of Rights in Media Reporting,” Oriye, a feminist and lawyer, urged journalists to avoid the use of certain words such as ‘defilement’ when reporting on rape incidents as the meaning can make the victims and survivors to be more emotionally injured rather than the perpetrators.
Tasking journalists to expose bottlenecks that people face in accessing SRHR through their reports and to also educate government and other stakeholders on their roles at strengthening it, Oriye said, “When there is a culture of silence, a culture of abuse will thrive.”
She said, “The media advocacy on access to SRHR will lead to abandonment of discriminatory practices and encourage policies and practices that will enable women to take control of their SRHR by expressing their own demands and finding solutions to their own problems.
“Journalists and editors are advised to make their reporting gender sensitive by avoiding the use of stereotypes in their portrayal of women, sensationalistic and blown-up titles that highlight the brutal details in their accounts about violence against women and by focusing on investigative stories that paint a bigger picture of the phenomenon of violence against women, its causes and consequences. Media must assume a more active role in the prevention of violence against women and always keep in mind the effects of their stories when this type of violence is concerned.
“To report professionally and with impact, journalists need training on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) to not only help put SRHR issues into perspective but also help change negative and retrogressive cultural norms. We recognize SRHR as an advocacy issue and the media being a key partner in driving this agenda.”
Oriye urged the participants to be sensitive to intersectionality while writing their reports on gender and SRHR matters, saying, “Intersectionality recognizes that people’s lives are shaped by their identities, relationships and social factors. These combine to create intersecting forms of privilege and oppression depending on a person’s context and existing power structures such as patriarchy, ableism, colonialism, imperialism, homophobia and racism.”
In her remarks, the Project Director of Vision Spring initiatives,Ngozi Nwosu-Juba said the NGO has done a lot through advocacy, empowerment, education and training on gender Equality, girl- Child, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and all issues relating to the vulnerable in the society whose certain laws and policies of government have affected, adding that media should always reports more on these so as to further draw government attention on the issues.
She added that nobody should be discriminated against and no one must be left behind in attaining their rights.
