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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) formerly known as the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), Tuesday launched the ’Gender-Based Violence Reporting Handbook’ and held a public discussion on The Role of Media in Ending GBV and Achieving Gender Equality.
According to the Acting Executive Director of CJID, Dr. Tobi Oluwatola, the book is to help journalists perform their role as agenda setter, gatekeepers of the public sphere and accountability, watchdogs of democracy better.
He added that the handbook, aims to empower journalists and newsrooms with the requisite skills needed to tell gender-based violence stories in transformative and impactful ways.
The Federal Government, Executive Director, Women Rights Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, on her part, while noting the role the media play an important role in agenda setting, with power to expand the knowledge of the public and policymakers, noted that Journalists and other media professionals play a critical role in not only raising awareness of GBV but also in counteracting myths and outdated attitudes that may persist on the issue.
Akiyode-Afolabi who delivered a keynote at the event said: “Drawing attention to positive stories of empowerment and resilience, for example, can assist in illustrating how survivors often act as advocates and agents of change. In essence, the manner in which the media reports gender-based violence can determine the degree of importance the public and policy makers accord the issue, and how solutions are rallied.
“However, any efforts to document GBV for the purposes of media reporting must first prioritize survivors’ safety and best interests. Considerations around a survivor’s best interest must take precedence over other objectives, including drawing attention to particularly grave GBV violations, such as mass rape.
“Concretely this means that journalists, reporters and other media professionals, as well as those actors who may be supporting access to survivors, must prioritize survivors’ rights to dignity, privacy, confidentiality, safety, security and protection from harm or retribution and should consider if and how a story could potentially violate any of these core principles. Survivors’ best interests are deeply impacted by the context in which a story is reported.
“Reporting on children who are victims of gender-based violence also requires strict adherence to professional standards and ethics. Most international and national ethical codes on journalism and media practice have provisions on how to handle children when reporting the news, therefore media reportage on children who are victims of GBV must comply with these standards. “Furthermore, media reportage on GBV must be proactive to perform in-depth investigative reports and create more thorough articles.”
She also noted that about 602 cases of GBV have been reported, 120 cases verified, 38 persons convicted and 359 service providers registered since the launching of the national sex offenders register in 2019 by the Federal Government”.
The book reviwer and a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State University, Ojo, Dr. Ganiat Tijani-Adenle, said “the gems in this handbook are not meant to aid the media in helping only women surmount gender-based violence, as men also experience gender-based violence – but there is unanimous agreement that women/girls and children experience GBV at an alarmingly high proportion, compared to men.
“The focus of the handbook, therefore, is on women, without discounting the various ways that the Nigerian culture undermine the silent struggles of men due to the expectations that they are ‘strong’ and should not be vulnerable to abuse or violence.”
Editor in Chief Primium Times, Mojeed Musikilu, said the launch of the book indicated that they at CJID take the matter of GBV seriously. He added that an updated edition in years to come will contain even more material especially about the sources that journalists need to be familiar with in a reporting GBV.
Other stakeholders who spoke at the event included Executive Director, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Motunrayo Alaka; a former Commissioner for Information in Rivers State, Ibim Semenitari, Programme Officer, Ford Foundation, Olufunke Baruwa, UN Women’s Programme Specialist for Spotlight Initiative Tosin Abiku, Programme Manager, GRID Initiative, Neol Balogun, Daily Trust Deputy Editor Weekend, Amina Alhassan, Charge D’Affairs (Acting High Commissioner), Australia High Commission, Jonathan Ball, Head of Missiob, South Africa Embassy, Thami Mseleku among others.
