Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Digital Rights Foundation held a workshop for the capacity building of journalists on gender-sensitive reporting to empower them in the era of digital journalism.
The workshop was attended by 20 participants who learned skills for reporting from a gender perspective and the terminology for the language of gender. The workshop is part of DRF’s project which aims to empower women journalists specifically and journalists in general in using online spaces efficiently and effectively in the era of digital journalism.
During the day-long interactive discussion sessions, it was said that the mention persons affected by gender-based violence as sources in your stories, with their evident consent. Journalists should make sure that their story doesn’t invade privacy or denigrate the dignity of the violence-affected person on the basis of gender.
It was highlighted that when a gender-based violence incident is reported in the media, more focus is on gender rather than on crime. When the Noor Mukadam case was reported, it was more focused on the victim like why she was visiting the culprit. She lied to her parents about where she was going, and she was having affair with a drug addict, etc.
“Use of background information and statistics to present gender-based violence as a societal problem rather than as an individual or personal tragedy,” said Seerat Khan trainer from DRF.
She said that this is a digital era and news is fast spreading through social media, therefore, before sharing or forwarding the news trigger warnings must be used as children are also using social media, which can cause harmful long-lasting effects.
While talking to World Echo, Fozia Azam an Islamabad-based journalist said that such trainings are required to be conducted more often. It was a good initiative that provided a platform where the journalist community can sit together and discuss gender-sensitive reporting in a more responsible manner.
“In this digital era, journalists are presser to break news in the race of getting more ratings, and in this practice, they often do not follow the basic norms of gender-sensitive reporting,” she said.
Furthermore, she added that since there is no basic policy to regulate mushrooming of digital and social media it has become crucial to impart training workshops to journalists on gender-sensitive reporting.
