Building the capacity of media personnel is key to ending misinformation and disinformation around Gender-Based Violence (GBV) as ethical reporting is essential to the protection and security of survivors and ensuring the dissemination of accurate information to the public.
As part of efforts to ensure that media personnel participate in addressing GBV and inspire social and behavioural change, UNFPA in collaboration with the Gambia Press Union commenced a training on Ethical Reporting on SGBV cases for 24 media personnel on 22nd August 2022. The training was geared towards provided journalists with the required skills and knowledge to fact-check and ensure the use of appropriate language in reporting on GBV.
Rohey Bittaye is a reporter with the Gambia Radio and Television Services and she was one of the 24 participants in the training. According to her, the media must take advantage of this opportunity, by inculcating the skills and knowledge learned into their daily work. She stressed the need for media personnel to recognise the responsibility laid upon them to ensure ethical reporting and to uphold the principles of professionalism at the highest level.
The UNFPA’s mission is to create a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every delivery is safe, and every young person's potential is realized which the media also has a major role to play. UNFPA keeps working together with the media to ensure that information about SGBV is disseminated in the most effective and accurate ways possible. This is crucial for encouraging sustainable growth and making sure that no woman or girl in the hardest-to-reach community is left without given justice.
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Media contact: Faith C. Ememodo – UNV Communications Associate ememodo@unfpa.org
