Grace Acan's and Evelyn Amony's Reflections on Interacting with News Media
Grace Acan and Evelyn Amony reviewed the findings of the news media analysis and reflected on their experiences talking to news media.
The following includes their co-authored reflection and their selection of photos from their trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada during the Canadian Museum for Human Rights exhibit launch.
Their reflection speaks to journalists' roles in reporting and amplifying survivors' stories as well as survivor-centred best practices.
Prepare in Advance
"In Winnipeg we had engagements with several media houses like the press, televisions and radio stations, and the audience who turned up on the day of the launch of the exhibit. It was very interactive and we learnt a lot, especially how to interact with Canadian journalists. We had short briefings from Isabelle Masson and Véronique Bourget while we were walking to the event at the museum in Winnipeg. Journalists remain journalists. They ask any question, even if it’s awkward for the respondent. But it is good to articulate what you intend to bring about."
Acan and Amony are aware of the ways survivors are often treated and represented by news media. While reflecting on their experiences talking with journalists from around the world, Acan and Amony write that "journalists are the same" wherever they go. "All they want is to find a way of getting the most hidden information that has never been told so that can become like a hot cake so there is no difference."
Do not "add something sweet"
Acan and Amony advise that news media should report accurately because "You need not to do something that leaves the person you are taking the information from vulnerable again." That means not "adding something sweet to make the information nicer," making sure that the headlines of articles are accurate, and recognizing that "at the end of the day people will come asking [survivors], I saw you on the TV, I heard you on radio, I heard as if it wasn’t right." Rather than reporting for clicks or ratings, news reporting engaging with victims of sexual violence and survivors of war should be for the benefit of survivors and their communities.
Amplify Survivors' Voices
News media and journalists have important roles in survivors' movements for justice and reparations. "There were journalists in all the events who wanted to understand why the exhibit was made. This implies that the message from the exhibit was able to reach a wider audience to remind them that even when war is over, we don’t have to forget the effects that are still affecting survivors. We need to address those challenges before they escalate and keep changing with time," Acan and Amony write.