Weigh effect of report to avoid traumatizing vulnerable persons, SCI enlightens journalists
Save the Children International (SCI), Nigeria has enlightened select journalists undergoing training in Kaduna state on the need to always anticipate the outcomes of every report on children to ensure that they are not exposed to risks or made to undergo trauma in the process of filing such reports.
Mr Kunle Olawoyin, Information and Communication Coordinator, while making his presentation on the topic “Safeguarding Children in our Communications and Media Work” on day four of the five-day training said the welfare of the interviewee (child) is paramount and outweighs all other considerations, including the potential for a strong story.
The training which is expected to end on Friday is organized for SCI Media Working Group from Gombe and Katsina states.
According to Olawoyin, children and women are vulnerable in any society as the effect of crises and other forms of societal ills impact negatively on this group of persons than any, hence the need to ensure that they are carefully approached to ensure “we don’t take them from being vulnerable to traumatic situations.’’
He said there was the need for child-level risk assessment whenever journalists were working to ensure that all child-related risks that may expose the interviewee (child) to danger were avoided.
He added that as journalists, “we work to protect and give voice to the children and the voiceless in the interest of ensuring a better world for every child but such task must be carried out in a way that the child we want to help doesn’t end up becoming exposed to danger or trauma.’’
According to him, one of the SCI’s guiding principles on reporting issues of children centres on the triangle of risk: real name, location and face, “we advise that we avoid using the three in our report so we don’t make our children more vulnerable.”
The communication officer said one of the essence of the training was to ensure that the vulnerability of any child did not lead to trauma and this is why some journalists use “anonymous or from reliable sources and other special words just to protect their interviewees from danger or risk.’’
The SCI official advised journalists not to “interview children or adult if they say they feel/are or you think they might be suicidal, very close to the edge or on the verge of a breakdown or self-harming as they may be suffering from trauma or severe depression and should be immediately helped.’’
