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The media must ensure that when reporting on sensitive matters, such as victims of domestic and sexual abuse, or victims of car accidents, that the subject matter is not glamorised just to sell more papers or get more persons to listen to their broadcast.

 

Head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the Nita Barrow Centre, Dr. Charmaine Crawford told The Barbados Advocate yesterday that when the media does this, they actually end up victimising the person all over again.

 

“The glamorisation and glorification of an image, whether it is in terms of text, in terms of visuals, enforces the exploitation and victimisation of individuals and I don’t think that the media, especially in Barbados, wants to be a part of that. You can report on an accident in a way that you are telling or you are informing the general public about it without using graphics that are beyond necessary. You can use certain graphics, but not where you have to come and see the dead bodies, I should say if it is of a car crash. It can be of the area that it took place and so forth.”

 

This also applies to the photographs taken by a photographer that the editor would later grant permission to be published.

 

“You cannot kind of bask in the tragedy. In fact, you in turn play into the exploitation and victimisation of the individual. So you can get the shot from afar, without kind of infringing on the human dignity of the individual. I understand that there are some stories that are very enticing, that they need to sell more papers and so forth, but the ethical standards in terms of human subjects, I think, we have to be careful of that,” it was pointed out.

She said that living in a small society, journalists have to be cautious of certain things that they report on, such as revealing the names and addresses of the persons involved, as this would only lead to persons in society identifying who these persons are.

 

Dr. Crawford stated that it is not that reporters cannot report on these touchy subjects, but they have to be careful in how they approach the subject, especially since the public depends on their reporting of the facts to get information on the incident that took place.

 

“It is not to say that you cannot report on really touchy subjects, but it is how it is done and frankly, if you are engaging with the public and also being the voice of the public, you have to do it in a respectful way without further re-victimising individuals in the process.”