As the EU-UN-Spotlight Initiative training network for journalists in Cross River state came to an end, UNICEF experts on ethical reporting, media advocacy and solutions journalism, took participants through some topical lectures sessions capable of equipping them on how to protect survivors of gender based violence.
The sessions saw the discussions on challenges and solutions as anchored by the duo of Iliya Kure, Joshua Olufemi and Victor Atuchukwu.
Topics like “Gender Balance, Gender Equity and Gender Equality and Discrimination.
Thereafter, “the introduction to ethical reporting, ethical reporting on Violence against women and girls (VAWG), Fake news and sensationalism took the stage”.
Presenting the paper, Iliya Kure, took participants through universal code, objective of advocacy journalism, human angle story amongst others.
He said one of the objective is to encourage the writing of more gender based Violence against women and girls which can influence policy direction and decisions.
Also in her paper entitled “Guideline for photographing women and girls”, Khadijah Ibrahim Nuhu, said “women and the girl child needs our protection. They need to be protected as they are also protected under the universal Human Rights law”.
“Using images of women and girls have its special challenges with all the “do nots” and even more daunting with current dynamics of the social media, she said “.
“In many cases, the act of using images of women and girls places them or other at risk of retribution of stigmatization and was asked to avoid images that might put them at risk while carrying out your reportage.
It is a general believe that, “these women and girls have to live with your story and image depiction long after it has been published, she noted”.
Other papers presented includes “Media advocacy, definitions, mass media and social media as advocacy tools. Giving voice to community efforts and Economic and social determinants of VAWG” by Iliya Kure and Joshua Olufemi, respectively.

By: Friday Nwagbara, Calabar