Ethics 10 Informed


Reporting on violence against women


Last month the Ethics Council hosted a webinar exploring how to report on violence against women and girls in an accurate, responsible way. Myths about rape are “deeply embedded” in British media coverage, said Dr Alessia Tranchese, author and associate professor of Language, Feminism and Digital Media at the University of Portsmouth. Her analysis of media coverage found that these myths broadly fall into three categories. Te first is the myth of the “violent stranger jumping out of a bush” as the only “credible rape”, even though the rapist is usually known to the victim. Another myth is that women lie about being raped, with only 0.6% of reports in the UK estimated to be false. Dr Tranchese said she found that women’s words are oſten presented as “allegations” rather than “reports”, which implies mistrust, while men’s words are typically represented as “denials” and reinforced with words like “strongly” or “categorically”. She, however, recognised that there are oſten legal considerations involved in the precise wording used. Te final myth is of “credible perpetrators” and “untrustworthy victims”, which usually go hand in hand. Victims of “credible perpetrators” are oſten scrutinised for their behaviour, with descriptions such as “flirting” or


SLAPPs day of action In April the NUJ joined its partners in the UK Anti- SLAPP Coalition for a day of action to combat abusive legal threats designed to silence critical speech and journalism. Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said that Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) give those with


“teasing” commonly used. Conversely, the actions of high-profile men are oſten downplayed as “wrongdoing” or “misconduct”. Dr Tranchese said her focus is not to blame the media but to help it become a “strong force for change”, hence creating the Reporting on rape: changing the narrative guidelines with the End Violence Against Women Coalition. Jamsheda Ahmad Young, a former BBC journalist who is pursuing a master’s in social justice at the University of East London, shared her research on how news coverage of violence against women oſten differs depending on the victim’s ethnic background. Her study, titled ‘Deconstructing bias’, compared mainstream news coverage of a serving police officer abducting and killing Sarah Everard in March 2021, and the reporting, six months later, of a man atacking and killing Sabina Nessa, a British Bangladeshi woman. In terms of online news, Ms Young, found that the number of articles and total word count relating to Everard “far outweighed” that involving the case of Nessa. However, there was reference in articles to the need for political atention and the allocation of resources to make women safer, which was positive. In broadcast TV news, there was “much more coverage” of Everard than Nessa and triple the amount of


“financial power the ability to...stymie reporting.” Tey also drain journalists’ resources and can lead to self-censorship. She noted that current provisions “fail to deal with the problem” and the union is urging members to lobby MPs for robust anti-SLAPP legislation and to report incidents via the Journalists’ Safety Tracker.


airtime. Ms Young said: “Tere are lots of things that you can conclude from this, but I hope that this contributes to the discussion. I also analysed the diversity of the reporting teams and found that white women dominated […] and I think it raises a question about what meaningful newsroom diversity looks like.” Sydney McAllister, managing


director and co-founder of campaign organisation ‘Tis Ends Now’, also spoke at the webinar. Te organisation created the first reporting guidelines for police communicators reporting on male violence against women and girls, in collaboration with police forces. “Journalists pick up police press releases, so if we can make the language more accurate at the source, then hopefully we will mitigate some of the more harmful headlines that we see hit the news,” she said. Te top tips in the guidelines include using an active voice to focus on the perpetrator’s actions where possible, clearly identifying the crime, and avoiding victim-blaming language or details, including the victim/survivor’s behaviour or clothing. “Language is our main tool. We want to challenge harmful beliefs, hold perpetrators accountable, and address the root causes of male violence against women and girls.”


Watch the webinar recording.


Defending media freedom Earlier this month, a tribunal threw out a claim by the Judicial Appointments Commission’s (JAC) to recover £14,000 in costs over Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from a freelance journalist. Over several years, Barnie Choudhury, an NUJ member, submited FOI requests for 23 stories for


Eastern Eye that scrutinised the JAC. Te JAC alleged “unreasonable” conduct and sought costs, but Choudhury claimed the application was “driven by retaliation for my journalism.” Having warned that a decision in favour of the JAC would deter journalists from holding power to account, the NUJ labelled the verdict a victory for media freedom.


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