Guide for journalists – addressing gender-based violence and violence against children in the media

The Independent Press Association (IPA) has launched a publication to help media professionals and journalism students. “Media approach to gender-based violence and violence against children” is a theoretical-practical guide to better understand the specifics of these cases and learn to report them correctly and responsibly. The publication is distributed free of charge to media institutions and interested journalists/students.

Developed by journalist Viorica Zaharia and child rights expert Rodica Corețchi-Mocanu, the guide contains explanations about stereotypes and prejudices that stimulate violence, about public institutions competent to intervene in cases of gender-based violence and violence against children, their responsibilities in the field of communication with mass media etc. Also, the guide presents the methods of ethical collection and processing of journalistic materials on these topics, the deontological obligations of journalists, and in several case studies the mistakes that journalists commit when reporting such situations are analyzed. Rules for interviewing adult or minor victims of violence, recommended language and other models of good journalistic practice have also been included in this publication.

Viorica Zaharia, Rodica Corețchi-Mocanu. Guide for journalists – Addressing gender-based violence and violence against children in the media. UNWomen, Chișinău, 2022.