Reporting on human rights in media: for and against

For:

• Human rights issues are more newsworthy than in the past.
• On a global scale, state control over media has decreased over the past two decades.
• There are more organizations that promote human rights and feed the media with information.
• There are more human rights “watchdogs” that investigate human rights abuses and publish their findings.
• The UN’s monitoring system is more visible.
• More issues are framed as human rights issues: children’s issues, HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, aging, poverty, housing.
• More governments have integrated human rights into policies and laws.
• Political parties take more account of human rights; human rights are discussed during elections.
• Increasing use of the Internet, mobile phones, and social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook means there are more ways to receive information, more sources and more alerts.
• Technology and social networks are also creating new ways to report human rights violations.
• Some international media networks, like the BBC and CNN, now employ people living in developing countries as journalists and stringers. This helps bring local stories to international audiences.

Against:

• Human rights advocates often work against powerful political and economic interests, and the threat of repercussions can be great.
• Many journalists have cultural beliefs and practices that do not fit well with human rights ideals.
• In times of crisis, governments may introduce laws that violate human rights.
• In developing countries, there is limited technological infrastructure, e.g. mobile phone and Internet connections. This works against journalists in a high-speed news environment.
• It is not always easy to fit human rights issues into a breaking news format.
• In most developing countries, journalists are under-resourced, lacking basic tools – computers, cameras, transmission equipment – and finances, like money for transport and accommodation.
• Many journalists are freelancers or stringers. They struggle to “sell” human rights stories that are not headline news but concern ongoing problems – like poor health services, lack of water, inadequate education – to editors concerned with budgets.
• In some places, media are still controlled by the state.
• States still have the power to shut down the Internet or to censor online content.

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