| TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
To a lesser extent, there was hardly any empathetic coverage except for the case of Trinidad and Tobago where the highest level of media reports was observed.
There was no evidence that legislative and policy change issues were considered, based on media coverage observed.
It is also noteworthy that there was a scarcity of media coverage that highlighted the roles of law enforcement, NGOs, and other stakeholders in combating human trafficking. There was a lack of collaboration between NGOs and other actors with the media, where there was potential to do so. Upon a review of some of the popular news themed Facebook pages, there was an insignificant number of TIP stories. Coverage of TIP was less than 1%. Most of these appeared as republished posts from the main newspaper stories. There were stories on online news sites and the digital versions of the newspaper where TIP stories were published. However, the feedback and comments were almost nil. There were almost no instances of cross-border collaboration which could be useful as these countries face similar issues and overlapping case narratives. There was also a lack of Investigative Reporting on TIP. There is potential as is exhibited in the series on TIP done by the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network, www.cijn.org:
https://www.cijn.org/sex-trafficking-in-plain-sight/
The researchers and journalists who worked on this report interacted with several editors and producers. The sentiments expressed in this interview are consistent with those of other editors and is a representation of the group. What are the regulations and norms for covering trafficking in persons? The routine, which would be common in all media houses, is to receive a press release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) or Non-Government Organization (NGO) about a Trafficking in Persons case. Media houses also find out about cases via their coverage of the courts.
80 A Media Analysis of the Coverage of Youth Involvement in Crime and Violence and Trafficking in Persons (June 2021 to June 2023) in the Eastern Caribbean
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