TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS |
In terms of reporting norms, one senior editor at a leading daily newspaper commented that in addition to internal guidelines about reporting on children, most media houses would also be guided by the content below: Sexual Offences Act 2019
Children Act 2012 UNHCR Guidelines
The editor emphasized that the protection of children and their identities were a main focus when utilizing these points of guidance. There was no empirical evidence to form an opinion as to the extent of sensitivity by the media of reporting on children and victims of human trafficking. What are the impediments to reportage? Resources and capacity in media houses. He commented that most media houses in Trinidad and Tobago are under resourced in terms of staff as well as financially. If there is a lack of staff to cover daily beats, in- depth reporting suffers. Lack of resources in a newsroom can significantly hinder good journalism for several reasons including insufficient funding for in-depth reporting and reduced capacity for fact-checking and editing. Composition of newsrooms # of men vs women According to the Senior Editor, at his newspaper newsroom which is considered one of the largest newsrooms in Trinidad and Tobago, there are 9 men and 10 women in the newsroom. At the affiliate television station there are 5 women and 6 men. Female journalists may sometimes have a greater requirement for security or would be assigned stories which would be deemed risky for them to cover. Is there protection for tipsters, sources, victims and perpetrators? The sentiment is that there is no official legislation but there is “understood practice” where tipsters, sources, victims and perpetrators are protected in that their identities are not disclosed. Their names, contact information and images are not disclosed to anyone as they are the journalists’ sources. Is there fear of reprisal covering trafficking in persons? According to him, in Trinidad, this is not an issue when covering Trafficking in Persons. However, based on interactions with journalists for this research, the issue of self-censorship arose. A third of journalists said there is a culture of not covering a story if it is risky depending on who it is linked to and if as a journalist, you may be harmed. One journalist said, “there are stories I will not do because it makes no sense because it will take a lot of time which the editor will not allow because there is so much going on to cover.” Sourcing and Verification There is a high dependency on information from press releases issued by government agencies. There is rarely an attempt to develop TIP stories and request data specific to this. Gaining access to sources of data
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 81
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