Journalists have been urged to prioritise survivor’s interest and safety when covering issues on Gender Based Violence, GBV and the feminisation of HIV/AIDS.

This was the main focus of a three-day training workshop that brought together journalists, gender experts, scholars and human rights groups across the country.

Organised by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women Cameroon, the workshop was aimed at broadening the media's understanding of gender-based violence, the different forms it takes, as well as to highlight gaps in prevalence data, prevention, responses, support and treatment and also to produce a “Training Manual for Journalists” which will help journalist to better understand gender-based violence and write about it in ways that challenge society to change the practice.

Talking on best media practices of Gender Based Violence reporting, a senior Lecturer in Journalism and Mass Communication in the University of Buea, Kingsley Ngange, said GBV has always been a challenge to the society and the media, given that people are scared of talking about it.

Citing discrimination and stigma as some of the reasons why people fear to denounce perpetrators, Ngange said the responsibilities of exposing the perpetrators now lie in the Journalist ingenuity in making the survivor feel comfortable to talk. To him, a socially responsible media will always give birth to a socially responsible society. He urged reporters to be informed on laws, Journalism ethics and GBV terminology in order to make them better advocates against it.

Speaking on Media Laws, a Lecturer in the University of Yaounde II, Professor Booh Bateng caution journalists to respect the private life of victims and avoid imposing their opinion when covering GBV. He stated that most survivors of GBV like to maintain anonymity and it is the Journalist’s responsibility to protect the survivor’s interest.

On his part, the Communications Officer of UN Women Cameroon, Tapang Ivo, highlighted some common errors reporters make while reporting GBV. He advised reporters to avoid using words like “victim" which implicate the GBV survivors.

Meanwhile, a Gender Expert and Researcher in the University of Helsinki in Finland, said the prevalence rate of GBV and feminisation of HIV in Cameroon stems from the fact that most laws are made by men to protect the man’s interest.

In a guided discussion, reporters were tasked to bring up reasons why GBV is scarcely audible in the media since it was revealed that the time and space allocated for GBV reporting in the media is far lower than their number and most content depict the survivors as complicit.

In response, participants said cost, cultural norms, inadequate information of laws and international instruments are some of the things which limit their reporting on Gender Based Violence. They called on gender activists, the judiciary and the Government to accompany them in their advocacy and watchdog role by providing them with the necessary information that they will need to galvanise change and reduce GBV rate.

The participants resolved to change the culture of acceptance that surrounds Gender-Based Violence and end the stigma attached to it by seeking advice from experts, interviewing law enforcement professionals, medical personnel, experts, perpetrators, survivors and victims’ before publishing reports.