Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: The conference is a joint initiative to
bring together journalists, media
professionals, educators, tourism
industry representatives and
representatives of the workforce to
discuss the role of media in
combating child sex tourism and to
prepare training materials that will
assist journalists to produce high
quality journalism when reporting
violence affecting children. The IFJ project Reporting Dilemmas: Journalism, Child Rights and
Sex Tourism aims to highlight the need for ethical and
professional performance in reporting the commercial sexual
exploitation of children through sex tourism.
One of the objectives of the project is to develop a common
approach between journalists' groups and trade unions covering
the workforce in the travel industry on joint information
strategies to combat sex tourism.
At the same time a discussion is taking place within the
journalistic community of how to respond to the challenge of
reporting measures to combat child sex tourism in a professional,
informed and comprehensive manner.
The Press Wise pilot project Children, Media, Violence in an
Expanding Europe is designed to develop and test guidelines,
training materials and training techniques for media professionals
to improve the quality and sensitivity of media representations of
violence, especially violence affecting children.
The project aims to develop relevant training materials for use in
the Czech Republic, France, Spain and the UK, with a view to their
implementation within vocational and in-service training across
the expanded European Community. Taking as a starting point
the IFJ Draft Guidelines on coverage of children's rights, the
project has:
developed guidance for trainers in the preparation of materials;
commissioned annotated bibliographies of research into violence,
media and children;
held a two-day seminar examining the effects of trauma - physical
and sexual abuse, violent crime, war, natural disasters - on
children, and the problems faced by journalists in covering such
stories.
held a two-day seminar on the development of training modules
for journalists.
Before the end of 2000 the project will have tested and refined
these materials among journalists in the four countries, with a
view to encouraging the introduction of sensitisation to such
issues within vocational training schemes.
Both issues - child sex tourism and violence and children - pose
ethical challenges and dilemmas to journalists. A joint approach
to develop guidelines, training materials and joint actions with
the tourism industry will result in improved coverage of these
issues and can make a difference to the fight against child sex
tourism and violence against children.