Journalists should learn to cover sensitive topics – Lina Kushch

Journalists covering sensitive topics must not hype the news about sexual violence during war and captivity but help women who survived this tragedy to overcome acquired problems.

Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), spoke about this during the charity event Numo Sestry! [Come on, sisters!] held by SEMA Ukraine, an organization that cares for women who have suffered as a result of sexual and gender-based violence.

“In order to give a voice to such women who have no other chance to be heard, journalists must learn the skills of talking to those who have survived captivity and often – sexual violence, learn what vocabulary to use,” Lina Kushch emphasized.

She added that the NUJU intends to work on improving the skills of journalists in covering sensitive topics and creating platforms for safe, tolerant communication on these topics.

It is noteworthy that during the survey conducted by the NUJU, female journalists did not name shelling and the possibility of death as the biggest threats while covering the hostilities. They instead called the danger of capture and sexual violence a far greater threat.

NUJU Information Service