Ghana Connect: The role of the media in the fight against gender-based violence

Today on Ghana Connect; a blogger, a broadcaster, a news editor, and a consultant for the gender ministry discuss where to draw the line between fiction and reality, as well as the role of the media in the fight against gender-based violence.

Things perhaps started on a foul note when a pantomime summarising the week-long events surrounding the alleged kidnapping of a YFm presenter was played.

Kinna Likimani, a blogger, reviewer and gender activist thought the video was “completely in bad taste”. In her opinion, the lines are blurred enough when it comes to the handling of gender-based violence without the media fanning the flames and blurring the lines further by drumming up drama in a bid to incite public reaction.

Kinna believed strongly that the media erred in the handling of the matter and insisted that the name and workplace of the alleged victim should never have made their way onto the mass media, let alone the images of the alleged sexual assault.

'A life of its own'
Malik Daabu, editor for myjoyonline clarified the matter by explaining that when reports first came in, the matter was reported as a kidnapping. Employers for the alleged victim had filed a report to the police and put out a statement requesting assistance to find the missing lady.

As such, earlier stories about the matter included the image of the alleged victim, as well as her name and place of work. According to Malik, disclosing her identity was in a bid to facilitate her discovery. This, according to him was perfectly ethical and legal.

Unfortunately, he said, further developments revealed that images of alleged sexual assault were floating about on social media. At this point he said, the media was hit with a dilemma and the first thing his outfit did, was to pull down the photo of the lady in question.

Unfortunately, other media outlets went as far as posting the nude photos which were circulating.

“The story took a life of its own and confused a lot of us in the process”, he said.

Head of legal at the gender ministry, Edmund Folley, was of the opinion that although the mainstream media is easier to target, the bigger problem is with the general public.

The images went viral on various social media channels, major among them, facebook and WhatsApp.

Edmund Folley insisted that the circulation of the photos was a criminal offense and as such, all persons who shared the images of the alleged assault were guilty of publishing obscene materials.

Listen to the full discussion below: