Bulatlat launches journalist’s guide for HR reporting

BULATLAT, AN alternative media outlet, launched on March 21 a digital module to help fellow journalists and newsrooms “integrate human rights in their reportage, regardless of their beat.” The publication, divided into six parts, sets out learning objectives and includes an activity for practice. The 63-page module effectively engages followers with photos, infographics, and watercolor illustrations. 

CMFR has previously noted how media report attacks and threats perpetrated by state agents as ordinary crime stories. Often journalists refer to the police as sources and fail to question such actions as human rights violations. CMFR has also been pointing to the lack of human rights orientation in the coverage of crimes and other beats. Its online course “Reporting on Human Rights” combines both theory and practice to help media develop a contextual approach as part of the news agenda, focusing specifically on the context of human rights. 

Bulatlat’s publication is a welcome tool and is part of a project supported by the German Embassy Manila: “Advancing human rights reporting in the Philippines as a tool for upholding gender fairness, democracy and accountability.” The module ‘A Filipino Journalist’s Guide to Human Rights Reporting’ was written by Jonathan de Santos, Janess Ann Ellao, Jobert Navallo, and Ronalyn Olea; and edited by Olea and Danilo Arao.

Veteran journalist Inday Espina-Varona, in the module’s introduction, pointed to the decline of human rights in the six years of then President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. She added that “yes, many newsrooms don’t consider human rights a beat. But we can overcome that by covering our beats with a human rights lens.” 

The module is divided into 6 parts: 

• Why report human rights?
• Understanding the Philippine media and debunking the myth of neutrality in journalism
• Why rights are being violated?
• Reporting the justice beat without the legal jargons: Tools and instruments you need to know
• Challenges in human rights reporting
• Reporting with people’s perspective

The content of the module is also based on the inputs of resource speakers – Atty. Josalee Deinla, Atty. Floyd Tiongson, and Krixia Subingsubing – during the face-to-face training conducted by Bulatlat on September 29 to October 1, 2023.

Readers may access and read the publication here: bit.ly/Bulatlat_HumanRightsReporting