South Sudan Media Authority: Journalists Urged to Prioritize IDP Safety in Reporting

Journalists in South Sudan have been urged to prioritise the safety, dignity and rights of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) when reporting on their experiences, amid warnings that insensitive coverage could expose vulnerable people to further harm. The call was made on Friday during a training session on paralegal and trauma-informed reporting involving journalists, human rights defenders and other stakeholders. Gabriel Mawien, director of data management at the Media Authority, said journalists should assess the potential risks to interviewees before publishing information about their circumstances. “Safety comes first always,” Mawien said, urging journalists to consider whether an interview location was safe and private and whether publication could expose an interviewee to retaliation from relatives, communities or armed groups. He said journalists should obtain informed consent, protect survivors from further harm and avoid publishing the names, photographs or locations of refugees and IDPs where doing so could expose them to persecution or other risks. Mawien said trauma-informed journalism requires reporters to look beyond the traditional approach of asking who, what, where, when and why, and to consider how information could be reported without retraumatising survivors. “Listen more, question less,” he advised. He also urged journalists to familiarise themselves with available referral mechanisms so that survivors encountered during reporting could be directed to organisations able to provide appropriate support. Mawien said refugees, IDPs and people with disabilities should not be viewed simply as vulnerable people but as rights holders protected by law. He said South Sudans legal framework provided protections for refugees, including safeguards against being forcibly returned to places where they could face danger. James Bidal Roba, head of the Secretariat of the South Sudan Human Rights Defenders Network, said journalists also have a responsibility to help connect vulnerable communities with the justice system. He urged reporters to understand relevant laws, verify information and report incidents factually, particularly when covering abuses in refugee settlements and areas hosting displaced people. “Your first task is to report the responsibility,” Roba said, stressing that journalists should also follow up cases to establish whether justice had been delivered. He urged journalists to apply the principle of “do no harm”, particularly when reporting cases involving women, children and other survivors of violence. Oyet Patrick Charles, president of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan, said specialised training is increasingly necessary as journalists are required to cover complex issues outside their areas of expertise. Journalists reporting on refugees and IDPs need a sound understanding of the legal, humanitarian and social issues surrounding displacement to ensure their coverage was accurate and responsible, he said. South Sudan is both a country of origin for refugees and a host to people fleeing conflicts in neighbouring countries, including Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Many South Sudanese also remain internally displaced or live as refugees in other countries. Oyet said displacement is also caused by natural disasters, including flooding, making responsible reporting increasingly important. Bakhita Stephen, a senior policy and advocacy officer at Nonviolent Peaceforce, said journalists should remain independent and put affected communities at the centre of their reporting. She warned that biased reporting could cause further harm to refugees and IDPs, and urged journalists to allow affected people to tell their own stories rather than speaking on their behalf. Ethical reporting is particularly important in communities affected by violence because media coverage could influence how those communities are perceived and treated, she said. The speakers also called for greater coopera