‘Journalists Must Have A Social Responsibility’
By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter - SKNVibes.com
Charlestown Nevis: A visiting Barbadian Editor, Sanka Price, has called on journalists to have a social responsibility when they report on health issues.
“As journalists, we have to establish what we want to achieve. Journalists must have a social consciousness,” he said and cautioned journalists to desist destroying the persons they report about. “We have to care about the people who buy us,” Price noted.
Price, an Editor with Nation published in Barbados, spoke to 15 journalists who participated at a skill-building workshop on health reporting. The three-day residential workshop was held at the Frigate Bay Resort, St. Kitts on October 10-12.
Journalists were drawn from Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Monteserrat, Grenada and St. Lucia.
He is convinced that media can go a long way in simplifying technical health information, “imaginative messages can impact positive behaviour. Everything that happens in daily life impacts on our health.” He called on existing structures to see the media as a critical partner in health promotion.
The skills building workshop on health reporting for a cross-section of journalists reporting in the OECS region was held a month after a historical meeting of Caribbean heads of state on Chronic Non Communicable Diseases (CNCDs). The media workshop was hosted by Media In Support of People Living With HIV/AIDS (MISOPLWHA) in collaboration with Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), UNAIDS and the Ministry of Health, St Kitts.
According to MISOPLWHA President, Rawle Nelson, Funding for the workshop was provided by PAHO, UNAIDS the World Bank, Ministry of Health, St. Kitts, Cable and Wireless (C&W) MISOPLWHA.
“We need to work as one people,” Price said and alerted the journalists that media had a critical role to play in disseminating information on how to combat and manage NCCDs.
Turning to HIV/AIDS reporting, Price reminded the journalists that there was no vaccine yet. Price’s described education as the “social vaccine” in the absence of a vaccine.
Price told journalists to continually disseminate information that fight stigma and discrimination and said it was not only Persons Living with HIV who faced discrimination, “it is amazing how people look at diabetes and cancer. Promoting stigma and discrimination is being insensitive.”
The visiting editor highlighted situations of people living with HIV find themselves in due to stigma and discrimination – afraid to access health care, they are prone to committing suicide, they lose friends, cannot access condoms, loneliness, they remain in denial, rejection by families and homelessness.
“Due to stigma and discrimination people living with HIV stay on welfare,” Price said and explained the number of people on the welfare will increase as death rate was dropping due to ARVs.
Price is optimistic that media can reduce stigma and discrimination by being fair, sensitive and responsible. “We can create a supportive and enabling environment. You have to remember you are dealing with people. When your health is compromised, your life is compromised.”
On sexuality, Price cautioned the journalists to avoid promoting wrong concepts of sexuality, “we tend to use images in the media in a negative way.”
Price took journalists through a training process that will equip them to look at a variety of angles before they embark on reporting on an issue. He cited HIV/AIDS and listed several issues that fuel the epidemic that journalists can report on - relationships and infidelity, domestic abuse, teenage pregnancy, poverty alleviation and unemployment.
Other issues that can be tackled through responsible health reporting that he highlighted included: abuse of illegal drugs, abuse of alcohol, physical and mental disability, training and counselling for caregivers, cost of medication, impact on productivity and the economy.
He called on journalists in the region to be aware that the population of the elderly was increasing due to quality of life. The number of elderly persons returning from overseas after retirement is also on the increase. The plight of the elderly, he pointed out is an issue that can generate stories.
The fifteen journalists who completed the health reporting skills building workshop will receive certificates of participation. The journalists had an opportunity to visit Nevis on Friday. They travelled on the Sea Bridge.
They had lunch at the newly opened Sunset and Beach Restaurant, located in Cades Bay and later went on an island tour. The Nevis Historical and Conservation Society (NHCS) briefed them on Nevis’ rich heritage as they had lunch. The journalists also visited a cottage pottery industry at New Castle and left St. Kitts for their home countries on Saturday, October 13.
Photos are of the journalists in training sessions. There were also light moments when the journalists took time off to relax.
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