Recently, a tragic story of a young man completing suicide hit the news. The rationale for his act, was said to be prompted by him being drugged and raped by a local personality. Emanating from that story, were the various ways we continue to fail survivors of violence, from confidentiality issues, victim blaming, rallying around the abuser and rampant homophobia.
In order to pay respect to victims of sexual assault (SA) and their families, the media fraternity is guided by principles to ensure victim’s confidentiality in their reporting. There is an unfortunate growing trend however, of fly-by-night online information sources and those calling themselves journalists, to prioritize sensationalism over the ethics of their trade. This is a practice that is also employed by some of the more established media houses, and it speaks to the growing culture around consumption of victim’s stories, and the lack of ethics.
