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What is Rights Media?

  • What is Rights Rights Media
  • The Rights Based Approach

Photo by Katerine Brisebois
jhr believes that a healthy media sector is a prerequisite for a healthy society. To achieve this we provide the platform for local media practitioners to produce effective Rights Media.

Rights Media is the process of writing, collecting, editing, producing and distributing media that creates societal dialogue on human rights issues.

Rights Media mainstreams human rights content into everyday news stories. For instance, a newspaper could create a section specifically on children's rights, or it could encourage its sports, business or even entertainment reporters to cover the human rights angles hidden within their stories.

Rights Media must be both ethical and objective to be effective. The credibility of the media-practitioners, journalists, news outlets and sources involved is crucial. All sides of rights issues - the good and bad - should be explored.

At its best, Rights Media is what the media should be. It is objective, entertaining, informative and life-changing. It shapes the way people see themselves and the outside world. It appeals to our higher instincts, not our base one.

Rights Media is a necessary and vital component of all international development efforts. Without a thriving local journalism sector, there can be no effective means of communication between citizens and their governments. Good governance and respect for human rights depends on effective media that has the ability to create and inspire real change.
The Rights Based Approach (RBA) is an approach to development that is supported by the UN as an integral means of conducting sustainable development. It is based on international human rights standards and is directed towards promoting, enforcing and protecting the presence of human rights. The aim of the RBA is to integrate established human rights standards into the discussions, policies, conventions, and processes that address development.

To ensure that rights media is effective in creating change, jhr training activities focus on developing the journalism skills required to produce rights media that incorporates elements of the rights based approach.


Rights Media Framework

The voices of all involved are offered in the story: Rights media ensures that not only the events, but also the voices of those affected by the events are presented in the story.
Duty bearers and right violators are held accountable: Rights media ensures that those responsible are asked to speak to the rights violation or abuse.
Journalists do not discriminate when producing a story: Rights media does not discriminate by valuing one human right over another or group of peoples over another.
The media can empower the public: Rights media is accessible by the communities of those affected by the issue.
Stories include sources which link the event to human rights: Rights media ensures that human right stories source human right doctrines relevant to the event and community.
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JHR Ghana Awarded Governor General's Medal

On Wednesday, 15 May,  JHR Ghana received one of Canada's top overseas honours: a Governor General's medal. Governor General David Johnston presented the medal to JHR staff at a reception at the Canadian High Commisssioner's residence in Accra. 

Trudy Kernighan, Canadian High Commmissioner to Ghana, praised JHR's work in Ghana, noting that it has helped local journalists focus on human rights and good governance stories as well as enhanced the relationship between Ghana and Canada. 

See more photos of the event here.
 

Journalists for Human Rights launches media project in Northern Ontario

15 May, 2013 - Canada’s leading media development organization, Journalists for Human Rights, launches the Northern Ontario Initiative, a project to increase Aboriginal Canadians’ participation in local and national media.

Working in remote Aboriginal communities over one year, the Northern Ontario Initiative, supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario, and Accenture Canada, will provide mentorship and professional journalism training for thirty aspiring journalists, based in remote Aboriginal communities, to produce reports and articles that will be published and broadcast by Aboriginal and mainstream media.
The project will bring Aboriginal community members and mainstream and Aboriginal media together to report on Aboriginal and Northern issues with professionalism, objectivity, and deep contextual understanding.

The project will help strengthen media coverage of Northern Ontario Aboriginal issues by creating a team of local journalists reporting from communities that currently lack local correspondents.

“Journalists for Human Rights is delighted to be partnering with Wawatay Native Communications Society and Aboriginal communities in Ontario on this important initiative,” said Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights. “We will work with talented young Aboriginal journalists on skills that will enable them to report on issues facing their communities to both Aboriginal and mainstream audiences. This project will build bridges between Aboriginal and mainstream communities, and open up a constructive public conversation on common issues.”

"This partnership is a great benefit for everyone concerned, not only for our communities and Wawatay, but for all of Ontario as well," said Michael Metatawabin, Chair of the Board of Wawatay Native Communications Society.  "The opportunity is there for our members to provide stories to other news outlets in the south.  This will allow grassroots perspectives and understandings to be shared, especially as it relates to development in the north."
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