ON THE MEDIA: Reporting on Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery

The global trade in human beings is bigger today than at any time in history. Estimates of the numbers of people caught in modern slavery vary from 21 million to 36 million in an industry worth more than $150 billion in illegal profits a year. It’s one of the biggest stories of our time. Yet a lot of reporting on trafficking and forced labour is mired in cliché, myth and misconception. It often lacks nuanced understanding of the causes of the scourge and the tools to fight it.

Thomson Reuters Foundation’s one-week Reporting on Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery course in Mumbai is a unique chance for journalists in India to gain practical skills and knowledge in a country that is home to some 14 million of the world’s modern slaves. Participants will also have access to a high-profile Newsmaker event that is likely to generate headlines.

With support from the C&A Foundation, the workshop offers a combination of specialist expertise and hands-on training, with an emphasis on producing high-impact stories for widespread dissemination.

As well as coming away with a deep understanding of the scale, nature and causes of the problem, participants will learn about efforts to set global standards for combating modern slavery, including fundamental conventions, international instruments and a new, legally binding protocol that requires countries to take real action.

They will discuss the role of media in raising awareness, reducing vulnerability and holding to account governments, law enforcement and businesses. Attendees will look at innovative approaches to fighting trafficking and forced labour and scrutinise the quest for integrated policy responses across borders.

A major focus will be on the ethics of reporting slavery, from how to interact sensitively with traumatised survivors to getting past journalists’ own preconceived notions and stereotypes. We will cover safety issues, particularly when it comes to dealing with sources and reporting on organised crime.

This is an opportunity to pick the brains of reporters who have done extraordinary investigative work or groundbreaking reportage that has changed policy, provoked public outcry or brought traffickers to justice. Attendees will also spend time with experts and those at the coal face of the anti-slavery movement, including some who have been trafficked themselves and gone on to help others move from “victims” to “survivors”.

The workshop will be led by Timothy Large, former director of media development at Thomson Reuters Foundation. Prior to that, he was editor-in-chief of the Foundation’s award-winning news services covering the world’s under-reported stories, including humanitarian issues, human rights, corruption and climate change. Before that, he was a Reuters correspondent.