HBA Media Guidelines: Best practice to be a good advocate

As the 16 Days Of Activism continue, we’re exploring the theme of advocacy. Anyone who writes about or broadcasts stories about the issues of HBA and harmful practices, has the potential to be a powerful advocate for survivors of these practices by amplifying their voices and raising awareness.

A project delivered by Savera UK in 2022 showed that survivors don’t always feel safe sharing their stories and experiences, nor do they feel that the media represents their stories and communities well.

The “Setting the Story Straight” project, funded by the Lloyds Bank Foundation Small Change Fund, examined how ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage – were represented in the media.

Identifying Challenges

The aim of the project was to identify the challenges survivors faced in speaking to the media, and develop guidelines that would help the media and anyone working with and communicating the stories of survivors to be better advocates.

A survey of survivors, conducted as part of the project, found that:

  • 55% disagreed or strongly disagreed that they saw people like them, with shared experiences of HBA and harmful practice, represented in UK media
  • 82% felt that the UK media DID NOT do a good job of representing survivors of HBA and harmful practices
  • 64% felt the media DID NOT do a good job of representing these issues or affected communities
  • 55% said they WOULD agree to be interviewed by a journalist as they felt it was important to raise awareness, but those who said they would not be interview cited lack of trust and security

Of those survivors who responded:

  • 45% HAD previously been interviewed by a journalist
  • 60% of those felt their interviewer DIDN’T have a good understanding of HBA and harmful practices or the impact that sharing their story would have on them

A survey of frontline professionals working with survivors and those at risk of HBA and harmful practices found that:

  • 92% thought that representation of people and communities affected by HBA and harmful practices was inaccurate
  • Only 4% of professionals believed that UK journalists were well equipped to identify people at risk or seek or signpost to help (58% disagreed or strongly disagreed)

Better advocates

Using this feedback from survivors, people in at-risk communities, frontline professionals and journalists, Savera UK created a set of guidelines for the media, to help them to be better advocates for survivors and report more accurately on the issues of HBA and harmful practices.

The guidelines provide tips on writing about HBA and harmful practices, including correct use of language and terminology, and best practice in working with survivors, from making contact, through the interview process to post-interview aftercare.

The campaign culminated in a webinar (which can be viewed here) in which the results of the were shared and discussed by a panel of professionals, survivors and journalists, including survivors and campaigners, Khatra Paterson, Zuleika Sassa and Saliha Rashid; radio presenter, producer and journalist, Ngunan Adamu, women’s correspondent at The Independent, Maya Oppenheim, and CEO & Founder of Savera UK, Afrah Qassim.

Since their launch, the guidelines have been included in the external resources section of the website of IPSO, the independent regulator for the UK print and digital news industry.

You can view the full guidelines here: https://www.saverauk.co.uk/hba-media-guidelines/