In defense of human rights based journalism

INTERVIEW / Marco Lara Klahr

Professional journalism that champions the respect for human rights, Rechtsstaat, (also known as the rule of law or the constitutional state), the culture of legality and peace will only be possible once the industrial routine of the news industry is revamped and  the journalists that produce them are fully qualified as professionals.” The words are from Marco Lara Klahr, coordinator of the Media and Violence project of Mexico’s Instituto para a Segurança e Democracia (Insyde).

In an interview given to Comunidad Segura, Klahr details how the project works that promotes practices that foster the professionalization of media executives and journalists with respect to public security content, in keeping with democratic and human rights values.

How did the Insyde’s Media and Violence project get started?

The project was born in 2004, just a few months after we founded the Insyde. Ernesto López Portillo Vargas (executive director of the organization) and I created the project after a series of meetings held to discuss how the media portrays events related to public security, penal justice, violence and other issues intertwined with the notion of human rights.

How did you approach the topic?

From the start we all agreed that it was not a question of being media-phobic, as so many organizations of civil society tend to be when they analyze media behavior and media content. Our goal was to study, analyze, document and divulge what we call a generic form of media and violence- as well as to create the necessary methods and technical tools applicable for news content. We also looked to train professionals to use these tools, executives, editors and reporters.

What are the project foundations?

In terms of journalism itself, our project is inspired in three great schools of global outreach: civic journalism, peace journalism, and so-called new journalism.

These journalistic paradigms bring us a set of concepts, techniques and ethical stance that we can summarize and transform into viable ideas for news stories. As to the normative aspect, we champion journalism that is transversal and  that thoroughly respects and promotes constitutional guarantees, human rights and international humanitarian law (in the case of international or internal armed conflicts)

What is, for Insyde, good journalism?

Professional journalism that champions the respect for human rights, Rechtsstaat, (also known as the rule of law or the constitutional state) the culture of legality and peace will only be possible once the industrial routine of the news industry is revamped and  the journalists that produce them are fully qualified as professionals. I also believe in our contribution to transform the culture of news consumption in society.

What are the project’s contributions?

It has four main lines of action: Round tables with social activists and journalists (we have held four so far); Seminars for mostly journalists specialized in public security, penal justice, and law enforcement (seven meetings so far, and another three to go by the end of the year);  The three volume “Media and Violence” collected edition; journalism student conferences with journalists, academics, law enforcement professionals and others, we have held over 100 conferences in places such as The Netherlands, Brazil, Peru, Central America, the United States and Mexico. Finally we also conduct media interviews to discuss the topic. We have given over 100 interviews in Mexico, Central and South America and in the United States.

This is the third edition of the Violence and the Media project. How did the media and society receive the previous editions?

The third volume was greeted with much more anticipation than the previous ones, since we have been discussing the subject over the past three years. Journalists are now much more receptive than at the beginning. The third book has only recently been launched in Mexico City and already we have been invited to a number of events around the country, and we have been flooded with invitations and requests for book donations. This, it seems to me, is a sign that we are going in the right direction.

How do you distribute the material and for which public is it intended?

Thanks to our social activism, we have been able to distribute thousands of copies of the collection to journalists (to professionals and to students) academics, activists, public servants in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Central America, Peru and the Netherlands.

Could you tell us a little about content of the collection?

The first volume of volume “Media and Violence” is a discussion of how a news story is built and reflects the issues raised at our first public security and media round table, some of the participants also wrote papers included in the volume.
Volume 2 brings together the issues raised at our second round table. Reporters from different generations were invited to take part in it so that we could get as varied a look at the profession and its challenges as possible. The book also offers a list of newsworthy topics that came out of the discussions.

Finally, "Media and violence 3" has essays from renowned journalists who have also made academic contributions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Spanin and Mexico.  Each author proposed a topic that is close to the top concerns in their own nation. We asked the authors to keep to a certain standard. They are light but also methodologically rigorous pieces, and end by suggesting story ideas. The third volume opens with an introduction by Ginger Thompson, a great investigative journalist of the The New York Times.

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi