Episode 28

‘The Importance of Responsible Journalism’ 

‘Trigger Warning’ if you or someone you know has been affected by sexual abuse please remember the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre 24-hour Helpline is open 1800 77 8888

In today’s podcast (episode 28 – ‘The Importance of Responsible Journalism’), we speak with Peter McGuire a freelance journalist who regularly contributes to The Irish Times and to Noteworthy.ie – the investigative unit of TheJournal.ie about his experience of reporting on child sexual abuse and domestic violence.  

Formerly Peter was a university lecturer in Irish Folklore at UCD. His specialist areas include health, education, science, youth affairs, consumer and human interest. He also has extensive investigative experience. In 2016, Peter received a grant from the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund to work on a series of articles on child sexual abuse.

His latest articles, published on Noteworthy, investigate the experience of domestic abuse and child abuse victims during the Covid-19 pandemic and will be published from Monday 20^th and Tuesday 21^st April 2020.

We talk to Peter about the impact the media has on victims of abuse and how poor reporting can have such negative influences for everyone when it comes to understanding the complexities of this crime. We discuss how using the wrong terminology when reporting any sexual crimes can have far reaching consequences when trying to encourage people to invest in the supports of its victims and what changes he feels need to happen to improve not only a journalist understanding of abuse but how to ensure that victims do not feel used by the media when telling of their experiences.

We hope by sharing our experiences and observations of working with the media we will help not only other victims who come forward but also the journalists who report on them to see that we all have firstly, a duty of care to the victim, but also a responsibility to not sensationalise peoples life experiences.

Take Care

Joyce, June and Paula