Media and the Coverage of Terrorism: Manual for Trainers and Journalism Educators
Key Guidance
Paris: UNESCO (2022), 105 pp.
Series: UNESCO Series on Journalism Education
ISBN 978-92-3-100500-8
CC BY-SA
"According to the 2020 UNESCO Director-General Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, a total of 24 of the 156 journalists and media workers killed during 2018-2019, lost their lives to attacks by groups engaged in violent extremism as well as terrorism. Journalism educators and trainers have a role to play in supporting the quality of reporting on this complex topic, as well as in raising journalists’ ability to protect themselves while covering terrorist attacks. Building on a previous UNESCO publication Terrorism and the media: A Handbook for journalists (2017), this new manual is designed primarily for media trainers and journalism educators. Based on real life lessons and extensive analysis of the risks and pitfalls in covering terrorism, the handbook adds significant value to media’s role in covering these challenges." (Short summary, page 3)
I. TERRORISM AND THE MEDIA: GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1 Defining the terms, 13
2 Terrorism and media ethics, 19
II. PRACTICAL SKILLS
3 Preparation, 32
4 Covering an attack: ensuring your own and others' physical safety, 37
5 Covering an attack: defining an angle, collecting information from witnesses and official sources and using open-source data, 41
6 Covering an attack: selecting, prioritising information, and producing contents, 52
7 Covering an attack live: disseminating information, 63
8 Duty to be held accountable, 68
III. SPECIAL ISSUES
9 Terrorism, facts and figures, 76
10 Hostage-taking, 83
11 Getting to Terrorist-Controlled Areas, 86
12 Covering ongoing investigations and trials, 91
13 Investigative journalism, 94
14 Radicalities and communities, 98
15 Terrorism, gender and the media, 103
1 Defining the terms, 13
2 Terrorism and media ethics, 19
II. PRACTICAL SKILLS
3 Preparation, 32
4 Covering an attack: ensuring your own and others' physical safety, 37
5 Covering an attack: defining an angle, collecting information from witnesses and official sources and using open-source data, 41
6 Covering an attack: selecting, prioritising information, and producing contents, 52
7 Covering an attack live: disseminating information, 63
8 Duty to be held accountable, 68
III. SPECIAL ISSUES
9 Terrorism, facts and figures, 76
10 Hostage-taking, 83
11 Getting to Terrorist-Controlled Areas, 86
12 Covering ongoing investigations and trials, 91
13 Investigative journalism, 94
14 Radicalities and communities, 98
15 Terrorism, gender and the media, 103
