La Tifti (Don’t Judge)

Covering Conflict

Mar 5

Written By IWPR

La Tifti (Don’t Judge) is a five-part course in conflict-sensitive and ethical journalism.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The multimedia series promotes sensitivity, neutrality and objectivity and provides a nuanced grounding in best practices in conflict reporting. It also emphasizes the need for more gender-inclusive reporting on conflicts.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

The essentials of appropriate conduct and journalistic standards when reporting on conflict
The use of neutral language in reporting and balanced representation of factions in conflicts
Verification of information received from potentially unreliable sources
The dos and don’ts of interviewing victims of and participants in war
How to ensure balance and neutrality in the process of conflict reporting, from the stage of sourcing your information all the way through final publication
Protecting freedom of expression through reporting without endangering yourself, your sources, or anyone else unnecessarily or without consent
How to find and use all the resources typically available to reporters on conflict
The importance of ensuring that your coverage is actively gender-inclusive, both as a means of addressing gender inequality and presenting the fullest possible image of any conflict

COURSE COMPONENTS

Part I: Hate Speech

Part II: Facts and Accuracy

Part III: Objectivity and Freedom of Expression

Quiz I: 5 questions

Part IV: Resources in Conflict-Sensitive Journalism

Part V: War and Feminist Journalism

Quiz II: 4 questions

COURSE AUTHOR

Zaina is a Syrian journalist who reported extensively on the Syrian Civil War from within the country. She also trained hundreds of people in Syria to be ‘citizen reporters’, providing them with the skillset to report fairly and truthfully on developments in and around the war. Notably, many of these trainees were women — for Zaina, advancing the cause of women in her country is as important as the balanced journalism she trained them to undertake. Much of that training is reformulated here in the La Tifti video series for journalists to apply to conflict reporting around the world.