According to the study, the humanitarian aspects and human interest stories of the Darfur crisis are being neglected by Arab media. Photo:Polfoto/AP

Arab and Sudanese journalists call on Arab media to improve ther coverage on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. At a round table in Amman, the journalists were presented with the research findings of a content analysis of the coverage of the Darfur crisis in Sudanese and Arab media

Journalists from Sudan and a number of Arab countries met in Amman to discuss the results of a research study of content produced by Sudanese and Arab media covering the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. The study was carried out as part of a project involving IMS and a number of organisations working in media and human rights issues and was presented for the first time at the round table gathering in Amman.

Presented with the findings, the journalists concluded that the coverage fell short with respect to a number of the professional principles journalism should adhere to. Among others, the group found that Arab media gave inadequate attention to the conflict in Darfur, and that when covering the crisis, they tended to focus on the political aspects of the crisis and neglected the humanitarian aspects an the human interst stories. Furthermore, the coverage did not provide comprehensive coverage of the conflict thus failing to cover all aspects of the dispute.

Gaining access to the conflict zone

The coverage, the journalists said, also revealed that there was little reporting from the field, and this called the journalists to point to some of the challenges facing media involved in covering the Darfur crisis. At the top of the list, the journalists ranked the difficulty in obtaining accurate information and to get access to the conflict zones due to restrictions imposed on media practitioners by the parties of the conflict. The group therefore invited the Sudanese government and the parties involved in the conflict to facilitate access of journalists to Darfur and to ensure the safety of the media workers while in the zone of conflict.

Unbalanced reporting

The study also showed that often media coverage lack objectivitity, accuracy and balanced reporting. In the round-table meeting, journalists indicated that some media lack clear editorial policy; that weak professionalism and lack of training in covering conflicts is reflected in the quality of the media reports. Self-censorship was also raised as a challenge for media workers. This called the participants to request that Arab media adhere to principles of objectivity, credibility, accuracy and balanced reporting thus upholding the professional ethics. They also invited media workers to diversify their choice of sources of information to ensure balanced reporting.

The meeting was organized as part of a project developed with IMS and a number of organisations working in media and human rights issues including the Cairo Institute of Human Rights Studies, AmmanNet/ Community Media Network, Khartoum Center for Human Rights and Environmental Development, Osservatorio Di Pavia and International Media Support.

The final report of the study as well as the round table recommendations will be released later this year and published on the IMS website. See the full report of the round table meeting on the right column of this page.