Following are some concerns expressed by Mrs. Zubeida Mustafa, a senior journalist- zubeidam2@gmail.com, about the consequences of publishing pictures and other identity details of rape victims. By doing so, the AHRC also invites other interested parties to express their point of view if they feel that further aspects need to be pointed out.
It is good that AHRC highlights such cases as they are the only way to get justice for the victims in a brutalised society where there is no rule or law.
However, I am sorry to see that with the growth of communication technology, when journalists should be more mindful of their responsibilities, they tend to go overboard instead, in the rat race to get sensational news. When I started my journalistic career 37 years ago it was common to give names and pictures of rape survivors as you have done now. However, I managed to persuade my newspaper and thus many others too (as daily Dawn was the trendsetter) not to publish them. A lot of progress was made and barring stray cases, victims were not identified until they themselves (as adults) came forward to fight their battle. We would not even identify the parents as that would make it easy to trace the identity of the girl.
I feel shaken at the idea of this little child suffering and also at the idea of her future predicament. What happened to her was horrendous enough and she will have to live with this experience for ever. But does she have to live also with this publicity, which can affect her future even more badly?
I feel there is a voyeurism in men, a feeling which they must learn to control very consciously. How does it help this case by giving the young child’s picture and also identifying her? Even without the picture and the victim’s name, the story would have achieved its purpose — which is informing the readers about what is happening to very young girls and to those journalists who are threatened for doing their job. The question that needs to be asked is: “Did adding the picture and other details make the story stronger? Are we so dumb that simply reading about the child’s trauma would have not penetrated our skulls and created the desired impact?
For a man, rape may be something to play up as it is done without showing any sensitivity to the victim. But for a woman it is something so traumatic that it could lead to suicide.
I wish the media could treat people like human beings and not like commodities to add frills to their stories to make them exciting and sensational. Television in Pakistan is the worst culprit.
The Asian Human Rights should understand this because it is a human rights issue. Please remove the child’s name and picture from your website although it has already gone viral (I saw it on another blog).
Someone mentioned India. The Indians so far have not revealed the identity of the bus rape victim, if I am correct.
