Journalists play a crucial role in shaping understandings of human trafficking. When describing the problem, they can draw attention to root causes and urgent gaps in policy and services. When choosing sources, they have opportunities to elevate voices and experiences that are often marginalized.
It’s also possible for journalists to cause harm. This may come in the form of gatekeeping or mistreating sources with lived experience. Journalists also have the potential to reinforce, rather than challenge, misconceptions about human trafficking.
To understand these dynamics further, Cast collaborated with partners at Collective Threads Initiative, the University of North Carolina, and Kent State University to study survivors’ experiences with media engagement. We surveyed 49 survivors based in the U.S. about their interest in this kind of work, what had and had not gone well in prior engagements, and visions for a survivor-centered model of journalism on human trafficking.
We found that many survivors wanted to share their stories publicly, but not necessarily for the same reasons that journalists wanted to hear them.
Survivors in this study described public storytelling as a way to:
- Support other survivors
- Reduce stigma for survivors
- Educate the public
- Prevent human trafficking
To achieve these goals, participants preferred to share broad references to their own stories as a means of identifying resource gaps as well as strategies for supporting survivors in exiting trafficking and healing from trauma. One survivor shared, “I try not to center my story and focus more on the facts about trafficking…without the sensationalism and extreme detail.” In contrast, another survivor recalled being asked for something “new and juicy” by a news outlet.
Unfortunately, those with media engagement experience had faced multiple harms from journalists and news outlets. These included:
- Pressure to share private details
- Stories misrepresented in published materials
- Stories or images shared without consent
- Backlash after media engagement, including judgment and diminished career
- opportunities
We believe that some of these harms can be addressed through a collaborative power-sharing model of journalism on human trafficking. Journalists might view survivors as storytelling partners. When possible, journalists might maintain communication as a story develops, explaining the writing and publication process clearly, asking about and respecting boundaries, and providing draft materials for feedback.
The full report is published in Journalism Studies.
