A short guide to covering Ukraine’s internally displaced
Covering events in a conflict zone is one of the most difficult tasks journalists will ever face. What’s even more demanding is covering conflict within one’s own country.
Journalists will be under constant pressure from military, political and even family sources to take a more sympathetic line on their own country’s actions.
Our downloadable self-regulation guide is by no means exhaustive but should serve as an aide memoire for anyone who wants to report more effectively and fairly on a major humanitarian issue. At the heart of this challenge is how journalists can help the public to understand that more than 1.6million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) is not merely a statistic but a collection of individual human beings, each with a tale to tell.
The Regional Voices project is funded by the European Union and implemented by a media consortium led by Thomson Foundation: Institute for Regional Media and Information, European Journalism Centre, MEMO 98 and Association Spilnyi Prostir.
Our job is to report as faithfully as possible on what we are told and what we see.
Download our guide (English)
Self-regulation guidelines for journalists in Ukraine covering IDPs. Ukrainian version here.
Mark Webster
Strategic Communications
Mark has led training programmes in Africa and Eastern Europe, most recently in Ukraine for the Regional Voices project. He spent 30 years working as a journalist for international print and broadcasting organisations.
