Media Reporting on Human Trafficking

Writes Dionysus, Content Writer, Headline Diplomat eMagazine, LUDCI.eu
The media plays a vital role in influencing public understanding and persuasion on societal problems. Besides, it shapes policies, programs, and legislative action. In the past, only a few news outlets were willing to expose social issues such as human trafficking. And when they did expose them, the news included misinformation and outdated statistics. Nowadays, a better effort has been made to report and expose human trafficking activities, but it should still be given more attention. Some of the best showcases are reported below.

De Moines Register conducted an investigation in 2009, which led to the release of several men with intellectual disabilities. The men were living in filth, abused, and forced to work for peanuts in a Turkey processing plant in Atalissa, Iowa. The former executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, said, “To me, what happened to those men in Atalissa was criminal – and it should have been treated as such.”

A great milestone in media reporting on human trafficking is the CNN Freedom Project. This project was initiated to create awareness about modern slavery around the world. I...