Reporting Business and Human Rights: A Handbook for Journalists, Communicators and Campaigners

"Reporting on business and human rights is a challenge, and not for the faint-hearted".



This handbook is designed to be a practical guide for journalists and media professionals to report on issues related to business and human rights, which refers to any commercial activity which has an impact, whether positive or negative, on human rights. The overall goal is to increase the role of the media in promoting more ethical, responsible, and accountable business practices. Although intended mainly for journalists, the handbook can also be useful for communicators, campaigners, and others who work with the media in order to communicate business and human rights topics. The handbook has been produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Regional Hub in Bangkok as part of their Business and Human Rights in Asia Initiative.



As explained in the guide, "What we choose to communicate, report on, or make programmes about, can have a real influence on the lives of people: on the factory floor, in the office, and in ships, shops, mines and plantations. The media can play a positive role in making sure that those responsible for industrial accidents are brought to justice. We can help play a role in improving compensation for survivors of accidents, and contribute towards better, fairer conditions in the future. It can be all too easy for journalists to avoid the topic, or to report it in such a way that no change is ever likely. And yet we need to make sure this kind of story is in the public domain. The media have a role to play in creating change. Whether legislation is about equal pay for women, safety in the workplace, or compensation for victims of land theft, it is only when these issues are in the public domain that justice can be done."



The introduction of the handbook makes the point that business and human rights stories - which are likely to upset powerful people and bring to public attention issues that some people would rather were kept quiet - requires more than the basic journalistic skills of reporting in an accurate, fair, balanced way. It requires advanced skills, as well as specialist knowledge and professional behaviour. For example, journalists need to be able to read budgets and spot anomalies, or be able to understand complex legal issues well enough to write about them in plain language. They also need to be able to tell the story in such a way that it will grab audiences who would prefer "to read about the latest showbiz stories, or to hear what cricket or football stars are doing, rather than the people who made their boots."



The handbook is broadly divided into three sections:

• Part 1: Understanding the Issue - focuses on understanding business and human rights, its themes and topics.
• Part 2: Reporting Business and Human Rights - looks at the practicalities of reporting business and human rights stories: from finding ideas and spotting stories through to the process of research and carrying out interviews. Chapters within this section include, for example, case studies on reporting on human rights and the food and drink industry. They also include interviews with journalists, such as Margie Mason, who was part of a team who won a Pulitzer Prize for an investigation of severe labour abuses tied to the supply of seafood to American supermarkets and restaurants.
• Part 3: Telling the Story - looks at how journalists can tell business and human rights stories, and "sell" them to their audience and editors.

Throughout the handbook, there are suggestions for possible stories, treatments, and formats related to business and human rights issues. These cover wide-ranging issues such as gender inequality and violence, indigenous land rights, micro-plastics, recycling, and climate change, as well as tax evasion, corruption, and the growing global influence of the tech giants on the world's digital economy. Other story ideas involve the business of construction, fashion, transport, food, and vaccine distribution. The report makes the point that, while some media law is discussed, it is general introductory information only and should not be construed as or relied upon as legal advice.



Each chapter also offers terminology explanations, as well as a list of skills that journalists should have to master particular tasks. In addition, chapters describe scenarios that journalists may face as part of their work and offer guidance as to how to respond to them in the context of writing a human rights and business story. As reporting business and human rights covers so many issues, throughout the handbook, suggestions for further research are offered.