“Reporting on the Jamaican LGBTI community: A guide for Jamaican and international journalists”
Media platforms can magnify existing stereotypes of LGBTI people in Jamaica, affecting the perceptions of the public concerning LGBTI Jamaicans and their realities. Accurate media coverage of stories affecting the LGBTI community in Jamaica is of great importance in the efforts towards achieving inclusion and equality in the country.
To support these efforts, the “Being LGBTI in the Caribbean” (BLIC) project in Jamaica supported J-FLAG in producing the Media Guide Manual: “Reporting on the Jamaican LGBTI community: A guide for Jamaican and international journalists”. This Guide seeks to ensure that the media provide a holistic representation of LGBTI Jamaicans and the issues that affect them, free of stigma and discrimination.
The guide seeks to address existing deficiencies that may exist when reporting on sexual orientation and gender identity in order to approach the coverage of LGBTI Jamaicans’ stories in a non-discriminatory manner.
“The main goal of this media guide is to provide journalists, bloggers, vloggers, broadcasters, reporters, and other media practitioners with a useful tool that can guide the process of representing LGBT Jamaicans and issues in the media in a more holistic way.”
The Guide includes a wide glossary of terms, which informs of the distinctions that exist within the LGBTI community and explains the use of particular words and how sometimes these can play into harmful stereotypes. The Guide also has a special section for language, specific for covering the LGBTI community and offering alternatives to what it may be seen as offensive language, as the use of thoughtful and accurate language is considered the cornerstone of effective representation of LGBTI stories and lives in the media. Other useful tools this Media Guide includes are, for instance, suggestions on stories’ selection for publication -in order to widen the scope of the visibility of LGBTI Jamaicans-, notes on LGBTI representation on caricatures and illustrations, tips to move beyond superlatives and exaggerations and information on name and pronoun usage among others.
Media coverage of LGBTI people, their lives and issues that affect them in Jamaica can transform the perceptions and view of the public on these issues, and this Guide is the perfect tool to help inform and inspire the change.
“The media has an awesome and incredible power. The power to change minds, change hearts, and change narratives. The power to inform, educate, and inspire.” Jodi-Ann Quarrie, Human Rights Lawyer and Radio Host
Access the complete Media Guide Manual HERE.
