Every journalist wants to go on a rescue mission. But hidden from view, the human trafficking story is one of the most challenging, complex and ethically testing assignments for journalists and editors.
People who are victims of trafficking are drawn from some of the most vulnerable humans on the planet: the 40 million people who live in forms of slavery; or the 150 million children subject to child labour; or migrant workers who also number around 150 million.
The media's emphasis tends to be on what you might call the sensational side of the story, which is human trafficking for sexual purposes, commercial sexual exploitation of women and children in particular. But that's not the biggest story, that's usually to do with migrant labour and slave labour.
-- Play
-- --
Human trafficking is an organised, criminal network of people and organisations controlling the lives of people - where they live or how they live - and involves people being trafficked from one country to another to do work under controlled conditions. Anyone engaged in human trafficking is committing an offence against the human rights of an individual. Migrant smuggling is different, that's about helping people avoid the rules about entering a country.
For most people, their only experience of human trafficking will be through the headlines, but because it is a hidden crime, investigative journalists require an immense amount of resources and support to get the background and coverage right.
Covering human trafficking and modern slavery: a journalist's eight-point guide
1 Keep digging and exchange information
In every country of the world, organisations will be able to help and direct you towards information which will be useful. Do not blunder into areas without first checking out the groups in civil society or non-government organisations (NGOs) who are protecting and defending survivors of trafficking and who can be relied upon for good information. The International Labour Organisation has a wonderful set of material related to human trafficking, child labour and slave labour.
2 Follow the rules, not the most sensational story
Often, NGOs will be suspicious of journalists. They'll be worried about journalists trying to get the most sensational story themselves and exploiting individuals who have suffered enough. It's very important to follow the rules. The first thing to remember is that anyone who has been a victim of trafficking or forced migration is almost certainly a person who has been traumatised. Journalists should be sensitive to them and mindful of a duty of care to their welfare.
3 Team talk and targeted editorial strategies are essential
Media organisations should have targeted internal discussions on how to cover stories around human trafficking so that everyone in the newsroom process is aware of the need for care and sensitivity in the way the story is dealt with.
4 Survivors' voices plays a huge part in pushing a story into the mainstream
Journalists should give a voice to the survivors. We have to make sure that we're not only relying on information from people who speak for them. We want to, if we can, hear the story out of their own mouths. This helps us get closer to the story but more importantly, it helps to explain in more emotional and critical detail the experience of those who have been affected by trafficking.
For most people, their only experience of human trafficking will be through the headlines.
Aidan White, founder, Ethical Journalism Network
5 Don't traumatise survivors further
Journalists must always ask questions which are sensitive to enable people to talk freely without feeling any sense of pressure. Do not ask for information that may put people at further risk or force them to relive the tragedy or the ordeal that they've been through in such a way that you actually create a fresh nightmare for them.
You might have to interview young people, children, who have been the victims of trafficking. It's important to show the highest degree of care and sensitivity. Some people might feel flattered to have a journalist talking to them, but they should be guided not to speak on matters which may create further harm.
Create a proper environment for the interviews to be carried out. It should be subdued. We shouldn't be forcing people to fit with our image of the drama that we want to recreate.
6 Avoid images that pander to sensationalism and intrusion
Inevitably, journalists are interested in images, video and film that will capture the drama that's involved, but without care there is a danger we carry on the process of objectifying. It goes without saying that we shouldn't be using images of violence. We should not identify people whose anonymity we should respect.
Many of us are complicit in creating and maintaining the economies that allow human trafficking to be viable in the modern world.
Aidan White, Ethical Journalism Network 7 We are all directly connected to modern slavery
Look around you. Often the victims of human trafficking are where you live. We often don't realise that many of us are complicit in creating and maintaining the economies that allow human trafficking to be viable in the modern world.
Low-grade, labour-intensive industries, such as the nail parlours on the high street or car washes, places where there are lots of people doing very cheap work are common features of the modern economy. As journalists, we need to ask questions. Where are the people who are the victims of human trafficking? Where are they likely to be working? Are they on building sites where cheap labour is very often easily found? Are they working in sweat shops producing textiles?
8 Avoid linking forced labour to a broader anti-immigration agenda
We have to look at human trafficking a
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
17/10/2025
Austin PBS has recently upgraded its facility-wide communications infrastructure, deploying Clear-Com 's Eclipse HX, FreeSpeak II beltpacks, and V-Series ...
17/10/2025
ZEISS announces an open call for the closed BETA testing phase of CinCraft Virtual Lens Technology, the innovative digital tool that brings authentic lens chara...
17/10/2025
Situated in the town of Kokkola, Centria University of Applied Sciences offers higher education across five core fields: engineering, business, social and healt...
17/10/2025
Public information channel in Georgia, USA, to implement a powerful, simple, and cost-effective playout automation platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, co...
17/10/2025
HBO Max is reporting that it has launched in 15 new markets, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Macau, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ukraine, boosting the streaming serv...
17/10/2025
Netflix said it will make a major push into video podcasts, inking a wide-ranging deal with Spotify through which it will offer 16 podcasts in the U.S. starting...
17/10/2025
Lexington, Ky. As part of a push to highlight its advanced advertising capabilities, Viamedia has launched a new AI-powered ad tech platform and officially rebr...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK QuickLink has announced the release of StudioPro Version 4, which the company is calling the most significant upgrade yet to its flagship video product...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, Calif. Apple and NBCUniversal said they will sell Apple TV and Peacock streaming bundles to U.S. subscribers starting Oct. 20....
Every journalist wants to go on a rescue mission. But hidden from view, the human trafficking story is one of the most challenging, complex and ethically testing assignments for journalists and editors.
