“Conscience Trigger”: The Press and Human Rights

Abstract

We live in an age when the media’s interest in itselfis turning into an obsession. The mirror seems to be taking precedence over the pencil, the microphone, and the camera. Journalists appreciate their own work on a continuum from selfflagellation to self-congratulation. It should not be surprising, then, that a journalist chooses to discuss the relationship between media and human rights. A whole body of recent literature discusses what the various media can or cannot do about foreign policy and foreign disasters, man-made or otherwise.¹ But none of these works address the media’s capacity to affect human rights abuses. There is a powerful and underexplored connection. Whereas reports on foreign trade wars, cultural crusades, or international monetary disasters do not necessarily compel the audience to be personally moved and to act or call for action, with human rights it is different. Learning—through the media—about a violation often translates into a moral imperative to do something. So when it comes to human rights, the media constitute a “conscience trigger” as nowhere else. The function of “conscience trigger” is at the heart of the connection between the media and the protection of human rights.