Metro’s This Is Not Right campaign focuses on the epidemic of violence against women and girls (Picture: Metro)
The End Violence Against Women Coalition has recognised Metro for its innovative campaign to address violence against women and girls.
Called This Is Not Right, it launched last November on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to confront the epidemic, and partnered with Women’s Aid to ‘educate, engage and empower’ readers on the issue.
Now, more than 350 articles later, the initiative has been recognised at the Write to End Violence Against Women Awards this week, where Metro was awarded Campaign Of The Year.
Claie Wilson, Deputy Editor for Metro, said the honour showed that This Is Not Right ‘is making an impact’ and the team ‘couldn’t be more proud of the campaign’.
At the annual event, the coalition reflected on how the media reports on violence against women and girls (VAWG) and celebrated those writing about the issue ‘responsibly, sensitively and accurately’.
Judged by a panel including presenter Anita Rani, the awards recognised impactful reportage on VAWG, highlighting individual articles and broader practices.
This Is Not Right began on November 25 last year, led by Metro editors Jess Austin and Lucy Mapstone, as a response to the overwhelming amount of VAWG stories in the news.
This is Not Right won Campaign of the Year at the Write to End Violence Against Women Awards this week (Picture: Tierney Walker)
On the project’s origins, Claie explained that the editors ‘admitted feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of stories about women being killed or hurt at the hands of men’. This Is Not Right aimed to change ‘how numb the world seemed to have become to it’.
As part of the campaign, Metro aimed to follow the End Violence Against Women Coalition guidance on reporting on rape, alongside Zero Tolerance’s direction on understanding the topic as a systemic issue. They have also worked closely with other VAWG charities such as Refuge, Hestia and The Circle.
Over the past 12 months This Is Not Right content has included an investigation into why men are spitting at female runners, an interview with Mina Smallman, whose daughters, Nicola and Bibaa, were murdered, and a horriyfing first person account from a woman who became a victim of economic abuse.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
With the help of our partners at Women's Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].
Read more:
- Introducing This Is Not Right: Metro's year-long violence against women campaign
- Remembering the women killed by men in 2024
EVAW Coalition director Andrea Simon shared that Metro’s campaign increased the volume and quality of its reporting on VAWG as well as changing internal outlet practices, policies and training for the topic.
She said that the campaign ‘aimed to start a conversation about the national epidemic of violence against women’, and it was now clear ‘they have met this ambition’.
‘This campaign saw news coverage, features, deep dives, first person opinion pieces and more produced each week – prioritising the stories of victims, survivors, family members and activists,’ she added.
The director said This Is Not Right ‘brought an intersectional lens’ to VAWG by ‘amplifying Black and minoritised women’s experiences and the ways our justice and social systems are stacked against marginalised women’.
Claie, alongside Deputy News Editor Isobel Frodsham, accepted the award on behalf of Metro and said: ‘We wanted to create a campaign that wouldn’t shy away from the relentless epidemic but would approach it in a way that would engage, educate and empower our audience.
EVAW Director Andrea Simon said the campaign ‘aimed to start a conversation about the national epidemic of violence against women’, and it was now clear ‘they have met this ambition’(Picture: Tierney Walker)
‘We needed it not only to change the narrative of how people react and absorb stories of violence against women and girls but also consider how the media reports on it.’
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Thursday’s awards also recognised Sonia Sarkar’s feature on FGM in the UK, an investigation into unregulated psychologists used in family court, and Jackson Katz’s Substack piece on Netflix’s Adolescence.
The director said all this coverage ‘really does make a difference to our collective attitudes, beliefs, and awareness’.
She added that every award winner was ‘a shining example of how journalists can be integral to the movement to end male violence against women and girls’.
The awards are endorsed by the National Union of Journalists, with the union’s National Organiser Nick McGowan-Lowe saying they ‘showed the talent and dedication of journalists throughout the UK who shining a light into this darkest of corners of our society’.
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