Somaly Mam and Journalism

"Journalists make it difficult, in a way, though I am very grateful to them. The attention of the world's newspapers helped save our operation from being shut down. But often reporters want a "sexy" project, something hot, to wake up the readers and viewers.They ask me to talk about my past- if not, how will they convey the importance of the work we're doing?" (p.188).

One of the points brought up in our class discussion on Friday was how the media tends to bring only the victim and their story to light and not the ones responsible for committing acts of violence. This is very true with Somaly Mam and sex trafficking, not only evident from the clips of Tyra's show, but in Mam's autobiography as well. Throughout the novel we see government officials and police officers get away with going to the brothels and raping women and girls without any repercussions, and esoecially without any real coverage by the media. Their crimes are never exposed. When AFESIP tried to take down The Chai Hour II, where many big time businessmen and other important men frequented, Somaly was the one that was told to "just keep quiet and not interfere in what didn't concern" her (p. 179).

Instead of reporting the truth about what really happens in The Chai Hour II, "some of the local press began reporting that the girls from the Chai Hour II had pushed down the gate in an attempt to escape because AFESIP was holding them against their will. They also reported that all the girls were over 18" (p. 178). The media turned AFESIP into the criminals and reported that the only reason the girls were victims is that they were being help captive in the AFESIP house, not the brothels.

What are the duties of a journalist, and the media as a whole? In order for crucial issues to come to light and begin to be changed, the truth must presented to the people, not some "sexy" story or an alternate version of the truth paid off by the criminals involved. One way to go about this is to go to one of the sources, Somaly Mam's book, which is a fantastic start in understanding the issue of sex trafficking.