Taboom works to improve media coverage of taboo topics that fuel violence, bigotry, and human rights violations.

Our current training, mentoring, editing, and publishing programs primarily focus on gender and sexual diversity (SSOGIE/LGBTQI+), religion, and infectious diseases. As new opportunities emerge, we continue to expand our thematic and geographic foci.

Since 2014 our team has trained hundreds of journalists from more than 40 countries and led multi-day reporting workshops in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe,  Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, Madagascar, Myanmar, and online.

Each engagement includes training and mentoring at least 20 journalists with local partners using our existing guides and curriculum along with newly created country-specific resources. After each workshop, we edit and publish the journalists’ stories to enhance local and international understanding of the issues discussed. To ensure sustainability, we mentor trainees for at least one year post-training and assist them in spreading lessons learned throughout their newsrooms and media networks.

Specific training sessions address journalists’ motivations and professional obligations; key concepts and terms around SSOGIE issues and religion; media freedom challenges and opportunities; structural inequalities; story ideas, angles and sources; source safety and sensitivity; and news value and public interest. Trainees also analyze positive and problematic media reporting examples and engage with local faith leaders and SSOGIE activists/community members. If you would like to organize a workshop together, please get in touch.