Launched in 2018, Taboom’s Media Monitoring and Response Coalition (MMRC) mobilized journalists, activists, faith leaders, lawyers, policymakers, and other community stakeholders to rapidly and collaboratively combat dangerous and otherwise problematic media portrayals of taboo human rights topics in a unified and systematic manner.

Our inaugural SSOGIE (Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression) MMRC focused on LGBTQI+ rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We established strategic partnerships with Sub-Saharan stakeholders to regularly monitor, rate, translate and share local media coverage of SSOGIE-related content with the broader coalition network via a shared platform and centralized database.

Trained media monitors collected and rated media coverage using a 5-point scale. The scale was used immediately to triage coalition responses. Long-term, the scale helped monitor country- and region-specific improvements and deteriorations in SSOGIE-related media coverage over time. The scale has been used in several Arcus Foundation media monitoring reports and by other prominent partners. 

Understanding the Media Monitoring Scale

Taboom’s MMRC uses a 5-point scale. A rating of “1” indicates media clips that are excellent in their ethical and professional treatment of SSOGIE issues. Media clips rated “1” trigger a low-priority two-month response deadline before which local media monitors should thank journalists for producing fair and accurate coverage and suggest additional story angles and sources for subsequent coverage. A rating of “5” indicates news media content that is imminently dangerous in its irresponsible, biased or incendiary treatment of SSOGIE issues, triggering rapid coordinated responses from local affirming stakeholders and continent-wide coalition partners if deemed prudent. Specific response mechanisms and procedures are collaboratively decided for each numeric point on the scale. Coalition managers coordinate high-priority responses and resolve rating discrepancies and disputes among individual media monitors.

The MMRC provided clear impact metrics to track our success and a rich database of media reporting examples for use in Taboom’s journalist and stakeholder trainings. Observable deterioration in media reporting, as determined by linear average rating changes, served as early warnings, triggering rapid response mechanisms to prevent additional discrimination and persecution before it could occur.

Indexing media clip ratings in each country allowed us to quantitatively and qualitatively track which countries and outlets experienced improvement or deterioration in media coverage and to shift resources, mobilize stakeholders and replicate best practices wherever the need was greatest. Changes to average story ratings following specific interventions helped us determine the effectiveness of coalition responses.

When the ILGA World Database and ILGA World Monitor launched, we retired the MMRC platform to avoid duplicating efforts. We encourage you to explore and contribute to ILGA’s platforms.