Journalist Francesco Conti of Radio Gold displays a Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women bracelet after attending the journalism master class

The Zonta Club of Alessandria was very active during the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign. The first event took place on 18 November, preparing for the International Day to End Violence Against Women.

Together with Associazione Stampa Subalpina (the Journalist Association of Piemonte) and me.dea (an anti-violence organization helping women with Anti-Violence desk and shelter for women), Zonta organized a journalism master class to teach journalists about violence language, explaining how press and TV usually describe women killing and violence against women with wrong words, wrong ways, wrong titles.

More than 50 journalists attended the master class. First, they were taught to understand violence and what happens among victims and offenders. Then, the role played by the police in fighting violence and the need of denounce by the victims. They also discussed the Istanbul Convention.

The course stated that the violence against woman is not a raptus, never. This word reduce the seriousness of this crime, that’s why the word raptus should never be used by the journalist in case of violence against women. It is very important to use the correct words to help the fight against violence.