The column from the editor-in-chief features editor-in-chief Lindsay Mossink Writing Weekly about what was happening in the newsroom. This week: How the Death of Seventeen-Year-Old Lisa is stirring up a lot in our society, and in our newsroom.
“Women need to be more careful,” was a common reaction. Lisa’s Body had Just Been Found Along a Bike Path in Duivendrecht. After A Night Out, Lisa was Cycling from Leidseplein in Amsterdam Back to Her Hometown of Abcoude.
The next day, I asked my female cockleagues not to cycle to the metro station alone after their event shift. Our Newsroom is around the corner from Where Lisa was found. An Industrial Area with the Hanos, Makro, A PostNL Sorting Center, and Large Parts of No Man’s Land.
Should that matter? No, but we live in an upside-down world. On Instagram, Nienke ‘s Gravemade’s Message was Shared Thousands of Times. “I Claim the Night. I Claim the Streets. I demand that 17-year-old girls get home safely.” That is how it should be, but it is not. Every Eight Days, A Woman is murdered in the Netherlands.
This subject deserves all the Attention, Mayor Femke Halsema also knows. “The Safety of Women and Girls is not a Given. This is a stain on our society,” Halsema Said at the Press Conference about the Case. “There is no blueprint ready to tackle this, but we can ensure that we do not wait for another fatal victim to receive all the Attention it deserves.”
In Other European Countries, This Attention Has Been Around for Much Longer. By Registering Femicide, Healthcare Workers on Signals, and Teaching Children at A Young Age How to Interact With Each Other.
You see there that media can also play an important role. Take this Serbian Guideline That Ensures Journalists Report carefully on Violence Against Women. Not with a Focus on the Victim’s Choice, But On That of the Perpetrator’s Violence.
In Any Case, it Doesn’t start with Women and Girls Cycling Home Alone.