AJMI - Doha

The guide aims to enhance journalists’ skills in producing professional and ethical features/human stories stories that place people at the center of editorial focus, restoring attention to their sufferings and hopes in the contexts of wars, conflicts and disasters.

The guide introduces readers to the early beginnings of human story journalism, its importance and roles, methods of preparation and its ethical and professional standards. It also dedicates space to discussing narration of human stories in the Palestinian context, which today stands as a central issue of concern for humanity.

The guide is structured around four main sections. The first section provides an introduction to human story journalism by defining the concept, explaining its uniqueness and importance, and clarifying the differences between human story journalism as a professional genre and the wide use of the term “humanitarian.” It also outlines the core pillars of an impactful human story.

The second section explores the key features of human story journalism by detailing its main components and production stages, from idea generation to publication. The third section focuses on practical aspects, covering idea research, defining the journalistic angle, editorial treatment, information gathering, field investigation, and finally writing the story while adopting reader’s perspective in its narrative construction.

The fourth section dedicates extensive discussion space to human story journalism ethics in a world marked by wars and crises. It emphasizes respecting dignity of victims, avoiding exploitation of their suffering and refraining from reproducing stereotypes, with particular focus on contexts that amount to crimes of genocide. Based on that, the guide includes a special appendix titled “Human story journalism in times of genocide".

The guide was prepared by Mohammed Ahaddad and Hicham Bouali, and edited by journalist Mohammed Zidan.

This publication is part of Al Jazeera Media Institute’s 2025 professional publication series, supporting specialized training programs in human story journalism and aiming to equip journalists and interested practitioners with practical tools that help them produce balanced content that takes into consideration powerful storytelling, rigorous verification and ethical professional standards.