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Category: Children [REMOVE]
- Sunday Sun exposes too much detail
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The article published in Sunday Sun (28/06/09, p. 6), “Young girl stripped of her womanhood”, is one to get mad about. The article directly identifies a minor whose womb was allegedly removed without her permission, giving graphic details This violates her right to privacy and dignity as it will now be public knowledge what happened to her.
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- Sunday Times and The Star shed light on bullying
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Since the exposure of initiation rituals at Parktown Boys’ High and Pinetown Boys’ High, media have been giving more attention to stories on bullying and the causes and effects of such behavior. Two articles to be GLAD of, for shedding light on bullying, are The Star’s “School bullies can scar you for life” (24/06/09, p. 17) by Latoya Newman and Sunday Times’ “An abuser behind almost every bully” (28/06/09, Review, p. 7) by Bienne Huisman.
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- The Times’ treatment of bereaved sister raises ethical concerns
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A MAD OAT Mad nomination is awarded to The Times for its article, “Uncle linked to murder” (18/06/09, p. 6), which identified and interviewed the young sister of a murder victim, soon after her trauma. The article reports how the dead body of the seven-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered, was found by her 11-year old sister and her friends, during a search.
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- Children play Star-ring roles reporting on Confederations Cup
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For Youth Day on 16 June 2009 The Star undertook a novel project to have children write on the Confederations Cup. In the Youth Day edition of the newspaper, the project took the front page, in the article “Budding reporters were on the ball” by Jabulile Ngwenya, which included a quote from one of the children. The stories, under the headline “Confederations Cup: Ke nako for SA youth”, were published in the paper, taking up a full page (16/06/09, p. 8). This initiative got them nominated for a MAD OAT Glad award.
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- Media has its own legal and ethical responsibilities towards children
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Saturday Star’s article, “Schoolboys to answer to severe assault charges” (13/06/09, p. 4) is one to get mad about. The article was about a 14-year old boy who was allegedly severely assaulted and robbed on a school bus, after school, by other learners. His mother reported the incident to the police, and opened a complaint of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Saturday Star directly identified the child who is a child witness. In doing so, they contravened the Criminal Procedure Act, and failed to protect the best interests of the child.
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- Saturday Star takes government to task on child abuse
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During Child Protection Week, Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that the new administration was considering re-introducing specialised units to deal with child abuse cases. In the wake of this announcement, Candice Bailey explores the police’s capacity to deal with child abuse cases in the article “Child abuse is a specific crime” (Saturday Star, 06/06/09, p. 15). Accompanied by a photograph of a child victim of rape, which protects the child’s identity, the article is written from a child rights perspective, reiterating that child abuse is a priority crime that cannot be treated like any other. Bailey accesses a number of expert sources, looking at the problems, as well as solutions, posed by the government’s restructuring of the police units. Thus the article deserves a glad nomination.
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- City Press educates about child carers
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Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) would like to commend City Press and Mokgadi Seabi for the article “Surviving a hellish life with parents” (07/06/08, p. 35) which addresses the issue of children who become carers to parents with drug or alcohol abuse problems. It was nominated for a MAD OAT Glad for addressing an issue affecting many children, in terms of their development and well-being.
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- “An Act of Compassion” in covering child justice
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Mail & Guardian is arguably South Africa’s premier newspaper when it comes to issues of social development. Despite this, children seldom feature in the pages of the newspaper (although education often does). This is unfortunate considering that children are a significant and growing portion of our population and development issues affect children sometimes most acutely. However the edition published on 29 May 2009 covers the Child Justice Act, an important piece of legislation, which generally garnered little coverage elsewhere.
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- City Press highlights the possibility of adoption
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City Press’ “Open your heart and your home” (24/05/09, p. 34) addresses a subject seldom touched on in the news media - adoption. The article, written by Refiloe Serai, is one to be glad of.
This article is well-researched, accesses a number of sources, gives practical advice and is generally a great piece. Media Monitoring Africa commends both City Press and Refiloe Serai and hopes that many children will get homes through this article.
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- Sensitivity is key to reporting on abuse
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The Citizen and CNS have violated the rights to dignity and privacy of a teenager who was allegedly assaulted by the police for loitering. The story, titled “Mad over cop hiding” (The Citizen, 29/05/09, p. 8), by news agency CNS, showed a picture of the teenager’s bruised buttocks with his name and age written in the caption. While the article was provided by an agency, both the agency and the newspaper share responsibilities for ensuring that children’s rights are protected.
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