All Resources
Category: Children [REMOVE]
- The Times identifies two child witnesses
-
Two child witnesses were identified in an article by The Times, entitled “’Police’ rough justice” (26/10/2009, p. 6), about a military officer allegedly beaten up with his family. The article was consequently selected for a MAD OAT Mad nomination.
- The Times tackles Education Department over convicted sex offender
-
The recently released crime statistics reveal the failure, not only of the police, but of all South Africans, in not doing everything possible to address crime. However, over September and October 2009 The Times took on community apathy in their coverage of a child abuse story, keeping the issue in the public eye through various stories and two editorials, until there was some action on the case. For this, The Times and reporters Zandile Mbabele, Werner Swart, Kim Hawkey, Lauren Cohen, deserve a Glad nomination.
- Lack of electricity’s impact on children brought to light
-
The impact on children of the lack of electricity is brought to light through the article “Singing keeps the dark out” (Mail & Guardian, 29/10/2009, pp.1, 10 &11) by Karabo Keepile.
- Sex, Drugs and Steroids: Media focus on children
-
The media is a powerful source of information for people in South Africa. As such, when three weekend newspapers, namely, City Press, Sunday Times and The Sunday Independent, publish articles on the same day on important issues concerning children, one has reason to be glad. The City Press article “Birds and bees make parents squirm” (25/10/2009, p. 37) by Mokgadi Seabi emphasises the importance of sex education for children. The Sunday Independent article “Schoolyard drug lords on the rise” (25/10/2009, p. 3) by Zara Nicholson highlights drug dealing problems in schools. The Sunday Times article “Boys risk lives for bigger muscles” (25/10/2009, p. 8) by Suthentira Govender exposes steroid abuse among teenage boys, in the context of anxieties around body image.
- Young voices make the news
-
Two articles in Sowetan, which appeared the same week, provided reasons to be glad; “Youngsters on road to success” by Thandukwazi Gcabashe (14/10/2009, p. 18) and “School gardens puts meal on tables” by Namhla Tshisela (16/10/2009, p. 9). Both articles showed children as capable, skilled, contributing members of the community and gave them the opportunity to speak for themselves about their experiences and views.
- Children score in The Star’s winning coverage of Fifa World Cup legacy
-
With all the excitement and media coverage on the Fifa 2010 World Cup, there has been little attention given to children’s views on its impact and benefits. The article in The Star, “Legacy for the next Bafana generation” (07/10/2009, p.13) by Lebogang Seale and photography by Dumisani Sibeko, provides in-depth coverage of children’s views on access to the new stadiums Fifa has built and lack of football infrastructure in their community.
- Sunday Times reflects on society’s failure to protect children
-
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) was highly impressed by the Sunday Times article, “Children caught in the crossfire of warring parents” (04/10/2009, p. 10), by Claire Keeton. The article received a MAD OAT Glad nomination for taking a children’s rights perspective and focusing on how children can be harmed during disputes between parents.
- No clear case for child identification
-
Over the last couple of weeks, and since MAD OAT urged Sowetan to to “Stop identifying child witnesses”, a couple of articles (“Boy stabbed at school in ‘racist attack’”, 23/09/2009, p. 7 and “‘Trigger-happy’ police”, 30/09/2009, p. 4) have come to Media Monitoring Africa’s attention which failed to protect the identity of child witnesses.
- Ethical issues raised by reporting on children affected by HIV and AIDS
-
The article published in The Star by Health-e News Service, “Without ARVs life looks bleak for HIV/AIDS patients” (31/08/2009, p.8), and the accompanying photograph provided by The Star, received a MAD OAT Mad nomination. The article identified two children living with HIV and The Star provided a picture of one of them. Although the article is commended for investigating and raising awareness around drug shortages in the Free State and the effects this has had on HIV-positive patients, this was overshadowed by the identification of two children as being HIV-positive.
- The Times exposes conditions in rural schools
-
The Times’ article “School’s out for these children” (25/09/09, p. 4) by Sipho Masondo, photographs by Daniel Born, is one to be glad of. It brings attention to the conditions in rural schools, including teachers’ absence from school and teacher shortage. It also included a child’s perspective.
Categories
Subscribe
Keep up to date with the latest MMA news and resources, delivered to your email inbox.
