Resources - Get Mad/Glad
On a weekly basis, Media Monitoring Africa elects and writes about stories which violate or support child’s rights in the news. Read more.
Category: Children [REMOVE]
- The Star scores in Child versus Chess Champ
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The Star is applauded by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) for its article “Young minds test against the greatest of them all” (26/03/2012,p.3) . The brilliantly written article as well as the accompanying pictures are child-centred, empowering, and are examples of best practice in covering children as well as evidence for why children should be consulted in stories.
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- The Sowetan protects identities of alleged child rape victims and accused
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The article in Sowetan, “Teen boy arrested for rape of 3 nieces” (26/03/2012, p. 5) provides a good example of how to safeguard the best interests of children when reporting on rape cases or other similar cases. It deserves a GLAD as it fully protects the identities of the abused children and the child suspect, and goes an extra mile to explain its decision to not reveal their identities.
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- Special Assignment fails to minimise harm
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While Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) applauds Special Assignment for raising awareness about the impact of TB on children, MMA believes that the end does not justify the means. Ethical guidelines breached in accomplishing the shows goal of raising awareness is not worth pursuing at the expense of children and children’s rights. The episode in question failed to minimise harm by not protecting the identities of the children affected by TB, in doing so, exposing them to potential stigma and rejection or discrimination.
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- Child Witnesses In Need Of Protection By Our Media
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Morning Live flouted both the legal and ethical journalistic practice by identifying a child witness in their news bulletin. While MMA is not sure at this stage whether consent of the parents to reveal the child’s identity was sought or not. The Criminal Procedure Act, clearly specifies that the identity of a child witness should not be revealed, either directly or indirectly.
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- 3rd Degree’s insightful story on Ontlametse earns it a GLAD
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A 3rd Degree episode, “Ontlametse: A Gift” is commendable for documenting the story of Ontlametse, a young girl affected by a rare fatal genetic disease called Progeria. The episode should be commended because it is child-centred, it went against the grain of portraying children as victims and instead portrayed the child in question as a survivor, and upheld her rights to freedom of expression by accessing her a number of times.
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- Right’s of abused child not protected by Sowetan
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An article by Sowetan is selected for a MAD for identifying a victim of abuse.
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- Saturday Star exposes one pupil’s long journey to a quality education
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Historically underprivileged schools in Johannesburg and arguably South Africa, often found in township areas face many challenges, amongst them, poor educational infrastructure and inadequate resources. In this regard, many children often travel from their homes in township areas to historically advantaged, well-resourced and better- performing schools in suburban areas. One such journey is made by Reabetswe Rakubu, a young lad from Soweto, who travels about 56 km by minibus taxi to his school in Malvern, in the east of Joburg and back. The story of young Reabetswe, told by Saturday Star is one to be GLAD about as it highlights the several challenges that many children face to acquire quality education.
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- The New Age makes children vulnerable to stigmatisation and further hardship
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The New Age earns itself a MAD for directly identifying pupils from a children’s home, labelling and stigmatising them as needy and orphans.
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- Relate gets a MAD for violating legislation by identifying a child rape victim
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It is with great worry and disappointment that Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) selects SABC 1’s programme Relate, for a MAD, for failing to respect the rights to dignity and privacy of a minor in one of their episodes. The 17 year old girl identified in the show was both a victim of rape and a witness to a criminal case. Two facts that the show clearly failed to take into consideration. Following this legal transgression, a complaint against the show was filed by MMA. Please read the commentary for further details and to get SABC’s Manager of Compliance, Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Fakir Hassen’s side of the story.
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- Daily Sun violates child’s right to dignity
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Public hospitals are marred with many controversies. At the top of the list of the controversies is the all too common issue of negligence, which many children unfortunately fall victim to. While the media can be commended for highlighting these cases of negligence and holding accountable those responsible for these reckless behaviors, the media’s responsibility in doing so in a manner that does not violate the rights of the affected children cannot be overlooked. Daily Sun therefore earns itself a MAD for failing to exercise extreme care and caution when publishing a photograph of a child who suffered brain damage as a result of medical negligence at a public hospital in Gauteng.
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