MMP - Empowering Media

Key Findings

The representation of children affects their rights

How are children’s rights to dignity and privacy affected?

The identification of children in certain stories may be a violation of those children’s rights and may break the law. 1 in 10 children in abuse stories are identified, which is against the law and subjects the children to further victimisation.


•	In a recent example, Special Assignment on SABC 3 (16/03/04) contained a report about a child who had been sodomised. The child was identified in an image with his mother, who said “My boy here’s been sodomised twice already this year by those kids.” Although this identification of a child is unethical and illegal, after receiving a complaint, the broadcaster quickly removed the section from the master tape, and as an extra means of apologising, facilitated in the provision of counselling for the child.
•	A good example of the protection of children’s rights occurred in a report featured in both The Star (30/04/03, p. 1) and Die Burger (30/04/03 p. 6), featured the plight of children who have lost their caregivers to HIV/AIDS but cannot access government grants. The way in which the children were photographed was commendable as their identities were protected. The technique used focused on their hands and silhouettes, and proved to be more effective than showing the complete picture of the children.

The workshop participants were fairly outspoken about news articles that revealed the identities of particular children. All of the groups were adamant, for example, that rape and abuse survivors should not be identified:

“It is not good to show his face. Everyone knows him and will laugh at him.”

“This girl will grow up and then when she grows up she will see what they said about her and will be very sad.”

Children are often interviewed in times of trauma or when they are grieving, and their right to privacy may be violated in these instances. The World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for media professionals on reporting on children raise the point that the media need to be sensitive to situations involving private grief and to respect the feelings of the bereaved. This means that the dignity and privacy of those who have experienced trauma needs to be respected.

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The Cape Times (05/05/03, p. 1) reported the story of a toddler who survived for 10 hours in her dead mother’s arms after a Cairo apartment block collapsed. Sourcing the child in these circumstances was unethical as the journalists insistently asked the child where her mother was (despite their prior knowledge). The child had clearly not comprehended the scale of the tragedy and this type of coverage is insensitive and unethical.

The children who participated in the workshops seemed to intrinsically recognise the ethical problems of interviewing a child who has recently suffered a traumatic experience.

“I think it is wrong to keep on asking him questions. It will make him confused and more scared. When he answers their questions a picture of what happened will come to his mind.”

Identification of children in certain stories may violate their rights to dignity and privacy. As the (WHO) guidelines on reporting point out, the impact of the story often affects the life of the child long after the journalist has left.


•	In a Beeld (13/05/03, p. 2) report, the headline read: “Little Lucky not that lucky - he is HIV-positive.” A large photograph of the child accompanied the article. Identifying a child who is HIV-positive could subject him to further trauma, such as discrimination and alienation, particularly with the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.

The children in the workshops pointed out the irony of protecting the identity of the perpetrator while revealing the identity of the victim.

“They don’t show a person who is a suspect and a criminal but they show the person he raped.”

“If people do crime you can’t see their face. But you often see the face of the innocent children. They were supposed to protect and respect the face of a child.”

Each of these powerful stories needs to be told; difficult stories need to be reported, but at the same time, children need to be protected from further harm.

The media often help with locating missing children or children who have been kidnapped by featuring a picture of the missing child. However, the kidnapping becomes a criminal case the moment it is reported, and the child is both a victim and witness in the case, and should not be identified. In these instances, the best interests of the child take precedence and the child’s protection becomes a priority, which means that by showing the child’s picture, the media can help to secure the child’s safety.

The child participants also recognised the essential role the media plays in highlighting important issues, all be they negative.

“I think it is good to have articles like this. Now I know about children who are hungry. I feel bad for them. I wish I could help them but it is not possible because I still depend on my parents.”

“I think it is good to have these articles about abuse and rape as then grown-ups are made aware. Mothers can warn their children. They will be more careful about sending them out at night in the dark.”

In all cases of reporting, the best interests of the child should be paramount.

How does the use of images affect children’s rights?

Images are often used in the media to elicit sympathy, but this is sometimes done in an intrusive manner. Invasions of the dignity and privacy of children were seen most prominently in the coverage of the war in Iraq. The media often showed photographs and images of children in extreme distress, and it is highly unlikely in those circumstances that the children were able to give their informed consent to be photographed. This is also true for stories on disasters and accidents where photographs and images of distraught children are often featured.


•	The Citizen (31/03/03, p. 7) featured a black and white photo of an Iraqi boy sitting nearby the body of his brother in a casket prior to his funeral. His brother was a victim of a US raid on the Al-Nasser market. The image was a clear invasion of his rights to dignity and privacy and was an intrusion into his private family life.

Images are also used for shock purposes. The horror of some of the crimes committed against children is undoubtedly real. In some instances a morbid fascination accompanies gruesome images or stories. Such images can be intrusive and violate the privacy and dignity of the children depicted in the photos. In addition, one of the effects of these images is “flooding,” where people become desensitised after seeing too many similar images. In order to have the same effect, more horrific images are used. Another problem is that these types of images also lead to “compassion fatigue”, where people are no longer affected by the plights of those in the images and the images fail to elicit compassion and empathy from readers/viewers.

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The Star (02/04/03, p. 1) emblazoned an image of a bloodied corpse of a child on its front page. The half-page image was a close-up of the child who could be clearly identified by the image. Readers were able to see the graphic detail of the small body wrapped in bloodied rags lying against the body of its mother, still with its pacifier around its neck. The horror of the image was made even more graphic by the subheading, “Horror of Infant Corpses shocks Red Cross”. No justification for using the image was provided. Other media also featured the same picture, including the Daily News (02/04/03, p. 1), which featured the image to include the dead baby with its dead mother lying in a wooden coffin.

How can the best interests of children be protected and still ensure that powerful and difficult children’s stories are reported? While it is important for journalists to report on stories involving disaster and tragedy, it is often difficult to gain informed consent from people involved. It is always better to find alternative means of illustrating a story rather than invading on the grief of others. The MMP advocates for the adoption of a human rights framework, where the best interests of the child remain paramount, and the child’s rights are protected.

What about children’s right to participation?

Looking at the child sources was a means of assessing the extent to which children are able to exercise their right to participation and their right to express their views and opinions. It is also important that these views and opinions are taken seriously according to their age, maturity, and their right to freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information. Another element of the project that required examination was whether children were sourced in a way that did not violate any other rights of the child, but that the primary consideration was for the best interest of the child at all times.

Children have a right to participation, but they are often not given the opportunity to do so, or taken seriously. This affects the way in which children are represented. The media, however, has a responsibility to provide balanced reporting, and one way in which the media can address the limited representation of children is to exercise their power by giving children the opportunity to participate.

Children were accessed for their opinions and quoted either directly or indirectly in only 13% of all of the news items. In addition, children appeared in images in 16% of the items. Where children appeared in images, they were identified in 13% of the items, but remained unidentified in 3% of the items. Where children were sourced; either directly or indirectly quoted, they were identified in 10% of the items, but remained unidentified in 3% of the items.

The Criminal Procedures Act strictly prohibits the naming and identification of a minor child who has been abused, or is involved in or a witness to a crime. It is imperative that the identities of such children are protected and that the best interests of the child are not compromised. Due to legal prohibitions, as well as moral and ethical reasons, children should only be identified when it is in their best interests.

It was encouraging to note that the number of reports in which the identities of children were protected and the best interests of the child were upheld and respected were greater than the number of reports that revealed the identities of children where it was clear that it would have not been in the best interests of the child. For example:


•	The Rapport (06/04/03, p. 7) reported a story of a girl who was raped by a parent. The 16-year old girl, who was placed in the care of a man and woman when she was only four months old, alleged that the man molested, abused, raped and sexually assaulted her throughout her life. In the reporting of this case, the media took the necessary precautions to protect the identity of the child and thus ensured her best interests.
•	The SABC 1, 2 and 3 (09/04/03, 19h00) broadcasts of a report on the effects of war on children, where a group of children at a primary school were interviewed on their opinions and feelings about the war. This was a positive example of how children are able to express their opinions and participate without having their rights violated in any way.

The media also has the responsibility to inform the public. This responsibility pertains to children who not only listen to and read about the news, but also actively request to be informed on matters that affect them. The children in the participation workshops commented on this:

“I would like to see articles about how other children live in other parts of our country.”

“We want information about HIV/Aids. Children have to know how to protect themselves.”

“We want to know when schools reject children with HIV/Aids. We need to know also when schools send children away because they do not have school fees.”

Children’s participation is not only about realising the right to receive, impart and access information and participate in decisions that affect them, it also makes good business sense to include children’s participation. If children’s participation is ignored, and the roles in which they are represented are limited, and if they are marginalised, it must then be understandable that children will lose interest in the news.

It must also be recognised that children’s participation can be difficult. Some of the reasons are:


•	Issues of consent
•	Interviewing children requires additional skills
•	Intimidation on the part of the interviewer and the child
•	Issues of naming and identification
•	Language, lack of understanding and other communication issues

There are solutions to these difficulties in the form of practical guidelines as well as advice and information bodies such as Save the Children Sweden, UNICEF, the Children’s Rights Centre, the Children’s Institute, and other children’s rights organisations.

What issues were raised during the monitoring?



While topic codes capture the central subject of an item, there are usually a number of other issues likely to be raised by each article. The monitoring of issues provides an indication of the other matters that were raised in relation to a topic. The results showed that the category of human rights issues was the most prominently raised category (31% of all the issues raised), but related issues were raised implicitly rather than overtly. The media need to use their power to raise awareness and educate the public about human rights and children’s rights. Individually, the most prominently raised issues related to rights to protection from maltreatment, abuse, neglect or degradation, and the right to family or parental care when removed from the family environment. 9% of the issues raised in the children’s items were issues of abuse. Often reports about child abuse are factual and event-based and do not address the issues around abuse. These reports tend to represent children as statistics, which then tends to perpetuate a discourse of victimhood. Issues surrounding children and gender are infrequently discussed, but gender plays a very important role when reporting on child abuse, particularly when girl children are more frequently represented in abuse stories. 8% of the reports raised the issue that children have the right to protection. This issue is obviously related to the more prominent stories in which children are found: crime, war, conflict and violence, child abuse, and disasters/accidents. This issue was mostly raised implicitly and was usually not elaborated on, even though there seemed to be a great need, given the amount of coverage that these types of news stories receive. Overall, 24% of the top 10 issues referred to children’s rights: children’s rights to protection (8%); provision (6%); participation (4%); protection from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation (3%); and the right to family care or parental care or to appropriate care when removed from the family environment (3%). This suggests that reports need to address these issues by making people more aware of children’s rights and educating people on how these rights can be enforced. The children also commented on this: “I think they must put in more about children’s rights and responsibilities. Parents don’t give children their rights and children need to know about them.”