Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) awards a GLAD[1] to Daily Sun for two of its articles titled, “Sim Tiger is a Champ” (11/06/2019, p.5) and “Watch out, Spain, here comes Kamo!” (18/06/2019, p.3) in which children are accessed and celebrated for their achievements.

The first article, “Sim Tiger is a champ!” (11/06/19, p.5) written by Kgomotso Medupe, tells the story of a young golfer, Simthandile Tshabalala also known as Sim Tiger, who won the US Kids Golf Championship in the United States of America.

The seven-year-old is quoted in the article saying, “I feel like I’m on top of the world. Hooray, I made it thanks to my father, who’s my mentor and caddy.”

The article is accompanied by two photographs of Simthandile where he can be seen holding a South African flag in one and a golf club in another.

The second article for which MMA awards a GLAD is, “Watch out, Spain, here comes Kamo!” (18/06/19, p.3). The story, written by Sibonelo Zwane tells the story of Kamogelo Moatshe, a grade six pupil at Rebonwe Primary School who is a soccer player. The child is reported to have scored a winning penalty and saving two as a goalkeeper to win her school the Danone Nations Cup in the national finals. According to the article, Kamogelo’s team “became the first team of schoolgirls in Mzansi to represent the country at the world finals” to be held in Spain. The article is accompanied by a photograph of Kamogelo holding the trophy with her mother by her side.

The child is accessed in the article and quoted saying, “I was given an opportunity and took the first penalty and scored. I then saved two of the opponents’ penalties to ensure we booked our place in the world finals.”

In both articles, the journalists made the effort of adding the children’s voices and thoughts. This shows that Daily Sun understands the importance of providing an opportunity for children to express themselves on their achievements. Letting children speak in stories about them enriches the stories with their perspective. This good journalism practice is supported by Article 7 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC)[2] which states that “Every child who is capable of communicating his or her own views should be allowed to express his or her opinions freely”.

By promoting children’s views in these positive stories, the journalists, other than adhering to the ACRWC also adhered to MMA’s Editorial Guidelines and Principles for Reporting on Children in the Media[3] which state, “Children have a right to have their views heard on matters that affect them, so try and include them.”

MMA commends Daily Sun for this great coverage of the two children and looks forward to reading more of the publication’s articles in future that report on children in such a manner.

By Nomshado Lubisi

[1] GLADs are awarded to media for reporting on children responsibly and for accessing them

[2] https://www.unicef.org/esaro/African_Charter_articles_in_full.pdf

[3] http://54.217.43.239/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mma_editorial_guideline.pdf