Bringing to the public’s attention the rise in bullying in South African schools is necessary and newsworthy. The Citizen’s recognition of this and dedication to a pressing issue affecting children is therefore noble. However, that a story on a topic which in this case impacts almost exclusively children, didn’t include a single child source, amongst other reasons, is what earns this otherwise informative article a MAD. Media Monitoring Africa (MMA)’s ongoing work with media professionals includes motivating journalists to access children in stories, especially those on issues of direct concern to them. Therefore, a story on cyberbullying is one of those stories that should have prompted a journalist to access children’s voices.
The Citizen’s article “Cyber bullying is increasing – study” (24/07/2012, p. 7) relied entirely on a study released by University of South Africa (UNISA)’s Youth Research Unit, which according to the story, included 3,371 pupils from Gauteng high schools. Interviewing pupils of a similar age bracket as those who participated in the study would have strengthened this article and created a bridge between cyberbullying statistics and the real experiences and opinions of school-going children who face the risk of bullying on a daily basis.
The article also made the mistake of not considering the “Why” question. The journalist should have extended the research findings to highlight the motives behind cyberbullying. By asking why cyberbullying occurs, we assume that it would have had far-reaching implications in informing a better understanding of the problem.
MMA’s child monitors were presented with The Citizen’s article and their feedback gave insight into what they thought were some of the causes of bullying. The following were their answers to the question: “Why do children bully other children?”
• Because they are being beaten at home by their parents
• Peer pressure and a (need for) sense of belonging
• Jealousy
• For popularity
• To be seen to be better than others
• To show how strong they are
• To intimidate others
• To get other children to do their homework
• When they don’t like you or because of where you come from (i.e. Hate, racism and xenophobia)
• Fighting over relationships
• For attention
• When a child doesn’t have friends
• For money or food
• Revenge
• Sexual harassment
These are some of the issues that should have been brought to the forefront in order to contextualise cyberbullying. It is in expressing such information that readers can be prompted to swiftly act to mitigate the challenges faced. However, without making available the causes or the roots of the problem, the readers are not empowered to find solutions.
When writing stories on cyberbullying and other issues affecting children, it is important that journalists avoid depriving children of the opportunity to voice their opinions as this act can deny readers important information that can drive them to act and to better understand the problems that children face.