The Challenge for Journalists
By Jacqueline Park, Director, IFJ Asia-Pacific Office, Sydney
If journalists are to
help promote and protect children's rights then we need to think in terms of
our jobs. We are not
politicians and we aren't working for NGO's - we are reporters and in doing
the job of reporting the world around us we need to strive for the highest
standards in ethics and professionalism, especially when we report on
children
The way in which a
country deals with issues of child prostitution and the civil rights of
children are a benchmark by which their commitment to human rights and
democracy can be judged. But
respect for childrens' rights is not guaranteed by goodwill alone and
journalists have a key role to play.
Concerned that the rights of children were not getting the journalistic
coverage they should, the International Federation of Journalists,
representing more than 500,000 journalists world-wide, believed that
journalists could not leave the debate about coverage of children issues to
organisations outside of the media.
Over the last decade the IFJ has developed an ambitious program to encourage
journalists everywhere to consider their professional responsibilities in
relation to the rights of children.
The aim is very simple
and direct. It is based on an
understanding of the role of journalists as watchdogs of the rich and
powerful and as defenders of human rights.
The way the media portray children impacts not only on society’s attitude to
children and but may also influence the way adults behave.
Sensational coverage of abuse and exploitation of children does not
tell the full story and, by exploiting a serious problem, can do more harm
than good. While it might catch
the attention of the reader and viewer, we must ask ourselves: Does it
provide useful information and analysis in a way that can contribute to
improving the situation for children?
The critical issue is to
raise awareness among journalists, not only of child rights generally but
also of the consequences of our
reporting. But how do we
raise awareness? To answer this
we need to look at the way we work as journalists.
The IFJ has been working with journalists around the world on ways to
help journalists in this process, including the development of the first
international guidelines for journalists covering children's rights, which
were developed from the experience of journalists from over 50 countries and
endorsed at a world meeting of journalists held in Recife, Brazil, in 1998.
So far over I 00 journalists' organisations from around the world have
committed themselves to the promotion of the IFJ Guidelines.
The guidelines have now been launched with a discussion
handbook to assist journalists to decide how to best address the issues of
child exploitation and child abuse.
The 2002 handbook 'Putting Children in the Right' has a commentary on
the human rights of children and tips on how journalists can protect them.
It is a useful guide for any journalist covering a beat where children
are visible and vulnerable.
In Asia, the IFJ, supported by the European Commission
and partnered with the World Tourism Organisation and ECPAT, is part of a
global campaign against the sexual exploitation of children in tourism.
As part of the campaign, the IFJ works with national unions of journalists
to promote the kind of journalism that will expose the complexity of the
problem of child sex tourism and apply pressure to improve the response of
governments, the tourism industry and the community for the protection of
children
In Cambodia, Laos, India and Sri Lanka, the IFJ has
talked to journalists to understand what they think are the problems with
reporting on the problem of child sex tourism.
In response, they work to raise awareness among journalists of the need
to focus attention on this problem and develop resources and training to
assist journalists as they approach the challenge of reporting on the sexual
exploitation of children.
The training package (available online at
www.ifj-asia.org) takes journalists through the challenging professional
questions that arise when reporting on children and child sex tourism,
including providing space for the opinions of children in the media;
interviewing children; what kind of images are suitable; and how do we
broaden our coverage of issues away from a narrow focus on specific
incidents of abuse. Training courses have already been held in Galle, Sri
Lanka and in Vientiane, Laos with more planned for India, Sri Lanka and
Cambodia.
Guidelines for Reporfing on Issues Involving Children
Excerpt from ‘Putting Children in the Right – Guidelines for Journalists and Media Professionals’. The aim of the guidelines is to raise media awareness of children’s rights issues and to stimulate debate among media professionals about the value of a common approach which will reinforce journalistic standards and contribute to the protections and enhancement of children’s rights.
Journalists and media organizations shall strive to maintain the highest
standards of ethical conduct in reporting children’s affairs and, in
particular, they shall:
Strive for standards of excellence in terms and sensitivity when reporting on issues involving children;
Avoid programming and publication of images which intrude upon the media space of children with information which is damaging to them;
Avoid the use of stereotypes and sensational presentation to promote journalistic material involving children;
Consider carefully the consequences of publication of any material concerning children and shall minimize harm to children;
Guard against visually or otherwise identifying children unless it is demonstrably in the public interest.
Give children, where possible the right of access to media to express their own opinions without inducement of any kind.
Ensure independent verification of information provided by children and take special care to ensure that verification takes place without putting child informants at risk;
Avoid the use of sexualized images of children;
Use fair, open and straight forward methods for obtaining pictures and, where possible, obtain them with the knowledge and consent of children or a responsible adult, guardian or carer;
Verify the credentials of any organization purporting to speak for or to represent the interests of children;
Not make payment to children for material involving the welfare of children or to parents or guardians of children unless it is demonstrably in the interest of the child.
