SA newspapers snub children - again

The media watchdog, which publishes the report every six years due to funding challenges, laments that children, children's rights and their issues are afforded very little coverage in the SA newspapers, despite statistics showing that children account for around 37 to 40% of SA's population.

“We need to work harder to raise greater awareness in newsrooms about the importance of reporting on children and children's issues, as well as including a children's perspective in stories,” MMA executive director William Bird told Bizcommunity.com this week, 4 January 2010.

“In addition it means that we need to also work with even more children's organisations to ensure that there is broader political motivation to focus more on children's issues.”

Not ‘fighting a losing battle'

But, in a country where politics and violent crime usually take centre stage in newsrooms and media pages, the situation has stayed the same in the past five years or so, despite children's lobby groups and children's rights activists raising the issue at various conferences.

This has prompted many observers to believe that the MMA and other non-government organisations are ‘fighting a losing battle' - a notion categorically refuted by Bird.

“The fact that the Independent Newspapers Group has adopted MMA's guidelines on reporting on children and SANEF has recommended the guidelines to all its members, it is clearly indicative that our calls are not falling on deaf ears, but are being clearly and positively heard and acted upon by the media we are working with.

“Together with additional funding and new initiatives this year we anticipate even greater change.”

Some media houses, which in the past have stated that they exist primarily to make money but not to act as ‘welfare houses', have been told by the MMA that they are failing to seize a great opportunity to attract younger readers.

Changes are positive

While some deplore the shameful improvement (2.4%), Bird, however, said: “We need to be very clear that the positive shift down from one in 10 stories (i.e. 10%) that clearly violated the rights of the child to just under 3% is very significant.

“Considering the relatively small size of the project in terms of resources, and given that we are challenging some deep set assumptions the changes are positive,” he added.

Furthermore, the report applauded The Times and Saturday Star, which it said have done well in 2009 in terms of reporting on children.

“The Times scored highest in terms of the quantity of stories on children published (15.25%), while The Saturday Star was rated highest according to MMA's Media Rating System which rates media coverage of children,” the report said.

“While a media rating system serves to illustrate the broad areas in which media, compared to their competitors, are doing well or poorly.

“To some degree,” Bird explained, “the problem is a result of offensive stereotypes being held by some in newsrooms, but more often it about the need to refocus or shift the general perspective or agenda in newsrooms to be more in line with SA's democracy and the needs of the people.”

The MMA said another challenge facing children's media coverage is careless and unethical reporting, which it said further violates children's rights.

Experts blame unethical reporting of children on journalists' lack of proper skills and ongoing training.

Visit www.mma.org.za.