Children, Violence and the Media in an Expanding Europe
PressWise/IFJ European Pilot Training Project under the EC Daphne Initiative
1. Introductory module (120 minutes)
These culturally non-specific ‘warming-up exercises’ have proved to be useful means of measuring general and technical knowledge about the rights of children and the legal and ethical implications for professional practice, as well as generating lively discussion about where the media fit into the picture. In addition to the target countries these have been tested among journalists in Armenia, Georgia, India, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova and Slovakia.
1.a. The needs of children (15 minute collective exercise)
Each person present to contribute ideas to complete flip-charts about:
- the specific physical, social, and emotional needs of children,
- the physical, social, and emotional needs of adults.
DISCUSSION
How do these differ?
What distinguishes an adult from a child in the achievement of these rights?
COMMENTARY
Note the similarities between the lists – the distinction to be drawn is that as adults we share a responsibility for all the children who are coming up behind us.
As citizens we are their role models and protectors — even if we have no children of our own. Now we are adults. We survived childhood, so we share a responsibility for all the children who are coming up behind us.
As media professionals reflecting the needs of civil society we have a duty to provide them with information and a voice. As media professionals we have additional responsibilities.
The way we represent or portray children in the media has an important influence. It defines people’s attitudes, can change public opinion and affects decision-making about children’s issues.
The way we include children in our media coverage is just as significant as the way we exclude them through censorship or neglect.
Our choice of topic, interpretation of an issue, method of presentation, selection of images and use of words all have a lasting effect.
Too often, journalists take the easy route. We exploit the emotional appeal of children. We portray children’s issues using simplistic words and phrases. Popular myth predominates over the subtleties of reality. What lies behind the cause may not be considered newsworthy. It takes second place to the symptom that makes a good story.
1.b. The Status of Children in Society (45 minute collective exercise)
A collective exercise selecting say 10/15 questions from the list, designed to
- share information about the conditions faced by children,
- generate ideas about the story possibilities that emerge;
- expose gaps in participants’ knowledge and
- share ideas about where the information might be found and how it might be disseminated by the media.
(To be distributed at the end of the exercise , for private or group work)
1. What provision does the state make for ante-natal care?
2. What provision does the state make post-natal care?
3. What are the rules about registration of births?
4. What are the rules about the naming of children?
5. What are the rules about children’s choice of religious belief?
6. What are the rules governing adoption?
7. What are the rules governing foster care?
8. When may adopted children be permitted to know the identity of their birth parents?
9. When may an adopted child be permitted to contact their birth parents?
10. What rules exist to protect children in the event of separation/divorce?
11. What pre-school provision exists for children?
12. What is the starting age for school?
13. How long are children obliged to attend school?
14. Are all children eligible for tertiary education?
15. At what age may a child be charged with a crime?
16. What age groups are covered by juvenile courts?
17. At what age may a child be detained by the courts?
18. At what age may a child appear in adult court as a witness?
19. At what age may a child appear in adult court as a defendant?
20. At what age may a juvenile be sent to an adult prison?
21. When does a child have the right to be represented by a lawyer?
22. What are the rules about corporal punishment of children by their parents/carers?
23. What are the rules about corporal punishment of children by teachers?
24. What are the rules about corporal punishment of children in the justice system?
25. What is the age of consent for heterosexual activity?
26. What is the age of consent for homosexual activity?
27. At what age may a young person smoke?
28. At what age may a young person drink alcohol?
29. At what age may a young person start work?
30. At what age may a young person join a trade union?
31. At what age may a young person vote?
32. At what age may a young person marry?
33. At what age may a young person enter into a legal contract?
34. What rules exist governing working hours for young people?
35. What rules exist governing wages rates for young people?
36. What is the earliest age for recruitment into the armed services?
37. What is the earliest age for compulsory military service?
38. What is the earliest age for ownership of a gun?
39. Whose permission is required to publish photographs of children?
40. What are the rules governing media interviews of children?
41. What are the rules governing identification of children in media stories?
42. What are the rules governing working with children in the media?
1.c. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (30 minutes)
A collective exercise designed to
- share information
- generate story ideas, and
- expose gaps in participants’ knowledge and
1. When was the UNCRC first adopted by the UN?
2. How many countries have signed up to the UNCRC?
3. Which countries have not signed up to the UNCRC?
4. What is required of governments that ratify the UNCRC?
5. When did your government ratify the UNCRC?
6. When did your government last report to
the Committee on the Rights of the Child?
7. Name five key clauses of the UNCRC.
1.d. International Federation of Journalists Draft Guidelines on reporting of children (45 minutes)
Distribute the Guidelines
All journalists and media professionals have a duty to maintain the highest ethical and professional standards and should promote within the industry the widest possible dissemination of information about the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and its implications for the exercise of independent journalism.
Media organisations should regard violation of the rights of children and issues related to children’s safety, privacy, security, their education, health and social welfare and all forms of exploitation as important questions for investigation and public debate. Children have an absolute right to privacy, the only exceptions being those explicitly set out in these guidelines.
Journalistic activity which touches on the lives and welfare of children should always be carried out with appreciation of the vulnerable situation of children.
Journalists and media organisations 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 of accuracy 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 minimise 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 sexualised 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 organisation 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.
Journalists should put to critical examination the reports submitted and the claims made by Governments on implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in their respective countries
Media should not consider and report the conditions of children only as events but should continuously report the process likely to lead or leading to the occurrence of these events.
(Adopted at Recife, Brazil, 2 May 1998)
DISCUSSION
How does this compare with existing codes and laws about media coverage of children?
Do codes exist to help journalists or provide the public with an ethical framework against which to judge the media?
Are these guidelines prescriptive and ‘politically correct’, or are they just common sense?
By complying with them would you break the law or any other professional codes?
How could these be improved, adapted, promoted or applied in local circumstances to facilitate working practices in the different media?
Module 2. Putting children in the picture – use of images (240 minutes)
Introduction
The old saying: “A picture tells 1,000 words” has taken on a new significance as the media becomes increasingly image-driven. Constantly updated television and on-line coverage of world events are now the primary source of news for millions of people across the globe.
Pictures transcend language barriers and are therefore a potent tool. But how do we take and use striking images while at the same time respecting human dignity? How do we resolve this conflict of duty when dealing with children affected by violence?
For journalists working to deadline and other extreme pressures, there are no easy answers. We are not always there when the pictures are taken, but we may be involved in deciding what events to cover, where to send the camera operator, what pictures to take, which ones to select - including why, how and when they get used and for what purpose.
Even if not directly involved in taking pictures, as photographers or video camera operators, most journalists (with the notable exception of radio broadcasters) work with images at some time or another - as television producers or directors, researchers, reporters, picture editors, news and feature editors, sub-editors or production journalists.
Most important, as journalists we write (or speak) the words that go alongside these images and give them meaning.
2.a. Collective exercise (15 minutes)
(Display pictures issued by PA about the ‘rescue’ of Cuban child Elian Gonzalez in the US)
OHPs EG1 & EG2: (Photographer Alan Diaz/AP was already inside the house)
US federal agent snatching six-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez in dawn raid on the home of his Miami relatives.
Which shot came first? Which would you use, and why?
OHP EG3: (Alan Diaz)
Marisleysis Gonzalez, Elian's US cousin who had been acting as 'surrogate mother', distraught as the boy is taken away.
OHP EG4 (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
US official carries the still distressed Elian from the house under armed guard.
OHP EG 5 (AP)
Elian smiling in the arms of his father after they were reunited several hours later at a US air force base.
DISCUSSION
What stories does each separate picture tell?
Which pictures would you use and why?
What children’s rights issues are raised by the photographs and your use of them?
How would the IFJ Guidelines influence your judgement over use of any these pictures?
What justification is there for allowing editorial priorities to over-ride children’s rights?
2.b. Practical exercises (60 minutes)
Participants to form small working groups of 3-4 and adopt the role of senior editorial staff on a national newspaper, newsmagazine, television news or current affairs programme, or on-line news site in the state or independent sector. One person should report back to the larger group on the editorial decisions of the majority, but all members should be prepared to defend them or offer a minority view if they disagree with the majority decision.
2.b.i. (15 minutes)
It is 10.00 hours. You have just received a news flash. A gunman has forced his way into a junior school and killed an unconfirmed number of children and an adult. It happened in a small town 600 kilometres from the capital of your country.
Distribute Worksheet 2.b.i.
What sort of pictures will you be looking for?
How will you get them?
What resources do you need?
Can you foresee any ethical problems?
What children's rights issues arise in a story like this,
and what bearing should they have on editorial decisions?
2.b.ii. Picture selection exercise (20 minutes)
It is 16.00 hours. You now have pictures. Some came from your own staff photographers or camera operators, others from freelances and news agencies. The police have identified the dead gunman and his victims and released photographs of them.
Distribute Worksheet 2.b.ii & pictures
TH/1 Portrait of gunman
HW/1 Class photograph of children
HW/2 Individual portraits of children
GH/1 Pictures of police / parents / relatives
GH/2 General views of scene
DISCUSSION
Which pictures will you use? Why?
Will you crop them? How?
Where will you place them?
How will you present or treat the pictures and in what order?
Did you reject any? Why?
What is missing?
Think of some headline ideas.
What ethical issues are involved in coverage of such a story?
iii. Dunblane - the story (25 minutes)
In March 1996 at just after 09.00 hours a gunman walked into the gymnasium of a junior school in a small town in Scotland. He opened fire on 31 children and three adults, shot dead a teacher and 16 five and six-year-olds and then killed himself.
This is how the UK media handled it.
· Show Dunblane extracts from Decisive Moments - Review of the Year 1996. ( BBC2 29/12/96). Events through the eyes of photographers.