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By Kavita Ratna Children are often said to be the 'future' of the country. The fact is they are citizens today. The media must provide space for children's expressions, needs and rights. It must draw up guidelines for the representation of children to prevent sensationalism, exploitation and invasion of privacy
The mainstream media is fast becoming a full-fledged commercial enterprise -- quite often the mouthpiece of select political parties or fundamentalist groups. As the State, or elite sections of society, own most of the mainstream media, they frequently manipulate it to further their own concerns and ideologies. With the media becoming an industry of sorts, its audience is being morphed into ‘consumers’. And in its attempt to become popular, the media increasingly sensationalises or toes the popular line -- at the cost of its integrity and credibility. In this cacophony, the voices of the marginalised, most of all children, are muffled. In the media, news about children is either ‘cute copy’ or ‘sensational news’. Child victims are routinely written about in gory detail, violating all norms of decency and privacy. Children’s rights are hardly ever talked about, nor are children provided the opportunity to express themselves in the media. There is no dearth of well-formulated international and regional declarations and resolutions (UNESCO website, January 2004, http://www.nordicom.gu.se/unesco.html) on what the media policy should be in relation to children. But these guidelines are usually violated, with the violators going unquestioned because neither the children nor their guardians have the means or the support systems to hold the media and society accountable. Children around the world are denied access to information that has a direct bearing on their lives. Indeed, they are not considered capable of accessing or analysing information, forming opinions, expressing their thoughts, or taking decisions. Although civil society movements have discovered the potential of the alternative media as a tool to reach out to a large number of people, to build public opinion and to gather support for their cause, but this has limited reach. Considering that children constitute almost half the world’s population, their exclusion is a grave injustice.
Lack of respect and recognition of children’s rights is a reflection of how the world views children. And we, the adults, stand guilty. As an organisation committed to advocating children’s rights and ensuring that children realise their rights, The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) has, in consultation with children, evolved a media code of conduct. CWC has been working to empower marginalised children and their communities since 1980. The organisation attempts to ensure children’s participation in decision-making and governance on all matters that concern them. In the course of two decades of work with children, activists at CWC encountered a serious lack of understanding, even indifference to children’s issues in the media. Children often have to deal with violations of privacy and insensitive and sensational coverage of their lives, which further victimises them. CWC began holding discussions with members of Bhima Sangha (a union of, by and for working children in Karnataka, facilitated by The Concerned for Working Children, with a membership of over 13,000) and other children on how they would like the media to be. The children’s views were then discussed with media practitioners and adult organisations and finally put in the form of a Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights, which was released in 2005 at a conference on human rights and the media, in Bangalore. Why a new media code to realise children’s rights? The Indian mass media scenario, in the context of children, presents two sets of images. One is the violation of children’s rights through insensitive reportage and misrepresentation; the other, denial of space for children’s opinions on various issues. There are many forms of violations of children’s rights in some of the widest selling and most popular media fora. - Children’s right to participation is violated.
- Children’s issues are never newsworthy unless they offer scope for sensationalism.
- Children’s rights as ‘users’ and their right to information are violated.
- Children are stereotyped as ‘victims’, ‘vulnerable’, ‘innocent’, ‘charming’ or ‘spoilt’.
- There is lack of children’s programming in the media.
- Children are rarely portrayed as protagonists.
- Children’s opinions do not appear in the media.
- Children are ‘commodified’, treated as objects.
- All children do not have equal access to the media.
- The media displays insensitivity whilst dealing with children.
- Children’s contexts are negated.
- Children’s consent is rarely sought before interviewing or photographing them.
- Children are made to stage or say things that are not part of their reality or history.
- Children’s right to privacy and confidentiality is violated.
- Children’s right to dignified representation is violated.
What did the children say about today’s mass media?Various children’s groups consulted while drawing up the code expressed unhappiness over the pattern of media coverage. They wanted to know why the media ignored them and their opinions and perspectives; why their voices and perspectives were never heard or respected; and why information relevant to them was so sparse. The children also wanted to know why information relevant to them was never presented in ways that they understood. They objected to stereotyping by the media and wanted to know why children’s programmes were never a priority for the media. What do the earlier media codes say about children’s rights?There are a few existing guidelines and codes of conduct for the media that refer to children and seek to regulate their coverage in the media. Here are some highlights: - Emphasis has been laid mainly on the impact of harmful content in the media on children.
- Right to confidentiality is the only right that has been stressed.
- No reference to children’s participation in the media has been made.
- IFJ guidelines for journalists reporting on children only talk of children’s opinions appearing in the media.
- Children are seen as ‘victims’.
- Children are seen as ‘vulnerable’ and in constant need of ‘protection’.
- Right to information has not been covered.
- Right to dignified representation: other facets, apart from sexualised representation, that the existing codes/guidelines mention have not been highlighted.
- Right to protection from misrepresentation has not been covered.
- Right to protection from stereotyping has not been covered. The IFJ introduction to guidelines does recognise this but does not spell it out clearly in the guidelines.
It’s clear, therefore, that there were several gaps in the earlier guidelines, which focus only on children’s right to privacy and confidentiality. Significantly, none of the charters or codes highlight the right of children to be ‘producers’ of media in society. The Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights 2005The media code of conduct was conceptualised as an affirmative protocol, not as a set of prescriptive guidelines. It is intended to be a tool with which children can demand their own space in the media. It hopes to continuously evolve through a process of debate and discussion. Violation of children’s rights by the media, whether through insensitive reportage, misrepresentation or denial of space for children’s opinions on various issues, is the focus of the Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights 2005. The working draft of this code evolved out of the experiences of children’s groups and adult groups working with children. Discussions with members of Bhima Sangha, makkala panchayats and other children’s organisations form the backbone of this document and its structure. A makkala panchayat is a children’s village council, or parallel government of children, set up in Karnataka jointly by Bhima Sangha and The Concerned for Working Children. It is a forum for all children to participate in decision-making and governance at the panchayat level. The working draft also drew on the experiences of international organisations such as Children Now (UK), Save the Children, Children’s Express (UK) and the Unicef Magic Network. Existing media codes, including those specific to children’s rights, significantly those developed by Unicef and IFJ, constituted critical background material. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted in 1989 by the UN, clearly spells out the rights to which children everywhere are entitled. Several of the CRC’s key articles deal with the media and children. It contains four basic principles: - The best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in such decisions.
- Opinions of children should be heard and valued.
- Child development, not just survival, should be ensured.
- Each child should be able to enjoy his/her rights without discrimination.
This convention and the four world summits on media for children have also contributed significantly to the conceptualisation of the media code of conduct. What’s unique about this media code? The Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights 2005 attempts to bring about a paradigm shift in the media’s approach to children -- from that of being recipients of adult benevolence to being viewed as full partners in society. Children are often said to be the ‘future’ of the country. The fact is that children are citizens today and are an integral part of civil society. A media that marginalises children politically hampers civil society participation by not acknowledging its multiple actors and not appreciating its heterogeneity. As contributing members, children have the right to be heard in all fora and debates; they must have a say in defining and determining media in society. Three primary areas were examined whilst evolving the working draft of the media code of conduct: - Children as ‘producers’ of the media.
Themes include children as creators of the media in society; creating spaces for children’s expression and opinions of the realities around them - Children as ‘users’ of the media
Themes include children’s access to the media; right to information; children’s rights over programming of content, right to protection from harmful content - Children as ‘subjects’ of the media
Themes include children as subjects rather than objects of the media; right to protection from misrepresentation and stereotyping; right to privacy, confidentiality and dignity
The code emphasises the need to examine the media and children’s rights in light of their right to expression as ‘citizens’ of this world, and their right to be partners in creating the media. It clearly states that: - Children have the right to produce media for communication among themselves and to the rest of the world.
- Children’s opinions and perspectives must be respected by the media and appear in the media.
- Children must be consulted in the programming of children’s media.
- Children must have a say in deciding how they are represented in the media.
- Children’s issues must be represented the way children perceive them.
- Children’s realities must be presented the way children perceive them.
- All children, irrespective of gender, class, caste, ethnicity, religion and ability must have access to the media as ‘producers’ and as ‘users’.
- Children’s media groups must be recognised and treated as part of the media fraternity.
- Children’s groups must be given space in the media.
- Children’s issues must be given space in the media.
- Opportunities must be available for all children irrespective of their gender, class, caste, ethnicity, religion and ability, to build their capacity to design, produce and disseminate media products.
- Media programming, monitoring and regulation must have a children’s rights perspectiv
How has this code been received? The Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights 2005 has been welcomed by children, their organisations, and national and international organisations engaged with children’s issues because they feel it was urgently needed and extremely useful in helping protect and promote children’s rights. Several journalists from India and other parts of the world have said that their media offices lack such guidelines related to children and have expressed interest in promoting the code within their organisations and through their publications. All India Radio has aired programmes related to the code. In a significant move, the Press Council of India has reviewed the media code and has hailed it as an excellent attempt to draw the attention of the country’s media to children’s rights. It is set to include the code in the Press Council guidelines and to give it wide publicity, in collaboration with the central ministry of broadcast and information. Although the media code evolved in the context of the Indian experience of mass media, and the many issues that emerge with respect to children’s participation, use and representation in the media here, the scope of its application is universal and relevant in all countries of the world. The Media Code to Realise Children’s Rights 2005 was discussed at the Asian Regional Conference on Media and Children held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2006. It will also be studied at the forthcoming International Children and Media Conference in South Africa this year. (Kavita Ratna is Director, Communications, The Concerned for Working Children, Bangalore. For more details of the media code log on to http://www.workingchild.org/) InfoChange News & Features, February 2007
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