Media practitioners urged to be more child-friendly

Any journalist – whether print, broadcast, or the so-called news media – knows that in reporting news, he has responsibility not only to his readers, but to his subjects, as well.

This is especially true when the subject is a child. In this day and age when controversy and sensationalism have become the selling point of news, there is a pressing need for media practitioners to be more child-friendly.

A two-day seminar entitled "Covering Children in the News" sponsored by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) and UNICEF stressed the role of media in the protection and development of the Filipino child.

The seminar, which ends today, is participated in by media practitioners, campus journalists in private and public secondary schools and their school paper advisers, and members of non-government organizations (NGOs).

In her welcome remarks, AIJC president Florangel Rosario Braid said that children are most vulnerable and that they need the care and protection not only of social welfare but also of the media. "Media can also be guardians of children," she said.

However, Braid lamented, some (members of media) tend to become "violators rather than the protectors of children’s welfare and basic rights" with their treatment of news stories.

Keynote speaker Felipe Gozon, president of GMA Network News, Inc. said that responsible covering of the news includes the moral and social context of safeguarding the future of the children.

It is also interesting to note, Gozon said, the Philippines is one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The CRC sets out what governments and individuals should do to promote and protect the indivisible human rights of all children. It was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly on Nov. 20, 1989.

Feny de los Angeles-Bautista, executive director of the Philippine Children’s Television Foundation, brought forth with participating media practitioners the code of ethics and guidelines on the reportage of children.

"The common principle is to have a basic respect for children," Bautista said. "(Journalists) should be able to balance press freedom with the rights of children to privacy, dignity, etc. whether they are victims or the ones who run in conflict with the law."

But while the media is "getting better" in covering news involving children, especially those involved in delicate issues such as rape, Bautista added that there are still "lapses" that should be addressed.

These lapses usually relate to revealing rape victims’ identities or photographs that show children in a degrading manner, she said.

Bautista said that in addition to the who, and where, the news should also include why crimes against children happen and what society can do about it. "We have a collective responsibility to children," she reiterated.

Dr. Teresa Sutart, UNIFEC communication officer, emphasized that the media, in coordination with the government, NGOs, the academe, religious communities, and the private sector, can ensure the rights of the child, namely: survival, development, protection and participation, or taking an active role in activities in their communities.

Stuart also said that despite the numerous Philippines laws protecting the rights of the Filipino child, latest statistics show that tens of thousands of children are still victims of sexual crimes and family violence, 77,000 children under five die yearly from easily preventable illnesses, one in three children are malnourished, and 832,420 children between the ages of seven to 12 are out of school.