Introduction

Introduction

Children and community radio

Children and community radio

Children monitor the media

Children monitor the media

Rights sensitive media

Rights sensitive media

 

Children monitor the media

© Media Monitoring Project

Children at a workshop reviewing a newspaper for the way it reports on children.

How children and children’s rights are represented in the South African media through qualitative and quantitative monitoring, forms the focus of this project. The results serve as a baseline study, that enables the review of policies and legislation to address the strengths and weaknesses of the media.  It also further facilitates training and advocacy initiatives for promoting human rights culture. Children were supported through media education workshops in KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces to develop and strengthen their media literacy abilities.  As a result, the children were able to fully participate in the monitoring exercise and develop their own monitoring indicators.

The project addressed themes on:

• Gender and the rights of the girl child

• HIV/AIDS and Child protection

• Children’s rights in the media, and

• Children’s participation
  

Some key findings

• Children are under-represented in the news. They are mentioned in only 6% of all items monitored.
  
• Children are mostly represented in negative stories.
  
• Children occupy the role of victims in just over 25% of stories.
  
• Male and female children are equitably represented but still stereotyped.
  
• When the research and monitoring methodologies are child centred, children themselves are capable of participating meaningfully in the activity.

This project was implemented by the Media Monitoring Project in partnership with UNICEF and Save the Children Sweden.