Baseline Study: Children in Bangladesh News Media 1 Acknowledgement: With the support of UNICEF, Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), conducted the “Baseline Study Children in Bangladesh News Media” under the project “Building Capacity of Journalists for Ethical Reporting on Children”. Thanks to Qurratul-Ain- Tahmina, Principal Investigator of the report, Dr. Shahdin Malik, Director, School of Law, BRAC University, Fahmidul Haq, Assistant Professor, Mass Communication and Journalism, Dhaka University and project team members of MRDI and UNICEF staffs for their inputs and support. © UNICEF Bangladesh October 2010 This publication is available on the UNICEF Bangladesh Website: www.unicef.org.bd Permission to reproduce any part of this publication is required. Please contact: UNICEF Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel Annex Building 1, Minto Road, Dhaka 1000 Bangladesh Telephone: 88 02 8852266 E-mail: [email protected] Printing: Website: www.unicef.org.bd Evergreen Printing & Packaging 2 CONTENTS Executive summary 5 Introduction 9 Objective and methodology 11 Parameters of ethics in journalism 17 Key findings of the study 33 Recommendations 76 Annexure 1: Case Study 88 Annexure 2: Print Media Content Analysis Data 91 Annexure 3: Print Media Negative Impact Tables 106 Annexure 4: Electronic Media Content Analysis Data 108 Annexure 5: Questionnaire Survey Data 116 Annexure 6: Code sheets and Questionnaires 121 References 127 3 PROJECT GOAL To assess the extent of adherence to ethics in reporting concerning children and address the gaps and limitations through capacity building and advocacy. PROJECT OBJECTIVES: 1. To identify the gaps in compliance with an ethical standard of reporting on and for children in print and electronic media. 2. To educate and raise the awareness of journalists on the ethics of reporting concerning children. 3. To create an enabling environment in the country’s media houses to practice a high standard of journalistic ethics when reporting on children. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY his baseline study which is aimed at designing a training programme, tries to gauge the ethical standards of news coverage on and for the children in Bangladesh’s media. The study Tbegan on the premise that journalists can play a strong role in ensuring the wellbeing of children and in minimising potential harm to them from news coverage. The study is based on the following research: a review of the literature on ethics in journalism both broadly and with a specific focus on children; analyses of news and editorial contents concerning children in 12 national dailies and three TV channels between June and August, 2009; twin questionnaire surveys aimed at reporters and gatekeepers of national and regional news media across the country; and three Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with media gatekeepers and two groups of children. Key Findings The study finds that the media allotted very little space and time to children. During the three months surveyed, the newspapers analyzed here published 2644 child-related stories, and the TV bulletins aired 127 child-related items. This amounts to only three percent or less of total news coverage by these outlets. Furthermore, the little coverage that did focus on children was deficient in many ways. On a positive note, the media did broadly cover the prominent daily events concerning children and children’s issues. What was lacking was focused, planned, proactive, and in-depth reporting. This kind of reporting is essential for ensuring the welfare of children and securing support for the issues that affect them. Only 13 to 14 percent of the child-related news stories probed issues in an in- depth way. One of the main demands of the children participating in focus group discussions (FDGs) was that news should be covered in such a way as to help children themselves understand issues, for example by providing adequate background information and explanation on the subjects. The media’s neglect of children related issues is most apparent within the editorial of the newspapers sampled here. Less than one percent of all the editorials addressed children. One of the cornerstones of ethics in journalism is to represent all sections of society. Fair coverage of all groups and the issues that are important to them is essential for raising public awareness, stimulating public debate, and addressing injustices. Ethical journalism should therefore prioritize children and pay special attention to their issues. Journalism in Bangladesh is not doing this service to children. Moreover, reports rarely sought the views of children even on issues or events directly concerning them. Another shortcoming of the Bangladeshi media’s coverage of children is the lopsided and narrow range of issues and topics being covered. In newspapers, most child-related stories involved the death of children. On TV, the most-covered topic was education, but the stories overwhelmingly covered seminars, meetings or other such programmes. A good number of children-related stories on TV focused on various announcements by state personnel and dignitaries. 5 Media content analysis shows that important issues relating to children, such as government policies or child-specific vulnerabilities are largely ignored by the media. These absence was more pronounced on TV than in Newspapers. On a positive note, the media prioritised two important rights-based sectors; education and healthcare. However, the coverage of these issues was almost always in conjunction with an event or was given special coverage on a day of international focus on these issues. Another area of concern is that a considerable proportion of news reports disclosed the identities of victims of sexual abuse and of children in conflict with the law. This not only violates journalistic ethics of protection to children in vulnerable situations, it also goes against legal provisions for children. The questionnaire surveys of journalists and editors indicated a lack of comprehensive knowledge on laws for the protection of children. Selected cases studies revealed great insensitivities as well. An analysis of randomly selected newspaper items from a broad range of news exposes the tendency of media to sensationalize and highlight violence in their coverage. Case-studies exposed sensationalism in the tone and delivery of child-related stories and in the images that accompanied them when events or issues provide such scope. Images or photographs showing dead bodies and violence in a good number of reports are a real cause for concern. Such depictions can have seriously negative influences on children; it only takes one such story to do irreversible harm. A considerable proportion of news reports portrayed children as passive victims or as secondary and irrelevant. Reports containing other stereotypical portrayals and discriminatory depictions were not uncommon. Reports were found to be deficient in authenticity and clarity. TV reports seemed to be even weaker on these counts. Gatekeepers and reporters responding to the questionnaire survey demonstrated that they generally understood the ethical parameters in the context of children. However, as responses to questions about practices, and the findings of the content analyses indicate, there are some significant gaps in translating perceptions into practice. The questionnaire surveys highlighted some areas of confusion. A section of the participating reporters and gatekeepers did not perceive clearly the concept of a code of conduct or ethics. The study finds that a code of ethics is nearly non-existent in Bangladesh. The code of conduct for journalists prescribed by the Press Council of Bangladesh does not seem to be comprehensive and is ineffectual. A lack of ethical codes makes ensuring ethical practices all the more difficult. The study finds that sub-editors, copy-editors, and gatekeepers would benefit from training on ethics. The questionnaire survey of reporters also suggested this. The media gatekeepers who partook in the FGD highlighted constraints faced by journalists, such as inadequate resources for in-depth reporting and deadline pressure. Some of them also mentioned competition with other media as a reason for making inappropriate decisions. 6 For Ethical Journalism To improve the ethics of reporting on children and child-related issues, Bangladeshi media should: Create space for children’s voices to be heard and uphold their right to information Increase the volume of coverage and ensure fair coverage of issues involving children as well as issues that are important or of interest to children; ensure fair representation of the diverse realities of children. Increase innovative and in-depth coverage and improve the continuity of coverage as opposed to the present focus on event-based or one-off coverage. The coverage needs to be proactive rather than reactive. Broaden the agenda of news. Take care to avoid showing images of dead bodies or gruesome images, avoid detailed description or depiction of violence and antisocial activities, and sensationalised presentation of events. Take care to protect the identity, safety, security and wellbeing of children covered in the news. Pay special care to those in grief or who are suffering, and to those in difficult situations, including children in conflict with the law. Be more sensitive towards children involved in news events; choose language carefully when writing about children, and avoid adjectives. Take care to avoid creating or provoking discrimination, stereotyping