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Children's Rights and Journalism Practice: a Rights-Based Perspective Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Other resources Centre for Social and Educational Research 2008-04-01 Children’s Rights and Journalism Practice: a Rights-based Perspective Michael Foley Technological University Dublin, [email protected] Noirin Hayes Technological University Dublin, [email protected] Brian O'Neill Technological University Dublin, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cseroth Part of the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Foley, M. Hayes, N. and O’Neill, B. Children’s Rights and Journalism Practice: A Rights-Based Perspective. Technological University Dublin/UNICEF. http://elearning-events.dit.ie/unicef/index.htm This Other is brought to you for free and open access by the Centre for Social and Educational Research at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Other resources by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License Funder: UNICEF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AND JOURNALISM PRACTICE - A RIGHTS-BASED PERSPECTIVE Michael Foley Noirín Hayes Brian O’Neill Syllabus commissioned by UNICEF Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) © UNICEF - Dublin Institute of Technology 2007 ISBN 1 900 454 36 X Children’s Rights and Journalism Practice – Student Guide CONTENTS CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AND JOURNALISM PRACTICE - A RIGHTS-BASED PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................................ 4 Introduction ........................................................................................... 4 UNIT 1: INTRODUCING CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ................................................. 7 1. INTRODUCING THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ................................. 7 Human rights and natural rights ............................................................ 7 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ........................................... 10 Defending rights................................................................................ 11 2. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ....................................................................... 15 Convention on the Rights of the Child................................................... 16 Committee on the Rights of the Child ................................................... 18 3. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS & THE MEDIA...................................................... 21 The Oslo Challenge ............................................................................ 21 Portrayal of children in the media ........................................................ 23 Media exploitation of children .............................................................. 25 Participation of children in the media.................................................... 26 4. BARRIERS TO REALISATION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS ............................ 30 Protecting human rights ..................................................................... 30 Upholding children’s rights.................................................................. 32 Problems in realising children’s rights ................................................... 33 Response to the challenges of children’s rights ...................................... 35 5. MEDIA REPRESENTATION, CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY .................................................................................. 38 Media representation of children .......................................................... 38 Media stereotyping ............................................................................ 41 Violation of children's rights ................................................................ 42 Protecting children............................................................................. 42 Media for a new generation................................................................. 44 Professional responsibility................................................................... 45 Internal regulation............................................................................. 45 6. GOOD PRACTICE IN PRESENTING INFORMATION FROM CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVES ..................................................................................... 51 A World Fit for Children ...................................................................... 51 National plans of action for children ..................................................... 52 Children’s participation....................................................................... 54 Benefits of participation...................................................................... 55 Principles of best practice ................................................................... 56 Getting children’s perspectives: examples............................................. 58 Children's parliaments........................................................................ 59 Barriers to participation...................................................................... 62 UNIT 2: CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM PRACTICE..... 66 1. CODES OF CONDUCT AND EDITORIAL GUIDELINES ............................... 66 Evolution of codes of journalism .......................................................... 67 Press freedom................................................................................... 68 What should a code include? ............................................................... 71 2 | Page Children’s Rights and Journalism Practice – Student Guide Media accountability systems .............................................................. 72 International codes ............................................................................ 73 Codes of conduct in respect of children................................................. 74 IFJ Guidelines for Reporting on Children ............................................... 75 Child Rights Information Network (CRIN): Ethical guidelines for reporting on children............................................................................................ 77 APPENDICES ........................................................................................ 80 BBC editorial principles on children ...................................................... 80 Status of journalists and journalism ethics: IFJ principles ........................ 84 IFJ Declaration of Principles on the Conduct of Journalists ....................... 86 2. CHILD PROTECTION POLICIES ............................................................ 88 Protecting children............................................................................. 88 Child protection in organisations .......................................................... 91 Media child protection policies ............................................................. 92 3. CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW .............................................. 94 Case study: Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ................................ 96 Age of criminal responsibility..............................................................103 Media and children in conflict with the law: protection of identity ............106 Case study 1: UK: Mary Bell...............................................................107 Case study 2: UK: James Bulger killers................................................107 4. GETTING STORIES & SOURCES..........................................................110 The role of the journalist ...................................................................110 Skills needed to report on children’s rights ...........................................112 UNICEF Guidelines for Reporting on Children ........................................114 Questioning the UN convention...........................................................115 Sources for stories............................................................................115 Key terms in dealing with sources.......................................................119 5. INTERVIEWING CHILDREN ................................................................121 Using children in images....................................................................123 UNICEF Guidelines for Interviewing Children ........................................125 After the interview ….........................................................................125 Save The Children – Guidelines for Interviewing Children ......................127 6. CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT.........................................................129 The media and children in armed conflict .............................................134 7. GIVING CHILDREN A VOICE AND CHILD-CENTRED MEDIA .....................140 Involving children .............................................................................142 Benefits of media programmes made with and for children.....................143 Global context..................................................................................145 Challenges and obstacles to children’s meaningful participation in the media ......................................................................................................146 8. BEST PRACTICE IN JOURNALISM CONCERNING CHILDREN ....................149 Examples of best practice ..................................................................151
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