Illustration: Farzana Cooper

1. What Media can do to promote Child Rights By Rita Panickerworkshop on Media & Child Rightsorganized by Kerala state commission for protection of child rights3 December, 2013 Illustration: Farzana Cooper

2. Mark Tully in an interview to Max Martin and Unnikrishnan P. V. on media and disasters said, "Suffering makes a good story". Reportage is dominated by stories of "starving children" in drought-hit areas or the homeless children in cyclone situations. Reports of atrocities dominate the reportage on riots, but reportage on the possibilities to minimise the impact of disasters is virtually non-existent.” What role could the media play to prepare and help people and children in such situations? (MARK TULLY is a media legend in India and, has in his 30 years with the British Broadcasting Corporation - 20 of them as Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi - covered every imaginable disaster, natural and human-made, in South Asia)

3. Media plays a vital role to play in both defending the rights of children and in making children and young people’s experiences and concerns more prominent in wider society. Statistics: • The Indian media is probably the largest journalism industry in the world. As of 2 July 2013, the RNI (Registrar of Newspapers for India) has a registry of 13,598 dailies and 36,662 weeklies. • This is apart from annuals, bi-annuals, five days a weeks, etc. Altogether we might say there are about 70,000 print publications registered in India. There are also close to 800 television channels.

4. journalists can play an important role in helping to bring about change in the way children’s rights are perceived and enforced. We believe you can do this in the following ways: • Through investigating and campaigning on issues yourselves. • Through educating one selves on child protection issues that issues that impinge upon the liberties of a child. • Through giving a balanced view on any issue which is not necessarily based on emotional and political mood of the time. • Through exposing and bearing witness to injustice. • By marking progress in children’s rights and providing positive images of children and young people. • By joining forces with campaign organisations.

5. Mainstream and Vernacular Media & Child Rights • Mass media, whether Mainstream or vernacular, is very powerful since it reaches out to entire communities, state, or country. With this power comes a responsibility of using the medium with utmost care. • There is a need for Right balance between the "public's right to know" and "responsibility of bringing the issue to light" versus "the individuals right to privacy.” • Children and adolescents are most potential subjects of moral panic and public outrage

6. INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF JOURNALISTS (IFJ) GUIDELINES FOR THE MEDIA ● strive for standards of excellence in terms of accuracy and sensitivity when reporting on issues involving children; ● avoid programming and publication of images which intrude upon the media space of children with information which is damaging to them; ● avoid the use of stereotypes and sensational presentation to promote journalistic material involving children; ● consider carefully the consequences of publication of any material concerning children and shall minimise harm to children; ● guard against visually or otherwise identifying children unless it is demonstrably in the public interest; ● give children, where possible, the right of access to media to express their own opinions without inducement of any kind;

7. ● ensure independent verification of information provided by children and take special care to ensure that verification takes place without putting child informants at risk; ● avoid the use of sexualized images of children; ● use fair, open and straightforward methods for obtaining pictures and, where possible, obtain them with the knowledge and consent of children or a responsible adult, guardian or career; ● verify the credentials of any organisation purporting to speak for or to represent the interests of children; ● not make payment to children for material involving the welfare of children or to parents or guardians of children unless it is demonstrably in the interest of the child.

8. Interviewing Children • Prepare the child respondent for the interview and familiarize yourself with the child. • No staging: Do not ask children to tell a story or take an action that is not part of their own history. • Interviews with children should, except in exceptional circumstances, always take place with someone acting in the best interests of the child on hand, to protect the child and to call a halt if necessary. • The interviewer should sit or stand at the same height as the child and not ‘talk down’, either literally or metaphorically.

9. In the case of radio or television interviews it is essential that the child is relaxed and not distracted or overawed by the camera or technology • The child respondent’s consent should be seeked before using a tape recorder or camera during an interview. • An interviewer should adopt a calm, friendly and neutral voice and not react with shock or amazement. • Use open ended questions like what, why, where and how including questions tell me about, tell me what happened afterwards, what happened next and lead the child to respond freely.

10. If interviewing through a translator, care should be taken that the interpreter translates exactly what the child says and does not mediate or summarise answers. • Avoid giving hints on what the child should discuss. Use short sentences and simple words. • Consider the potential consequences of the child’s comments, opinion, interview before Release.

11. Intervention space for media: Actions you can take • Include children and young people in your story in a variety of ways. Don’t interview children and young people simply as victims; include them routinely as witnesses, neighbors, friends, siblings, daughters and sons and as commentators, panelists, reviewers and campaigners. • Internalize that fact that children and young people are not homogenous as adults; this applies to photographs and images as well as the spoken word.

12. The media has a duty not to exploit children for commercial purposes or otherwise. Using sweet or emotive photos of children when the main reason for doing so is to boost sales is one of the more obvious ways in which children could be exploited. • It goes without saying that the media should not publish or broadcast children’s photographs, names, addresses. or anything else that might identify a child without the child’s consent; and from their parent or guardian should also be ensured. Children need to understand what they are consenting to and, wherever possible, should be given the opportunity to say ‘no’ to anything they do not feel happy about.

13. Making more information accessible to children : Children are not simply media consumers; they also make media. Besides quotes and case studies, there are other ways in which children can have their say in the media. Use of user generated content in the media such as letters, photographs and online comments from the general public is one opportunity that could be used by more under- 18s to make them aware that they exist and that their submissions would be welcome.

14. Consider to use legal references – human rights, anti-discrimination law, important judgments and the legal situation in other countries while talking about issues pertaining to children. For example: The Convention on the Rights of the Child covers all aspects of childhood. • Wherever possible, give some control to children and young people over how their views and experiences are represented. Media should recognise that a young person may not be as confident as he or she looks, and not exploit this vulnerability.

15. Media house/organisations should be able to spell out how they put principles into practice in which regard they should formulate code of ethics which spells out specific guidelines on children’s reporting. • Coverage of children rarely features in journalism training because, by and large, journalists deal with adult themes in an adult world for an adult audience. Hence, Journalism Trainings should incorporate child rights and effective media coverage as a subject. Also Skills in Communicating with children, interviewing children.

16. Case study 1: The Case of Bombay Municipal Corporation Schools • In 2012, the Citizen Journalist show highlighted the lack of proper infrastructure and teachers in several schools within the Bombay Municipal Corporation. As a part of their initial investigation, the CNN-IBN team filed an RTI to gather information about the state of the schools. • Challenges in reporting (as reported by MeghaMamgain, Producer, Citizen Journalist Show): For effective storytelling, the journalists needed to interview children about the conditions prevalent in the school. • The interviewees, however, would attend the same school after the interview. Hence to protect them from any backlash from the school authorities, the journalists blurred the face of the child to protect her identity. • Additionally, to put the child at ease during the interview, they worked with CRY who had established connections with the school children. The presence of familiar adult figures soothed the child, and helped them ease the interview process.

17. http://ibnlive.in.com/shows/The-Citizen-Journalist-Show/415463.htmlhttp://ibnlive.in.com/shows/The-Citizen-Journalist-Show/415463.html

18. Case study 2: The Case of the 6-year old Rape Survivor • While covering the protests in the aftermath of the December 16, 2012 rape case, the journalist (from CNN IBN) was approached by the father of the 6-year-old child who had been raped on September 16, 2012 • The crew decided to cover the story, they completed the preliminary investigation by procuring the copies of the FIR lodged, visiting the site of the crime etc. the journalist built a rapport with the child by doing activities such as colouring and crafts with her, they also talked with the parents and the relatives of the child. • Challenges in reporting and solutions: The child was called to the police station repeatedly to identify the rapist from a line-up of adult criminals. The crew did not want to add to the child’s pain. They decided NOT to ask the child about the incident. Instead they filmed the child while colouring and playing, to drive home her innocence and incredible youth. For the details of the incident that they needed for the new story, they interviewed the adults involved i.e. the parents and relatives.

19. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/delhi-6yearold-raped-in-sep-2012-struggles-to-overcome-trauma-accused-still-at-large/316367-20.htmlhttp://ibnlive.in.com/news/delhi-6yearold-raped-in-sep-2012-struggles-to-overcome-trauma-accused-still-at-large/316367-20.html

20. THANK YOU