Children, the UN Convention and the Media
The
Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
Reporting
on Children with Respect
Participation
of Children in the Media
Protection
against Harmful Influences
Conclusions
The following paper is by Thomas Hammarberg, a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Ambassador Hammarberg is responsible for monitoring the compliance of the signatory nations to the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. As a journalist himself, he has a special interest in media rights. He prepared this paper for a general discussion on the subject held in October 1996 in Geneva.
On the eve of this decade the UN General
Assembly adopted the text of a new human rights treaty: the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child. This agreement - defining how
children should and should not be treated - has since had a
remarkable response. At the end of 1996 no fewer than 187 countries
had pledged to enforce its principles and standards and to respect
its reporting procedure. A monitoring committee is elected and has so
far received more than 90 country reports.
This
development in itself should be of some interest to the media. It
affects controversial issues like child labour, child prostitution,
female circumcision, the treatment of refugee children and abuses of
children during war. Indeed, there is also good news: the convention
itself has already proven to be an instrument for positive
change.
The
convention is formally addressed to governments and does not
interfere with independence of the media. Still, it brings an
indirect message to media institutions which goes deeper than
suggesting that its existence and impact be mentioned. As with human
rights in general, the press and other media have essential
f-unctions in promoting and protecting rights of the
individual:
1)To
Monitor Abuses - and Progress.
It is hoped that violations of children's rights be reported in the
media. Such scrutiny would probably be more effective than the
international procedure prescribed by the convention which requires
the government itself to report to the monitoring committee on steps
for implementation. However, the media could also draw from the
official documentation in their reporting. The convention could be
seen as the yardstick against which reality could be measured.
2)To
Respect the Integrity of the Child.
One of the important aspects of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child is that it presents a truly modern attitude towards children
themselves. It recognizes the vulnerability of children in certain
circumstances but also their capacity and strength for development. A
major emphasis in the convention is that each child is unique. All
this can be undermined through negative stereotyping. Likewise, the
media should be careful not to violate the integrity of individual
children in their reporting on, for instance, crime and sexual abuse.
The convention specifically protects the individual child from
violations of his or her privacy, honour and reputation.
3)To
Allow Children to Participate in the Media.
One of the principles of the convention is that the views
of children be heard and given due respect. This is also reflected in
articles about freedom of expression, thought, conscience and
religion. It is in the spirit of these provisions that children
should not only be able to consume information material but also to
participate themselves 'm the media. The idea is that children, in
fact, should be able to express themselves and that their views be
sought.
4)To
Protect Children against Harmful Influences through the Media.
While the convention requests access for children to the media, it
also reflects concern about the risk of children being harmed by some
reports and information material. The idea is that the integrity of
the child should be respected in the reporting. Another article says
that the state should encourage guidelines to protect children at
large from injurious media output, for instance certain violent and
pornographic materials.
The Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
There has been very little publicity
about the work of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the
body which monitors the implementation of the UN Convention. Almost
all of the country discussions have passed unnoticed. The clearest
exception was the observations made by the committee on the United
Kingdom; they hit the first page in the national press. This is not
unique for the Geneva-based discussions in the international treaty
bodies on human rights. The working styles of these committees are
not at all media oriented and the UN Human Rights Centre is inept in
its media relations. At the same time the foreign press corps is
generally negative, perhaps frustrated by all attempts to use them as
megaphones. Moreover, it is dear that Geneva is not a major priority
when media organizations assign correspondents. A change can probably
only come through another approach by the UN system itself; some
lessons could perhaps be learnt from the more professional style of
UNICEF. However, it is even more important that the media cover child
rights issues at the national scene. There are still countries where
the convention almost never is mentioned in the media, even when such
reference would be highly relevant. Countries with active
non-governmental child rights groups and/or children's ombudsmen tend
on the other hand to have a considerable amount of rights-oriented
reporting on children - whatever is the cause and effect. Even in
such countries, however, the quality of media reports on children is
sometimes wanting. One problem is that the convention is used in an
ignorant manner. Not seldom are its provisions overstated, for
instance when it is implied that the convention gives all
asylum-seekers who are children the right to stay. Another phenomena
- typical also for some reports by UNICEF or Save the Children is
that the political problems behind are not touched. The reporting
tends to be limited to long lists of sufferings, which in isolation
give little understanding of -the root causes. Children's rights is
to a large a political matter and ought to be covered as such. In
some countries the media may avoid this political dimension for
reasons of pure self-defense. However, that is probably not the
explanation in general. A tradition has developed - partly spurred by
the fund-raising organizations - in which problems relating to
children are seen as sentimental rather than political. This is a
challenge for institutions and individuals working for the rights of
the child. Hopefully, media organizations will one day educate their
staff on the idea of the rights of the child, including on the
implication of the UN Convention. Another wish is that they develop a systematic cover age on the status of children in the
community. They should not be content with child-related reports only
on pages or in programmes for children, but treat them as elements in
the overall political reporting. Such coverage deserves priority,
also through the appointment of competent reporters for that
task.
The
Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
Reporting
on Children with Respect
Participation
of Children in the Media
Protection
against Harmful Influences
Conclusions
Reporting on Children with Respect
The press and other media do always
express directly or indirectly - a position towards children and
their rights. Their attitude is, in fact, reflected precisely in the
way they describe children and monitor their rights, the extent to
which - and how they let children have a voice and the steps they
take to avoid to abuse children they themselves. The performance of
the media on these aspects also portray an image of the child in
general which in turn affects people's opinions and thereby political
decision making.
How Is the Child Portrayed?
There are few international com
parative studies on the media image of children. Discussions on this
problem have primarily been held on the national level. Still, it
seems possible to define certain broader trends at least in order to
specify topics for future research. There is of course a difference
between types of media. Within the press, the tabloids are distinct
from other newspapers and there are differences between various kinds
of magazines and periodicals; among them there are those which
address parents of children or are aimed at children themselves. One
clear impression when analyzing the media in general, and the daily
newspapers in particular, is that children are described from a
distance. This seems to be a pattern in a number of
countries, also outside the industrialized north. When children are
the focus, they come across as objects and somehow unreal. They
appear to be weak - at least before their teens - and not in any
sense strong and capable.
The
tabloid papers in a number of countries tend to publish quite a lot
about child-related problems, often in intervals. For instance,
during a two-week period in August 1995, Aftonbladet and
Expressen, the two mass circulation tabloids in Stockholm,
had child-related reports repeatedly as top stories on the first
page. The stories were about a baby bitten by a rat; a six-year old
killed by a dog; an eight-year old being kidnapped; three children
ill- treated by a father who was a religious fanatic and about how
former Prime Minister Carl Bildt longed for his children when he
traveled.'
This is
of course a tabloid picture of the world, deliberately focusing on
the absurd, emotional or otherwise exceptional news. Still, the image
of the child which emerges from these reports is typical for many
other media organs in one respect: the child featured as a victim.
This
stereotype of the child as innocent, vulnerable and constantly
threatened by a dangerous environment is a cultural phenomena; the
media both reflects and perpetuates it ' This very image has not been
missed on the advertising companies - the cuteness of innocence could
be an effective marketing argument.
The "African Child"
The
child-victim image is even more pronounced in foreign reporting, The
"Biafran babies" in the late sixties have been followed by shocking
pictures of starving children in Ethiopia, Somalia, the Sudan and
Zaire. As famines and other disasters dominated reports from Africa
for long periods - between periods of silence - the image of the
African child became thoroughly distorted. The healthy, playful and
active majority of individual African boys and girls were almost
never presented. This, of course, was criticized not least by many
African commentators and improvements have indeed been made. The wide
international interest in post-apartheid South Africa has contributed
to a more multi-dimensional reporting on Africa in general.
However,
the stereotype of the child-victim abroad is still alive in
industrialized countries. Fund-raising charity organizations have
exploited and reinforced this image in their ads. Naturally, they
stress the need and the misery to mobilize support. However, the
interplay between them and the media - some newspapers nowadays do
their own fund raising has an unfortunate side-effect: the image that
children "down there" are lost if "we" do not save them. Their
survival depends on our airlifts, our convoys of food, medicine and
blankets. Local efforts are of little significance.
The
purpose is understandable: to raise more funds. In fact, the
description of the dependency may even be correct in some instances.
Yet, the cumulative effect of such repeated reports gives a distorted
world view.
During
the years I worked for one of these humanitarian organizations -
Swedish Save the Children (Radda Barnen) - I was often struck by two
reactions from the broader public, both of them obviously influenced
by such repeated messages. One was an exaggerated perception of the
scale of the misery and the notion that "it only gets worse.' The
other one was that it was a duty to give even if there
was no hope.
The
remarkable progress made globally in the combat against child
mortality seemed not to be known, neither did the advances in primary
schooling. This ignorance is the more striking as the problems as
such have got wide publicity in the first place, especially during
emergencies. The media have reason to be self-critical on this point
and the humanitarian agencies, on their side, ought to consider
whether it will be wise in the long run to build fund raising only on
guilt feelings.
The Nasty Youth
It
is not as easy to describe older children, in particular teenagers,
as innocent. Though they, as well, tend to be distant and unreal in
the media, their portrayal is dearly much more mixed than the one of
the little victim-child.
Problems
among youth are not seldom reported with an undercurrent of confusion
or even disappointment - as if they primarily pointed at failures of
the parent generation. The German magazine Der Spiegel, for instance, carried a cover feature in 1995 about teenage
suicides, young people who wanted to die. Though serious in approach,
the report in fact made the young ones inexplicable; the mystery of
their reactions seemed to be the heart of the story.
The
terrible James Bulger case in the United Kingdom a couple of years
ago, when two 10-year-old boys brutally murdered a toddler, lead to
an understandable outbreak of strong emotions in the media and
outside. Some of the reaction, however, was channeled in pure hatred
against the 10-year-olds, the atmosphere was dose to lynching. Very
little attention was given to the fundamental question of what had
made the boys so distorted that they could commit that outrageous
act: from what homes did they come?
It
seemed that the two child-murderers got more hostile publicity than
adults would have got for the same crime. This probably influenced
the punishments which became very harsh. Also in the United States,
where a child is killed by gunshot every two hours, the Bulger case
was a first page story day after day. A picture from a security
camera was published showing the two boys walking away with the
little child; that very image appeared as a symbol of smashed
illusions.
The
child as perpetrator probably causes more vibrations
because of the widespread child-victim image; the contrast between
the two is upsetting. Child criminality therefore tends to be an
emotional issue and newsworthy, for instance, gang assaults against
other minors.
The
more important that the media handle such problems with some care.
Sadly, however, there have been extreme cases where media
representatives have taken the lead in hate campaigns against groups
of children, almost always poor and abandoned minors in the margin of
the society. Media -with an unfortunate term usually label them all
as ",'street children." There was, some years ago, a radio station in
Sao Paulo which incited policemen and others to "cleanse" the streets
from these children, in other words: to kill them.
Children in Crisis
The
coverage of the stone-throwing boys in the West Bank and Gaza during
the intifada uprising, which started in late 1987,
raised other problems. It was, at best, confused; the boys were
sometimes portrayed as heroes, sometimes as untamed trouble-makers.
Again, the contrast to the innocent-child image was stirring. The
fact that the Palestinian boys - sometimes also girls - on occasion
confronted very young Israeli soldiers and that both parties tried to
manipulate the international media, complicated reporting even
more.
The
theme of boy soldiers was taken up in July 1995 by Newsweek with the
first page heading: "Boy Soldiers: A New and Ruthless Breed of
Warrior." The 10-page story gave available facts about the
recruitment of young boys to armies and militias in a number of
recent conflicts. The salt of the story, and perhaps the reason why
it was featured, was the fact that boy soldiers sometimes had been
exceptionally cruel. To the credit of Newsweek, there
was an attempt to put also that finding into a wider context thereby
explaining how the boys could be both perpetrators and victims at the
same time.-'
During
the genocidal massacres in Rwanda last year, when more than five
hundred thousand children, women and men were brutally butchered,
there were also children among the killers; in some cases they were
very young. They were discovered by foreign journalists in prison
afterwards. How should these boys and their participation be
described? Silence is of course not the answer, neither are
sensational reports dehumanizing and demonizing them. Well-researched
backgrounds are needed in order to explain what really happened; and
for such reporting the voice of the child himself is important.
Some
reports on child prostitution have reflected similar dilemmas. It is
not easy to see the real child in that vulgar environment in which
girls and also boys sometimes are seen to be active. The heavily
made-up car-girl in the brothel is a far cry from our image of the
innocent child, even when we are told about how she was forced into
the humiliation.
The
tendency of the media to go for the exceptional stories can give the
impression of the outside world as a theatre of absurdities. The
actors on that scene become distant and unreal, perhaps even
threatening. Today's news reports cry out for supplementary
journalism giving backgrounds and contextual information, even
analysis.
Respecting the Integrity of the
Child
There
are of course other types of stereotyping around children in the
media apart from those mentioned here; one indeed relates to gender
bias. They all tend to distort reality and dehumanize the individual
child.
Perhaps
this is why it has been possible for some papers and radio-TV
programmes to violate the integrity of a child. The right not to have
one's name mentioned in connection with reports on crime or sexual
abuse is not always respected. Too seldom is the identity of a child
covered on photos from such situations, even when the adults are
given that privilege.
This is
in contradiction with the spirit of Article 16 of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child:
1.No
child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with
his or her privacy, family,
home,
or correspondence, nor to lawful attacks on his or her honour and
reputation.
2.The
child has the right to the protection of the law against such
interference or attacks.
The
Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
Reporting
on Children with Respect
Participation
of Children in the Media
Protection
against Harmful Influences
Conclusions
Participation
of Children in the Media
Children
are sometimes given a voice in the media when, for instance, school
problems are covered. But most other issues seem to be reserved for
adults. Even when news reporters talk with ordinary people in the
street about current events, they seldom turn to children. From a
journalistic point of view this appears to be a missed opportunity;
children do belong to society and their views are relevant.
Though
governments cannot orchestrate media on such aspects, they have in
fact - after the ratification of the UN Convention - some
responsibility in this area. The first paragraph of Article 12
reads:
States
Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or
her own views the right to express
those
views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the
child being given due weight in accordance
with
the age and maturity of the child.
This
very article has been defined by the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child as one of the principles of the convention.
However, there are some other articles which also underpin this
dimension of the convention. One is
Article 13, the first part of which says:
The
child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall
include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of
all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in
print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's
choice. Key provisions in relation to media are outlined in Article
17, which starts as follows:
States
Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media
and shall ensure that the child has access to information and
material from a diversity of national and international sources,
especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social,
spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health. To
this end, States Parties shall:
(a)Encourage
the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and
cultural benefit to the child and in accordance with the spirit of
Article 29;
(b)Encourage
international co-operation in the production, exchange and
dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of
cultural, national and international sources;
(c)Encourage
the production and dissemination of children's books;
(d)Encourage
the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of
the child who belongs to a minority group or who is
indigenous;
There
are two major tendencies in these articles. One is about freedom of
expression and access to the media, the other one is
treating the media as an educational tool. Though dearly
distinct, the two aspects inter-relate.
Implementation
of the Right to Access to the Media
Even
if the media are largely run privately in a country, the authorities
could undertake some supportive measures, for instance through
financial incentives, in order to guarantee a supply of children's
literature and rogrammes. This may especially be the case for the
production and dissemination of information material in minority
languages.
However,
the country reports so far received by the monitoring UN Committee on
the Rights of the Child show a mixed picture of implementation.
Several reports in fact mention nothing or almost nothing about any
of the aspects of Article 17, including about access to the media. So
was the case with reports from, for instance, Indonesia, Pakistan,
Ukraine, Jamaica, Argentina and Paraguay. Cyprus and Chile only made
brief references to their constitutions. The impression left is that
there is no deliberate policy or government plan in relation to
children and the media.
Other
reports have been more precise. Many of them are detailed on measures
taken to encourage dissemination of child-oriented materials through
the press, radio and television, video recordings and 'books. On this
point there are, not surprisingly, differences between the countries
based on available resources.
The
report from Nepal states:
In the
rural areas, children do not have access to the above resources
(child literature and broadcasts) due to transportation and
communication problems... There is also little diversity in the
materials available for children, whether they be on TV, radio or in
newspapers. The ability to gain something from the media is largely
determined by the educational status and literacy levels of
children.
The reports from Yemen and Honduras flag similar constraints and such concerns are also voiced by some of the countries in transition. In Mongolia the production of child literature has declined sharply due to financial problems.
Russia is another example:
Textbook
publishing is ... facing an acute financial crisis. Production costs
have recently increased on average by a factor of 10, making
textbooks significantly less affordable. ... The acute shortage of
children's literature reduces children's interest in learning their
native tongues ...
Vietnam:
Shortages
of funds have prevented satisfactory expansion in the diversity of
children's material available to them in the mass media. The number
of children's television programmes broadcast has fallen over the
last two years, and a large number of local libraries have had to
dose, unable to pay for new books and periodicals.
Both
Russia and Vietnam made clear that they could not meet the standards
of providing literature in minority languages due to these economic
problems. Spain, on the other hand, presented an impressive list of
data banks made available for young people.
Two
tendencies emerge from the country reports: 1) that fairly little is
done to make it possible for children to participate actively in the media and 2) that economic restraints in a
number of countries also hinder children from media consumption.
On
participation the media have themselves in some states
initiated a co-operation with schools in order to develop a dialogue
with children. One such global project, "Newspaper in Education," was
launched in 1995 by the International Federation of Newspaper
Publishers (FIEJ) with the support of UNESCO and UNICEF.
Another
approach is to give children and youth more access to the production
of information and media material. The few experiments made in that
direction have been encouraging; positive models of child television
have been established, for instance, in Guatemala and El
Salvador.
-On
access to media and child literature there seems to be a broad
awareness of its importance, though minority children are in some
cases not given sufficient priority. This also goes for deaf and
blind children who need to be ensured information material in
appropriate forms and translations.
This
particular area seems to be an important one for international
co-operation - in the form of economic assistance but also exchange
of ideas and experiences. The latter is especially important in view
of the great gap in the quality of information material between poor
countries and those with higher technological standard.
Implementation of "Positive
Alternatives"
The emphasis in Article 17 on information "of social and
cultural benefit to the child" relates both to the general ambition
to allow children to be educated about positive values like tolerance
and gender equity (these values are elaborated in Art. 29 of the
convention) and to the need to counter the negative influences of
some aspects of media supply.
Comparatively
little has been mentioned in the country reports on this provision.
In the Philippines a private group, the Philippine Board of Books for
Young People, is "propagating love of reading books" among children
in activities similar to the remarkable reading campaign organized by
the Tamer Institute in the West Bank and Gaza.
In
Mexico the General Law on Radio and Television stipulates that
programmes for children should stimulate creativity, family
integration and human solidarity. Further, they should promote
understanding of national values and knowledge of the international
community.
Similar
legislation is in place in several European countries. In Sweden the
Broadcasting Act instructs the programme companies to assert basic
ideas of democracy, universal human equality, liberty and dignity of
the individual.
The
effectiveness of this general approach can, however, be questioned.
In fact, it seems that the liberal societies have had difficulties to
find means of asserting these good values without falling into the
trap of formulating state opinions on ideological and political
matters. More authoritarian states do not have that problem, though
their rhetoric - even when expressing positive values - are not
always taken seriously.
The
Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
Reporting
on Children with Respect
Participation
of Children in the Media
Protection
against Harmful Influences
Conclusions
Protection against Harmful Influences
Only one or two generations ago, very
few children had ever seen images of someone being shot, knifed,
blown up or raped in front of their bare eyes. Today most children
see such violence on the screen every day, often in gruesome detail.
It has been estimated that an average American child now reaching the
age of 18 has witnessed some 18,000 simulated murders on
television.
The
impact of this mass consumption of violent images is still a matter
of controversy. There have been individual cases of violent crime
apparently inspired by particular films. However, no consensus has
been established as to the broader and more precise influence of
media violence on child viewers; research findings so far have been
contradictory.
This
should come as no surprise. Research on this topic is genuinely
complicated. It has to incorporate broader social and cultural
factors, including the role of parents or other guardians. The
response to the media violence in the community at large also affects
the child. The existence of alternative activities and their
character is another important aspect. Needless to say, further
research is called for on these topics, including on the indirect and
long- range impact on a generation growing up in a society affected
by this type of ever present media culture. Studies of this kind are
the more important as, no doubt, there are powerful economic
interests at play in this discussion.
Article
17 of the convention does not only request child access to the media
and the use of the media for value education, it also has a clause
about the protection of children against harmful influences. The last
part of the article reads:
(e)Encourage
the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the
child from and material injurious to his or her well-being, bearing
in mind the provisions of Articles 13 and 18.
This
aspect was originally at the core of what in the end became Article
17. The first proposed wording in a Polish draft read:
Parents,
guardians, state organs and social', organizations shall protect the
child against any harmful influence that the mass media, and in
particular the radio, film, television, printed materials and
exhibitions, on account of their contents, may exert on his mental
and moral development.
The
differences between this first proposal and the text of Article 17 in
its totality do indeed reflect the ideological discussions during the
drafting. The Polish wording was seen by several government
delegations as too negative towards the media in general; some of
them seemed to smell an attitude of censorship. "Western" delegates,
in particular, argued for formulation s ensuring a free flow of
information and that children should be able to take advantage of the
diversity of facts and opinions in the media. They also wanted an
implicit acknowledgment of the fact that some media were run
privately, rather than by the state. In that spirit, the protection
should be achieved through the encouragement of appropriate
guidelines for media conduct.
It is
not clear from the wording whose responsibility it is to develop
guidelines, only that the state should be encouraging. However, one
possibility is that the producers themselves or bodies representing
them develop such standards. Another option would be that
independent, special structures were created for this purpose. As on
several other points, the vagueness of the convention in this -regard
can be seen as an invitation to a discussion on objectives rather than offering a prescription of precise methods of
implementation.
The
very nature of the guidelines is also unclear, except for their
purpose to protect children. Some indications are given through the
references made at the end of the article to other parts of the
convention. One of them (Art. 13) - quoted above - defines the
freedom of the child to seek, receive and impart information.
Restrictions, if necessary, should be defined by law and only be
justified by the respect of the rights or reputations of others or
for the protection of national security or of public order (ordre
public), or of public health or morals." The implication seems to be
that such restrictions could be included in the "appropriate
guidelines." However, their dearly limited nature seems to indicate
that, in general, other means than censorship should be tested.
The
other reference. (Art. 18) is about the role of the parents or the
legal guardians. They have "'the primary responsibility for the
upbringing and development of the child." The state shall assist them
in their child-rearing responsibilities. This wording is a reflection
of the overall attitude in the convention on the triangular
relationship between the child, the guardians and the state: the
parents or other guardians are of key importance to child, the state
should support them and only in exceptional cases - in the best
interests of the child - take positions on how individual children
should be reared.
In this
context the implication is that the guardians have a direct
responsibility in protecting the child against harmful media
influences and should be supported in this task. The UN Committee on
the Rights of the Child has repeatedly expressed concern about the
possible negative impact of media violence. To encourage meaningful
"appropriate guidelines" the authorities need to develop a body of
knowledge on patterns of viewing, listening and reading; on what is
transmitted; on possible impact on various receivers, in various
situations and of various materials; on means of effectively
restricting injurious transmissions. In other words: the committee
recommends a comprehensive policy as a basis for the development of
guidelines.
Implementation of the
Protection Clause
The state reports submitted so far reflect a stark divide
between the industrialized liberal countries and other states on the
degree of awareness and on measures taken in relation to harmful
impact of media violence. The impression given is that several
governments in the South had not had reasons to tackle this problem
yet - or had little capacity for it. Vietnam is one of the countries
which seem to consider an action for control:
Another
worrying tendency is the increasingly common appearance in the press
of items dealing with sex and violence, the justification for this
being apparently that items of this sort attract more readers, an
important consideration in the market-oriented economic conditions of
Viet Nam. These items are not suitable for children, but their
appearance and children's access to them are difficult to
control.
Several
countries mention that they have a system of censorship to "protect
the child's development and psychological balance" (Burkina Faso) or
to ensure that information material "are not harmful to them"
(Senegal). The more concrete operations of these systems - and their
effectiveness - are not explained in any detail. The reports
submitted from the countries in eastern and central Europe also
indicate that a more comprehensive policy in this field is
lacking.
The
reports from Canada and western European countries are, however,
detailed and seem to be based on thorough national discussions over
some years. Several approaches are tried simultaneously. All of these
countries seem to have legislation against certain serious abuses;
one example is the report from Germany where "certain representations
of violence ... and pornographic materials" are prohibited in the
criminal law.
Advertising
is restricted. In Spain, for instance, the General Act on Advertising
bans publicity which is detrimental to values and rights laid down in
the constitution. Special rules regulate marketing of certain
products (e.g. tobacco and beverages) or activities (e.g. betting and
games of chance) in order to protect children.
Another
common approach is to regulate the timing for the broadcasting of ads
and other material. The idea is that programmes which could be
harmful for children be broadcast late in the evenings (when children
are supposed to be in bed). This could be stipulated through law,
special instructions or voluntary agreements by the media
themselves.
In
France an independent authority, the Audiovisual Media Board, has
been set up to ensure the protection of children in the planning of
broadcasts. It has issued guidelines for the television channels and
initiated proceedings against violations of them. In the United
Kingdom the BBC, the Independent Television Commission and the Radio
Authority have all established guidelines for the protection of
children against material which could harm their mental, moral or
physical development:
Guidelines
on children's programmes cover the areas of violence, language and
general taste and decency. These guidelines take into account the
context of the action and the danger of imitative behaviour by
children. In the area of news and factual programmes there is a
particular awareness of a child's vulnerability and suggestibility.
Broadcasters must also be aware of the dangers to children of
programmes which include psychic or occult practices, smoking,
drinking alcohol and drug taking.
Furthermore,
there is in Britain a special council established in accordance with
the 1990 Broadcasting Act which in its Code of Practice emphasizes
the protection of children against unsuitable material on
television.
The
Canadian report says that considerable progress has been made in
addressing the problem of violence in the media. This after a
14-year-old girl - whose sister had been robbed, raped and brutally
killed - had organized a successful petition campaign for legislation
eliminating violence on television:
In
1993, the Action Group on Violence in Television, which includes
broadcasters, cable distributors, pay television and specialty
programming services, advertisers and producers, announced a General
Statement of Principles to be adhered to by all industry sectors as
they strengthen their codes on television violence. The Canadian
Association of Broadcasters was the first to have their revised code
accepted by the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications
Commission.
In
countries where there is one strong national broadcasting corporation
it may be easier to establish a link between political intention and
actual programme policy. The YLE Broadcasting Company in Finland is
one example; it has a deliberate policy of avoiding certain violent
programmes, gives dear warnings in advance of broadcasting some
material and also conducts research studies about their impact.
Several
reports refer to the system of age classification for the cinema. One
example is Denmark:
All
films to be shown in public are - under the Act of Censorship of
Films - to be reviewed and evaluated in relation to an audience of
children and young persons. At the moment there are two age limits as
to prohibition, i.e. 12 years and 16 years, and in addition to this
an age limit of 7 years is intended as a guide.
In some
countries these limits also depend on whether the child goes with an
adult or is unaccompanied. A particular problem has been how to cope
with the expanding film market. This is illustrated through another
quote from the Danish report:
A
revision of the censorship of films is being considered, one of the
reasons being the ever-increasing supply of films on TV and the video
market which are not covered by the Act on Censorship in force.
In
Finland commercial videos are subject to the same censorship
procedures as cinema films. In France the approach is similar:
...
video cassettes offered for rental or sale must indicate on their
packaging any prohibitions linked to the issue of the certificate of
release for the work.
Voluntary
guidelines for the press do exist in several countries; in several
cases their implementation is monitored by a Press Council which is
set up, wholly or partly, by the press institutions themselves.
These, however, tend to focus more on the protection of children
being reported upon, than on problems related to the publishing of
material harmful to young readers.
The
most comprehensive overall approach seems to have been taken by
Norway - after the submission of their report to the UN Committee on
the Rights of the Child. In March 1995 the government issued a
national plan of action against violence in the visual media. This
was a joint initiative by the ministries of culture and justice -
with the co-operation of two other ministries: the Ministry for Child
and Family Affairs and the Ministry for Church Affairs, Education and
Research. The plan says that even if only a small minority of young
people are influenced by violent media consumption the consequences
could still be serious. It also concludes that social and cultural
poverty increases the risks and it emphasizes the preventive efforts,
not least within the school.
The
Norwegian plan proposes some legal precisions to include also, for
instance, video games. Its emphasis though is on assisting children
and parents to make informed choices. The plan seeks to mobilize
viewers and consumers to use their power and express opinions about
the supply. Another ambition with the plan is that those who transmit
extreme violence on the screen be held responsible. Another major
aspect, again, is that networks and alliances be built to develop
knowledge and reactions against media violence.
A
special secretariat has been established to monitor the
implementation of the Norwegian plan; a coordinating committee
between the ministries has also been set up as well as an advisory
council of experts. There will be annual reports to the
parliament.
The
Norwegian approach seems to be unusually thorough and conscientious.
However, the impression of the country reports from the
industrialized countries, in general, is one of awareness and deep
concern. The guidelines for television, including on broadcasting
hours, which exist in a number of countries, may not always be
respected and, moreover, seem not to stem the high volume of violence hour after hour. A particular problem is the news reporting which sometimes is illustrated with
violent images, the impact of which may be even stronger than abusive
fictions.
The
exploding market of videos for sale or rental have created new
problems in making a distinction between child and adult consumption.
Classified descriptions of the content on the package, which offer a
kind of violence rating, can be of some help to parents but probably
do not protect all children in real life. Computer games of a violent
nature raise similar problems.
The
Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
Reporting
on Children with Respect
Participation
of Children in the Media
Protection
against Harmful Influences
Conclusions
- The
media could choose to play an important role in monitoring the status of children and the efforts by the
authorities to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child. An effective reporting of such kind would require knowledge
about the convention and its functioning, a systematic approach
and competent reporters.
- The media could also analyze its own performance in the light of the principles and standards of the convention. Corrective measures need to be taken to ensure that the integrity of individual children be respected, for instance in the media reports on abuse or crime. Intervention against the honour and reputation of the child shall not be accepted; the convention recommends legal support for the protection against that form of abuse.
- The image of the child in the media should be discussed and stereotyping criticized. A self-critical appraisal by media organizations themselves would be helpful as a platform for such discussion.
- Further efforts towards opening the media for children and their participation should be encouraged. Special newspaper pages or radio-TV programmes for and with children are important. The schools could play a role in creating a dialogue between children and the media, for instance, within the framework of the "Newspaper in Education" project.
- The authorities should actively support efforts to ensure production of information material for children, including child literature. It is important that there exists such basic information in languages used by the children. Supplementary efforts are likewise needed to open media for children with disabilities.
- The authorities also have a special responsibility for the dissemination of information material "of social and cultural benefit to the child." Children have the right to be acquainted with positive values of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin." This might be achieved through subsidizing existing media or via supplementary action.
- Governments need to develop a comprehensive policy on how to protect children from harmful influences of media - both through supporting 'positive" alternatives and finding effective ways of limiting the 'negative" aspects. Some countries have already developed a variety of approaches in this field in what appears to be a deliberate policy. The government of Norway has developed a comprehensive plan of action which could serve as a model for other countries.
- Guidelines are needed for how the "best interests of the child" should be protected in a competitive media market. Regulations - voluntary or mandatory - on certain hours for broadcasting of violent materials or on special ages for entry to cinemas have had some positive effect. Systematic efforts of informing parents also seem to have some potential. Such endeavours should be maintained. At the same time it is clear that new methods for protection are needed in connection with videos and computer programmes consumed in the home.
- The discussions on media violence have to include a broader perspective on how children now spend their day. The problems in relation to the modern media are augmented by the fact that many children spend more time in front of television than in school and that their time with their parents is reduced. Many children do not have an adult present to explain violent images in the news and to put these into an understandable context. This recent pattern raises a number of fundamental questions which seem not to be sufficiently addressed in several countries.
- Awareness campaigns are needed in order to reduce the market for exploitative media violence. Voluntary consumer movements are needed to watch the performance of television and other information companies. The independent media should on their own initiative establish monitoring boards to react to harmful output and set common standards.
- International co-operation should be developed to support the less resourceful countries with means and advice for giving children access to the media and to prevent the harmful aspects. The richer states may as well benefit from international exchange on, for instance, how to develop acceptable techniques for getting media producers to respect the rights of the child. In this regard, "Nordicom," the new UNESCO centre in Goteborg for pooling knowledge about 'violence on the screen" can hopefully bring the discussion forward.
The
Media as Monitors of the Rights of the Child
Reporting
on Children with Respect
Participation
of Children in the Media
Protection
against Harmful Influences
Conclusions
