UK Why and how use children's images? Children representation in media

Project : Regional Office 17 Apr 2009 |

London, UK: “Understanding and respect of child rights has developed in media over the years, we still have much to do” – was the final conclusion of the International Conference on representations of children in news media o n the 22 April, 2009. More than 60 participants from various NGOs, media and academic institutions working on child rights shared experiences on introducing child rights into media every day practice all over the world. The conference also critically looked at NGOs use of images of children acknowledging that for fundraising or campaigning purposes “sometimes we loose sight over the ones we want to protect”. Zsofia Farkas, Tdh – Child Relief presented the findings of two years long press monitoring in Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo and lessons learnt from continuous efforts in the region to train journalists on ethical reporting on child trafficking (more on EIDHR project here.

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Mike Jempson, Director of Mediawise Institute talked about the initial efforts in the 90’s to establish standards of ethical reporting and the better respect of child rights in media. Children’ Rights Alliance’s study on children representation in British media showed that image of ‘villain child’ is more spread out in media than positive, angel type of representation of the future generation, picturing children as violent and uncontrolled members of society.

The presentation on images of children in Serbian media revealed that children are shown as helpless, passive actors totally relying on the assistance and protection of the adults as it is reflected in media. Photographs of children life in Bangladesh were also illustrating good and bad practices in NGO and media campaigns. The ethical questions of images of suffering, especially children, such as whether it is mass mediation of distant suffering or voyeurism, or the risk of repetition of the original violation was also raised. “Societies investment in the idea of childhood as being nurtured, innocent and spared from adulthood has to be protected by careful use of images of children in media and NGO work” – was one of the outcomes of the conference in London. [ZF]

Related press coverage:

CRIN (23.04.09) MEDIA: Representations of Children in News Media: Revisiting the Oslo Challenge