Sunday Times came to the attention of Media Monitoring Africa this week for violating a young child’s rights to privacy, dignity and protection. In the article, “Toddler tortured over a snack” (Sunday Times, 05/04/09, p. 101), the newspaper protects the identity of the perpetrators, who it co...
Both Sowetan and City Press came to Media Monitoring Africa (MMA)’s attention this week for publishing articles which identified children who were witness to criminal proceedings and / or were victims of child abuse (“Scalded in the bath?”, City Press, 29/03/09, p. 12; “Cops rescue bab...
Over the month of March 2009, newspapers reported on suspected and confirmed cases of meningitis, and the subsequent “panic” among parents to get their children vaccinated, amongst fears of an “outbreak”. While many newspapers covered the story, The Times’ use of headlines and confusing r...
The Star‘s article, “2 Injured as dad fires at principal” (03/03/09, p. 2)1, is one to get mad about. In naming the child witnesses, who were also victims, it contravenes the Criminal Procedure Act, and fails to protect the children’s best interests. The crime story is about a father who all...
Over the week beginning 14 February 2009, several newspapers carried a story on a teenage girl falling pregnant to a 12-year old boy in the United Kingdom (UK). Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) is deeply troubled by the consistent failure of newspapers carrying the report, including Saturday Star(“T...
Special Assignment is an award winning programme, and over the last few months many of the programmes have focused on matters relating to children and child abuse, exposing a number of instances where a failure to act by the police or a failure in the justice system has resulted in children’s rig...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) strongly condemns the decision of many media outlets to reproduce images of child pornography in the process of exposing the perpetrator and a failing justice system. SABC 3’s Special Assignment (06/01/09, 21:30), The Times (08/01/09, p. 3), and The Citizen(08/01/0...
The Sunday Times article “Fear and Loathing in Skierlik” (23/11/08, p. 17) and City Press’s articles “What if it happened to you?”, “Toddler is already scared of white people”, and “Psychological scars will take longer to heal” (23/11/08, p. 6) are ones to get mad about. While t...
In October 2008, Make Abuse Disappear Online Accountability Tool (MAD OAT) raised concerns about Sowetan’s article “Shakoane plaintiff ‘had been sexually active’” (13/10/08, p. 6) for sending confusing messages, and failing to specify that sexual intercourse with a child under the age of ...