Sowetan receives a GLAD[1] from Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) for an article about a child star in which he is interviewed.

The article titled, “Dogs were depressed during lockdown,’ research by grade 6 pupil finds” (01/09/2021) is written by Kgaugelo Masweneng and is about a 12-year-old boy, Aidan Miltz from Gqeberha who did a research about depression on dogs under Covid-19 lockdown. The story reports that the Grade 6 pupil’s research project won a gold award in the animal sciences category at the Eastern Cape Eskom Young Scientists Awards.

Speaking to the journalist, 12-year-old Aidan Miltz says, “I chose the topic ‘the effect of lockdown on animal behaviours’. I decided to investigate this topic as we as people struggled with lockdown and my dogs started with behavioural challenges, which led me to wonder if more animals were affected”.

Interviewing children and including their views in stories about them in a meaningful way when reporting on their good work is very important because it offers children an opportunity to share their stories and experiences from their own perspective. This could help contribute to empowering other children who also aspire to do better.

Giving children a platform to express themselves is in line with MMA’s Editorial Guidelines and Principles for Reporting on Children in the Media which state, “Children have a right to have their views heard on matters that affect them, so the media should try and include them.”[2]

The journalist must be commended for interviewing Aidan Miltz. Such efforts by the journalist could help South African media to improve in making children’s voices to be heard in coverage about them. According to a recent media monitoring report by MMA, children’s voices in the media stood at 7 % in 2020 which is a decrease when compared to 12% in 2016. The reduction in children’s voices is really concerning because it shows media is neglecting their voices and consequently their issues and challenges are not heard. However, with such efforts as those from the journalist, Kgaugelo Masweneng, we hope there will be an increase in children’s voices in the media going forward.

Well, done, Kgaugelo Masweneng and Sowetan! MMA encourages you to continue giving a voice to children especially those who are excelling when it is in their best interest.

Written by Musa Rikhotso

Edited by George Kalu

[1] A GLAD is awarded to media for reporting about children in a positive way

[2] http://54.217.43.239/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mma_editorial_guideline.pdf