Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) gives a MAD[1] to Sowetan, The Star and Daily Sun for all failing to protect the identity of a child who, despite having celebrity parents, is a witness in a case of domestic violence. This commentary analyses three articles, which all relay the story of the same case: ...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) would like to commend Sowetan for the publication’s story, “Ambitious Nthathile sets sights on the bigger stage” (03/07/2018, p.9) for accessing the child involved. The story, written by Karabo Ledwaba is about eight-year old Nthathile Mofokeng from Naledi in Sowe...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) gives a MAD[1] to Sowetan for indirectly identifying a child allegedly at the receiving hand of discrimination from her school because of her hairstyle. “Mom, school in hair battle“ (Sowetan, 24/01/2018, p.8) reports on a 13-year-old child in Soweto who was told by ...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) awards a GLAD[1] to Sowetan for positively reporting on children, highlighting their achievements and accessing them in four articles published in the same week in October. The first article, “Alex girl dreams of producing robot cook” (23/10/2017, p.2) by Bafana Nz...
For some, September was a month to make merry as the spring season bloomed across the country while for others, news particularly those reporting on children were a scary reflection of how media tends to deal insensitively with victims of and/or witnesses to crime. Such was the case with Sowetan and...
Two articles by Sowetan and IOL have been selected for a MAD[1] by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) for not taking necessary precautions to protect the identity of the child witnesses involved. “I saw killer suck blood” (Sowetan, 12/04/2017, p.2) reports on a 21-year-old man who allegedly stabbed ...
Two articles by Sowetan are selected for a MAD[1] by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) as they both failed to act in the best interests of the child in their reporting. The first article, “’l’ m too scared to bury my father’” (18/05/2017, p.3) relays a story involving a dispute in the famil...
This week Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) gives a MAD[1] to Sowetan and The Times for publishing articles in which the identity of a teenager was revealed, despite her being a victim and witness to a crime. “Teenager traumatised after ‘police’ shootings”, (The Times, 02/05/2017, p.2) and “...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) gives a MAD[1] to both Daily Sun and Sowetan for stories in which children were interviewed about their traumatic experiences thereby neglecting to prioritise the best interests of the children involved....