When reporting stories about children who are victims of and/or witnesses to abuse or crime or, they themselves have committed crimes, journalists should take care not only to avoid compromising the children’s safety but to also protect their rights to dignity and privacy. This will ultimately saf...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) gives a MAD[1] to Daily Sun for publishing stories that interview and directly or indirectly identify the children involved thereby potentially compromising their safety and/or subjecting them to further trauma. The first story headlined, “My neighbour stabb...
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) gives a MAD[1] to IOL for flouting the Maintenance Act by indirectly identifying the children involved through their parents. “Dads still dodge maintenance” (IOL, 22/07/2018) reports on parents who fail to pay child maintenance. The s...
Substance abuse is a serious problem that South Africa is battling with. For the reason that the challenge has huge implications for many children in South Africa as it potentially contributes to family dysfunctions among other social problems, every sector of society especially the media needs to c...
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 ...
Bullying in schools is a major problem that has seen pupils being victims at the hands of their fellow schoolmates. The topic has received wide coverage from local media where incidences of bullying have been highlighted. While the media should be commended for informing the public about bullying an...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) gives a MAD[1] to The New Age for failing to protect the identity of a child victim and potential witness in criminal proceedings in an article describing the circumstances in which two children were severely assaulted. “Teen beat my child to death” (The New Age, 2...
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) selects eNCA’s online article “Man allegedly beats son to death” (01/09/2017) for a MAD[1] for failing to adequately protect the identity of a child witness. The article is about a father who was arrested for allegedly killing his son. According to the repor...