Media and Children in Need of Special Protection: Guidance Notes for UNICEF Staff

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Some of the negative experiences which prompted the development of these guidelines include:

A photographer asks for a Kalashnikov rifle to be placed in the hands of a child who has never been involved in violent armed conflict activities and another who is an EX-combatant.

A reporter finds out that the girl who has been raped that she is interviewing is 17 years of age. The reporter asks for her to be substituted by someone younger than 15 years who has also been raped.

The face and name of a girl who has been sexually abused appears in a popular magazine.

A child's art work completed during post trauma counseling sessions is published in a magazine with neither permission nor credit.

Journalists were not happy that a reintegration ceremony for former child soldiers had so much "christianity" and a communal meal - they wanted something "voodoo-ey".

Video footage of conditions at a state-owned institute for "mentally disabled" children, filmed for limited distribution awareness raising purposes, was given, without permission, to an international news agency which broadcast those images.

A government initiated TV programme showed [clearly identifiable] ex-child soldiers who had "crossed over" to the government side...

Introduction

Too many children find themselves in situations where they need special protection. Such circumstances can include sexual abuse, violent physical abuse, participating in armed conflict, sexual exploitation including sex work, and child labour.

UNICEF works to promote and incorporate the rights of children, including those in need of special protection, into the daily life of communities and countries. The media can be a powerful force for the promotion of these rights and the required changes in social norms to reflect them in everyday life. Therefore, UNICEF staff often promote and facilitate interactions between children in those circumstances and media organisations, journalists, writers [including on occasions script writers for entertainment programmes], photographers and camera and sound operators.

These initiatives have a built-in tension. In order to work with the media in improving adherence to child rights for children, UNICEF and other organisations run the risk of the media compounding the abuse and exploitation of the rights of specific children. This can happen through, for example, sensationalising the issues covered, disregarding the confidentiality rights of children covered for these stories, and causing further personal damage to such children through the way in which their stories are gathered and reported.

Given this dynamic, the focus of this "paper", following consultation with many organisations and UNICEF staff, is to highlight a set of guidance procedures to assist UNICEF staff to maximise the possibility of a positive media impact for children in need of social protection and minimise potential negative results on children and their communities. There are no sure solutions. This will be a process based on a clear set of principles rooted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Principles from the Convention on the Rights of the Child

applied to "the topic of children and the media it is possible to distill in the Convention"* these basic principles:

The best interests of the child: whenever an authority takes a decision which affects a child, the primary consideration should be the best interests of the child;

When trying to define the best interests of the child, the opinion of the child is important: listen to the child and give weight to the opinion of the child;

A child has the right not only to survival but also to development: all dimensions of development

All the rights should be applied without discrimination: these rights are for all children, including those in need of special protection.*

The Child has the right to freedom of expression - this right is not conditional, it applies to relationships with the media

The Child has the right to Protection - media coverage can place a child in danger, this needs to b recognised and addressed.

These principles are at the core of the analysis and operational principles outlined below.

* first 4 summarised from International Save the Children Fund Alliance paper to CRC Committee, 1996.

The Leverage Point

Any guidance to UNICEF staff on ways to address Media and Children in Need of Special protection issues needs to take into account both the role and sensitivities of the media and the role and objectives of UNICEF. These can conflict.

Most media organisations and the people in them pride themselves on their independence and bristle at any perceived attempts to "tell them how to do their job". For that reason it is not productive or helpful for outside organisations to write guidelines for journalists.

In order to promote the rights of children and imbed those rights in the daily lives of communities around the world, UNICEF staff seek media coverage helpful to that objective - be it through radio, television, print or new technology media and in entertainment, news, documentary or promotional forms.

There is an interdependence. Media groups and the people who work in them need organisations such as UNICEF to alert them to potential stories and to facilitate access to key people and situations related to those stories. UNICEF needs the communication capacity of the media organisations to help achieve its child rights objectives. Stories and issues related to children in need of special protection, including sexual abuse and children in armed conflict, have proved to be of major interest to media organisations, their listeners, readers and viewers. It is this interdependence on issues of major interest to the media, that provides UNICEF and it's staff with their leverage point.

The Dynamics:

Action by UNICEF staff on this issue takes place in the context of the following dynamics: There is a tension between publicising the situation of children and at the same time protecting them from exploitation by media and development organisations. It is the "newsworthiness" and sales potential of many stories related to children in need of special protection issues that attract media attention, and can also work to the personal detriment of children involved.

Additionally, for organisations such as UNICEF: children in distress make a deep impression on the public, motivating them to take action; however such coverage can cause further damage to the children involved. It can also lead to long term demotivation and desensitisation of the public which compounds the exploitation of children.

Balancing the need to promote child rights and protection issues with the need to protect individual and groups and children and their rights as part of that promotion.

In working for a partnership with the media, need to recognise it has its own set of dynamics and practices, including being highly resistant to perceptions of attempts at outside influence.

This is the landscape that needs to be negotiated. Crossing that landscape is the joint role and responsibility of the children involved, UNICEF staff, media organisations and communities. These guidelines are presented with the recognition that, though this is a subjective judgement, there are journalists who will respect these principles and others who will will pay them little attention. There is no sure-success way to achieve UNICEF's objectives.

Purpose:

The material that follows is designed to provide a common principle and strategy platform for UNICEF staff to protect and advance the rights of children in need of special protection and maximise the potential role of the media as a positive force for the child rights of children in need of special protection, whilst working to protect those rights in media coverage.

The strategy and principles are designed to operationalise the issues, dynamics and leverage possibilities highlighted above.

NOTE: These are not guidelines for media organisations. They are guidelines for UNICEF staff in their interactions with children, their communities and representatives from media organisations.

Structure:

The guidance notes proposed for addressing the issues highlighted above are outlined on the following pages. They are structured along the following lines:

a. The principle - as the heading - expressed as a positive and a negative

b. A brief description of that principle.

c. An example of the concerns and issues involved.

d. The suggested UNICEF staff role in operationalising that principle.

e. A relevant child right from the Convention.

There has been an attempt to make these short, concise and practical. These are suggested not as steps to follow but as a platform from which to operate.

The guidance principles are:

Always Accurate and Natural...Never a Set Up

Willing...not Forced, Manipulated or Coerced

Children's Voices...not UNICEF's

Permission and Credit...Not Ignore and Appropriate

In Confidence and Safe...not Open and Exposed

As People...Not Commodities

Always Supported...Never Alone

Remaining in the Loop...not Discarded

Feedback and Dialogue...not Silent Criticism

No Briefing...No Access

Journalist's Code of Conduct...not UNICEF's

1. ALWAYS ACCURATE AND NATURAL...NEVER A SET UP!

Children must not be asked, for the purposes of a reporters story, to take an action, present an image or tell a story that is not part of their own history. This includes poses for photographers. Children should only be asked to tell the stories and present images related to their experiences.

Concern - example: A photographer asks for a Kalashnikov rifle to be placed in the hands of a child who has never been involved in violent armed conflict activities and another who is an ex-combatant.

It is the role of the UNICEF staff to ensure that the stories and images communicated are natural not contrived.

Right: Article 36 - ...protect the child against all ...forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child's welfare.

2. WILLING... NOT FORCED, MANIPULATED OR COERCED

No child has to tell their story - even if they previously agreed to do so. There should be no inducements [ large or small ] to tell the story. There should be no threats involved. They should only tell their story if they want to tell the story. They can change their mind at any time.

Concern - example: A child has refused to speak to a journalist. The journalist then offers money to the child's family in an attempt to buy her cooperation.

It is the role of the UNICEF staff to ensure that there are no inducements, threats or other forms of coercion.

Right: Article 16: No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy

3. CHILDREN'S VOICES ...NOT UNICEF'S

The focus is on the voice of children, not the official position of UNICEF or the opinions of UNICEF staff. The overriding emphasis is on the opinions, experiences, views and stories of the children themselves. They are not spokespeople for UNICEF. They speak for themselves. There are many other opportunities for the voice of UNICEF and it?s staff to be heard.

Concern - example: UNICEF staff brief children on the official UNICEF position prior to meeting a journalist and suggest that the child reflects those views in the interview.

The role of UNICEF staff is to support children telling, in an unfettered way, their own stories.

Right: Article 13: The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.

4. PERMISSION AND CREDIT...NOT IGNORE AND APPROPRIATE

Any products developed by children which media organisations wish to publish or broadcast as part of their coverage of children in need of special protection issues must receive permission from the children responsible for their creation and be credited to them. For example, art work, poetry and songs. Children in need of special protection have the same copyright as anyone else. This may involve a payment as would happen with any other artist. Where crediting could clash with other rights such as confidentiality, appropriate and agreed pseudonyms can be chosen.

Concern - example: A child's art work completed during post trauma counseling sessions is published in a magazine with neither permission nor credit.

The role of UNICEF staff is to support children negotiating and agreeing or declining that permission and possible reimbursement. This includes the use of release forms.

Right: Article 32 - Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation

5. IN CONFIDENCE AND SAFE ...NOT OPEN AND EXPOSED

Because of their often vulnerable positions, children in need of special protection have the right to conduct interactions with media organisations in confidence and in a safe environment. As with anyone else in discussion with a reporter they have the right to place that discussion off-the-record, as background and to ask that they not be quoted or identified in any other way in the resulting story. Their story should not be open to the world and their lives exposed to possible recriminations unless they specifically give such permission.

Concern - example: A government initiated TV programme showed [ clearly identifiable] ex-child soldiers who had "crossed over" to the government side...

The role of UNICEF staff is to be the supportive advocate for this position with the media. UNICEF staff should take the side of the children in these discussions, making these journalistic conventions very clear in their application to children in need of special protection.

Right: Article 3.1 - In all actions concerning children ...the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

6. AS PEOPLE ...NOT COMMODITIES

It is the child's story that is important not the category into which they fit. The emphasis should be on that story - not whether they are 18 not 14; rural not urban; male not female; live on the street or have a roof over their heads. Children should be viewed as people not as commodities with certain shelf-characteristics.

Concern - example: Journalists were not happy that a reintegration ceremony for former child soldiers had so much "christianity" and a communal meal - they wanted something "voodoo-ey" and refused to film the ceremony.

The role of UNICEF staff is to work with journalists to maximise the story of each child not to categorise children. This is a difficult issue for UNICEF staff as it goes against the natural instincts of journalists and media organisations for the more extreme situations which are presented as being the more newsworthy.

Right: Article 3.1 - ...in all actions concerning children ...the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

7. ALWAYS SUPPORTED...NEVER ALONE

Any interaction between media organisations and their journalists and children in need of special protection will be unequal. The journalists will have a greater understanding of the context, their expectations, the possible end-result of the interaction and it's implications and a myriad of other factors. The agenda and objectives of the journalists will carry much much more weight than those of the children with whom they are interacting. It is therefore important that the children and their communities are supported in this interaction. This support includes preparatory discussions on the nature of the media and their interest in these children and their community.

Concern - example: Girls who had been sexually abused were left alone with a male reporter, without discussion or agreement.

The role of UNICEF staff is to prepare children who are going to be interviewed for that interview, support them during the interview process and to work with them after the interview on any issues, queries, observations that they may have. This also includes support during and after the interview and respondingto any queries or observations that arise from the media interaction.

Right: Article 12 - ... shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child...

8. REMAINING IN THE LOOP...NOT "DISCARDED"

Children interviewed by and/or working with media organisations in other capacities [eg as informal advisers on an issue] should see/hear the results of their efforts and contributions - such as what the newspaper prints and the radio and television broadcast. They should also be supported in providing the media organisation and journalist with their reactions on how their stories and issues were reported. Children should remain "in the loop", part of the ongoing dialogue, not be discarded as an impersonal element of the reporting process. They should gain from the interaction with the media organisations.

Concern - example: Children interviewed for a story are never contacted again.

The role of UNICEF staff is to keep the children who are part of media stories [whether published or not] informed about what happened [eg copies of what was printed] and to support those children to send their feedback and comments to the relevant media people.

Right: Article 17 - ...recognise the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material ...aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.

9. FEEDBACK and DIALOGUE ...NOT 'SILENT' CRITICISM

Many media organisations and reporters struggle with their own coverage of the difficult ethical and commercial dilemmas posed by issues such as sexual abuse and children in armed conflict situations. As well as feedback from children with whom they have worked they also welcome a dialogue with organisations such as UNICEF. Even if they are not receptive UNICEF should be providing such feedback and engaging in the dialogue. It helps build positive long term relationships and better long term coverage.

Concern - example: Video footage of conditions at a state-owned institute for "mentally disabled" children, filmed for limited awareness raising purposes, was given, without permission, to an international news agency which broadcast those images

It is the role of UNICEF staff to provide feedback from the UNICEF perspective [eg child rights] to journalists and media organisations on the stories they report and the process by which they gathered those stories. As the UNICEF and media organisation perspectives and demands will be very different a dialogue should result from those observations

Right: Article 17( b) - ...recognise the important function performed by the mass media and ...encourage international cooperation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and material ...

10. NO BRIEFING...NO ACCESS

Where UNICEF offices promote and facilitate access for journalists and media organisations to stories related to children in need of special protection there should be an advance briefing for those journalists. That briefing should not focus on instructing journalists in the ways that they should do their jobs but on the UNICEF perspective on children in need of special protection and our own standards for interacting with children in these situations. It should include contextual material on the issue, community and country. Children should be part of those briefings.

Concern - example: Reporters are introduced to children in need of special protection for a story having had no prior, formal briefing from a UNICEF officer.

The UNICEF staff have two roles. They will organise and facilitate those briefings. They are also responsible for familiarising themselves with the media organisations with whom they are working - their style, track record, interests and market. This helps to angle briefings to negate the worst aspects and highlight the positive.

Right: Article 17( a ) Encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child ...

11. JOURNALIST'S CODE OF CONDUCT...NOT UNICEF'S

In the context of overall standards for journalism, international journalist groups have agreed ethical standards for reporting. This is not UNICEF saying how journalists should undertake their work in these circumstances but journalists themselves laying down such standards. These often exist at national, regional and global levels.

Example: "Child Rights and The Media:Guidelines from the Media" from the International Federation of Journalists consultative conference, Brazil, May, 1998.

The UNICEF staff role is to be familiar with these documents, have them available if required and, if appropriate, share them with media organisations, reporters, producers and photographers with whom they are working.

Right: Article 17 (e ) Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well being.

Helpful Materials

Prime Time for Children - Media Ethics and Reporting of Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Background Paper for the World Congress on Commercial Exploitation of Children. August 27-31, 1996, Stockholm by International Federation of Journalists; prepared by Kate Holman and Aidan White

General Discussion on the Child and the Media - United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child - 13th Session

Committee on the Rights of the Child, Session Summary by the Chairperson, Mrs Belembaogo, CRC/c/SR.36

Interviewing Children - a guide for journalists and others

by Sarah McCrum and Lotte Hughes, published by Save the Children Fund United Kingdom, 1998 - with accompanying tape

Children, Ethics and the Media

Paper presented by the International Save the Children Fund Alliance to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, October 7, 1996.

Draft Guidelines on Children Rights and the Media by The International Federation of Journalists

Children and Media Violence Year Book, 1999

Children and Media: Image, Education, Participation

Editors: Cecilia von Feilitzen and Ulla Carlsson, The UNESCO International Clearing House on children and violence