MARTIN MAWAYA
MASVINGO-The media has been urged to be ethical when reporting and creating content on children and young people to avoid rights violation.
This emerged at a recent sensitization meeting hosted by the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) in Masvingo recently meant to discuss issues affecting minority groups in the country.
In her presentation on Issues affecting children and how media should cover them, Pastor Ivy Gavumende said the press should create content that helps moral development in children.
Gavumende said the media must recognize the role it plays in creating influential perceptions when dealing with issues affecting young people and children.
“One of the key ethical principles is never to publish a story, photograph or video that exposes a child or his or her siblings or peers to risk, even when the identity of the child is changed, blurred or not published.
“Also, the permission of the child and his or her guardian must always be obtained for all interviews, video recording and photography. Report all related issues to the rights of the child using ethical guidelines,” she said.
Gavumende pointed out that the fourth estate has a role to play in preventing psycho- social harm and in providing online counseling as well as educating communities on issues affecting children.
She added that often times the major trending stories in the press portray children as victims of sexual abuse, gory stories of murder and children becoming mothers, thereby unwittingly putting young people’s lives at risk.
In 2021 the government approved two bills that seek to entrench the rights of children as envisaged in the Constitution.
The Child Justice Bill that promotes mechanisms to deal with children that are in conflict with the law, and the Children Amendment Bill that seeks to incorporate provisions of international conventions and treaties that Zimbabwe is part to.
Children and young people constitute 70% of the country’s population.
