Child is a victim in journalists’ hands, API report

The child’s image in the press continues to be negative. Most of the articles promote the image of a helpless and poor child, a victim of violence or trafficking. The journalists seriously break the Deontological Code as they promote sensations and shocking events, without analyzing the situation of the child more thoroughly. The findings are contained in the third monitoring report of the Association of Independent Press (API), Info-Prim Neo reports. API executive director Petru Macovei said that after monitoring 16 media organizations during three months, they did not see changes. The journalists continue to ignore children’s rights. Most of the news items are based on press releases, criminological syntheses of the Ministry of the Interior, the Emergency Hospital and the Firefighting Service. “The use of this information without further examination leads to the violation of the presumption of innocence and the rights of the children-victims, especially when their identity is revealed or when are given details by which they could be identified,” said Petru Macovei. According to the API, the journalists provide too much morbid details. “The press uses the materials of different institutions, like the Ministry of the Interior, where the offenders give a lot of details. The journalists aim to shock the people and make the news story more interesting,” Petru Macovei stated. API expert Ina Prisacaru said the journalists present the child as a person without personality. They do not investigate why the child was in a given situation and who was to blame – the system, parents or other factors. “The journalists write sensations. The story about a three-year-old girl who was sexually abused at a kindergarten was in the spotlight for several weeks and then forgotten. The journalists wrote about the girl aged 13 who gave birth, but did not relate what happened then,” Ina Prisacaru said. The rapporteurs said they will convoke teachers, educators and other persons who look after children to inform them about children’s rights. This is the third monitoring report on the observance of children’s rights. The monitoring will last by December.