The Press Council is concerned about the cases when the identity of children who were victims of different forms of abuse is revealed in journalistic content. The Council warns that when producing content about children, the journalists should first of all act in the superior interest of the child, which should prevail over other reasons, such as the audience, arousing of curiosity and other interests of adults, even if these are noble. It reminds that while relating dramatic cases, abuses, suicide and other situations of a negative character, the image of child victims should be digitally processed so as to protect their identity. Identity protection measures should be also applied in the case of relatives of the victim and no other details that can help identify the child victim should be disclosed, IPN reports.
Two of the five complaints examined in the October 6 meeting by the Press Council referred to violations of the deontological norms on minor protection. The first complaint was submitted by the National Coalition “Life without Violence in the Family”, over an article about a 14-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped, which was published on a website. The person who interviewed the girl revealed her identity and put her provoking questions that made her experience again those events. The Council established that the deontological provisions on the protection of persons in vulnerable situations and minors and on tolerance and nondiscrimination were violated and recommended editing additionally the interview or withdrawing it.
A similar complaint was filed by the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention against a TV channel that related the story of three child victims of violence, one of who is a possible victim of sexual abuse. Even if they were warned by specialists to protect the identity of the protagonists so that these are not re-victimized or stigmatized, the TV channel ignored these recommendations. The Press Council ascertained that the authors of the content violated the deontological provisions on the non-disclosure of the victims of accidents, calamities, offenses and sexual abuse and the protection of the identity of minors involved in events of a negative character.
The Press Council reminds the journalists and media outlets that the observance of children’s rights is not only a deontological obligation, but also a legal one stipulated in the Law on the protection of children from the negative impact of information and the Audiovisual Code of the Republic of Moldova.
The members of the Press Council suggested holding joint debates, together with the people’s ombudsperson for children’s rights and members of the Broadcasting Coordination Council, where to discuss the protection of child victims in journalistic content. They also recommended the journalists to use the Style guidebook with ethical norms for journalists and other guides about good journalistic practices, such as “Violence against children: what and how we report”, published by UNICEF, “Protection of minors in the mass media” and “How to protect the image of children in journalistic subjects of a negative character”, published by the Press Council.
