The Press Council of Moldova received several complaints concerning the non-observance of children’s rights in journalistic materials. According to the complainers, in the mentioned articles and features, the journalists presented too many details about minors in negative situations. The Council’s members approved of reporters’ efforts to present the situation realistically, but said that these often deviate from the deontological norms that allow protecting the identity of minors, IPN reports.
One of the cases examined by the Press Council refers to a feature broadcast by the local TV channel of Drochia town, about a girl who has stayed at the district counseling center for children and families in situations of risk “Caldura Casei” (“Warmth of the House”). Press Council member Daniela Samboteanu said the editorial office didn’t take measures to protect the identity of the girl about whom they said that she was ill-treated by her mother. The feature revealed personal data, including the name, settlement and irrelevant information about the child’s ethnicity. “The reporter related the girl’s life story, making her experience again the traumas through which she went. If they wanted to help integrate the child into the family, they should have centered on the child’s personality and should have protected her identity,” stated Daniela Samboteanu.
The Press Council members established that the TV channel violated the journalist’s deontological code, namely article 4.13, which says that the journalist protects the minors’ identity, and article 4.16, which stipulates that the journalist mentions a person’s ethnicity only when this thing is relevant from editorial viewpoint. The Council warned the administration of the counseling center “Caldura Casei” that the personal data of children in situations of risk can be provided to the public only if this is in the supreme interests of the child.
Another complaint concerning the violation of children’s rights was submitted by the Chisinau Child Rights Protection Division. It refers to an article published in the newspaper “Jurnal de Chisinau”, which centers on children who were deinstitutionalized and reintegrated into the biological family, where they continue to be neglected. Examining this article, the members of the Council approved of the fact that the newspaper addressed important aspects of the reforms done in this sector, but noted that no measures were taken to efficiently protect the identity of the children in situations of risk.
The Press Council warns the journalists and editors of media outlets that the observance of children’s rights is equally a legal and a deontological obligation, while the Law on the Protection of Children against the Negative Impact of Information, which took effect in July 2013, bans the dissemination of information containing personal data with negative impact on children.
