NEWS / REPORTS: Suffer the children: media 'guilty of child negligence' (SOUTH AFRICA)

In a society that has forsaken its children, 'not doing enough' to eradicate scourges such as HIV/Aids, poverty, illiteracy, child abuse, prostitution, infant mortality and drug abuse that threaten the lives of the little ones, the onus lies on the media - as community watchdog - to show them some love. But, despite the Media Monitoring Africa's latest report showing an increase in children reporting, their voices are still missing in the newspapers.

Crystal clear

This became crystal clear yesterday, Thursday, 26 August 2010, when the report showed that only five out of South Africa's 13 mainstream newspapers performed well in terms of coverage of children and their issues.

Sowetan tops the list, followed by Daily Sun, Saturday Star, The Times and The Star, according to the MMA's ratings, which took account of diversity, rights respected, issues covered, voices heard and ethics.

City Press, The Citizen, Sunday Times, Sunday Sun, Sunday World, Mail & Guardian, Business Day and The Sunday Independent were all found 'guilty of child negligence' by the MMA, which described as troubling the fall of features and analysis pieces dealing with children since its last report.

full article