NEWS / RESEARCH: Sexting and cyber-bullying in South Africa - A new study by UNICEF South Africa explores how SA youth deal with dangers online

A new first-of-it-kind study by UNICEF South Africa explores how the local youth deal with dangers online, as society moves further into an easily-accessible, ever-connected environment of communication.

The report was compiled after holding close to 180 in-depth focus groups at 93 schools across South Africa, covering topics including online violence, abuse, sexting, online risks and real-world consequences and dangers.

The study showed that one in five secondary-school learners have experienced some form of cyber-bullying or other violence online.

Remarkably, however, the report found “substantial” evidence that the majority of young people are aware of the risks they face online, which has allowed them to develop protective measures of their own.

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NEWS: ICDB: Children must be heard (South Africa)

Are world leaders and the media allowing children to be heard? Or are children just seen as “entities” who come along with problems that need to be fixed?

Twenty years ago, Unicef questioned whether or not children were being represented in the media as often as they should be, thus the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICBD) was born and celebrated annually in March.

Last year, however, Unicef announced that they would no longer be coordinating celebrations around the day since they had met their objective through the success of the programme.

The purpose of the ICBD was to encourage broadcasting with a focus on children’s issues and as the years went by, to also encourage the direct involvement of children in the media.

Global themes around the event were announced and in 1994, in partnership with the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, awards were given to those who best embodied the values placed on the day.

Firdoze Bulbulia, chairperson of the Children’s Broadcasting Foundation, says: “(The ICBD) has been very successful which is why the event must come to an end, but the role of young people in media production must continue.”

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RESEARCH / NEWS: UNICEF study explores the social networking habits of young people

11 October, Pretoria - Ask the parent of the average South African teenager what their child gets up to in the evenings, and many will tell you that their sons or daughters are probably typing away on their cellphones, on South Africa’s largest social network – MXit.

And it comes as no surprise. A recent survey conducted by UNICEF in partnership with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, MXit, and the University of Cape Town, revealed that 30 per cent of MXit users admitted to spending most of their after-school time socialising on the platform. 25,876 South African youths recently took part in the survey, which looked at how young people interact on the social media platform.

"The rise of the mobile internet in South Africa means that more people, especially youth, are using social networks as key tools in their identity formation. This timely report provides an important piece of the puzzle to understanding the formation of mobile youth cultures; and exploring the role that cellphone applications play in the lives of young South Africans," says Dr Tanja Bosch, senior lecturer in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Course on reporting about children offered [South Africa]

Journalists interested in reporting about children can attend a course in Johannesburg.

The 10-day course, offered by the University of Witwatersrand, aims to give participants knowledge and skills in children’s rights, ethics and the law surrounding reporting on children.

The course will give participants access experts in a wide field, help them write clearly on children’s issues, strengthen writing skills and identify the effect that poor media coverage of children can have. Participants are required to attend all seminars and contribute to class discussions.

The course will take place from July 4 to 8 and from July 18 to July 22, 2011.

For more information, contact journinfo@wits.ac.za or click here.

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ARTICLES / PROJECTS: Journalism now child's play (SOUTH AFRICA)

South African schoolchildren have launched a Children's News Agency - the first local attempt to distribute news about children, written by children.

The initiative is backed by the European Union, Save the Children and Media Monitoring Africa. It will involve 600 children in SA and Zambia and is based on three elements: writing ethical guidelines to help journalists, the news agency and the training of child media monitors.

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ARTICLES / PROJECTS: EU, Save the Children plead for children's rights respect in SA, Zambia media,B

By: Issa Sikiti da Silva

The European Union (EU), Save the Children, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) , South Africa's Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and Zambia's Media Network on Child's Rights and Development (MNCRD) last week jointly launched a daring project, 'Children and Media: Championing Best Practice', which aims to work with 570 children and 500 journalists to ensure children's rights are respected in the media, and a more representative and ethical journalism is practised in both countries.

Critics continue to deplore the increasingly 'unethical' behaviour of most African media houses, which sensationalise children's stories to boost circulation, viewership and listenership in the view of making huge profits.

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NEWS / PROJECTS: New children's media project launches in SA and Zambia

'Children & Media: Championing Best Practice', is a project that launches today, Thursday 24 February 2011, by Media Network on Child's Rights and Development (MNCRD) in Zambia, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in South Africa and Save the Children, with the support of the European Union and Sida Sweden.

It aims to work with almost 600 children and 500 journalists to ensure children's rights are respected in media in South Africa and Zambia, and to deliver more representative and ethical journalism.

According to MMA director, William Bird, "We've seen a gradual improvement in how children are reported on in the media since 2003. However in SA, 7% of stories that mention children violate their rights, in Zambia that figure is 18%. This is usually where a child is named where it is clearly it is not in its best interests, frequently stigmatising the child, increasing its vulnerability or even putting its life in danger."

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ARTICLES: 'The Media Must Stop Violating Us' - Children (SOUTH AFRICA)

In a special submission to the Press Council this week, children spoke of how the news media further perpetuates the abuse and violation of children's rights.

Two primary school children, just one year short of being teen-agers, braved the small crowd of adults at Wits University to speak on behalf of fellow South African children. Their presentation at the start of hearings by the Press Council of South Africa highlighted the mistakes done by the media when covering children who have been abused, raped, harmed physically, emotionally, and so on. Citing examples but not naming where the stories originated from, the children decried a tendency in some media to expose the identity of children who have suffered abuse.

"They took a picture, but they blurred it. But they mentioned the child's father and mother, which indirectly if you know the child, you know that it's him or her. That's one of the examples of abuse", said Brendan Molotsi, a Grade Seven leaner at Park Senior Primary School, in Johannesburg.

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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.

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NEWS / AWARDS: South African filmmaker wins UNICEF Child Rights Award at Zanzibar festival

South African filmmaker wins UNICEF Child Rights Award at Zanzibar festival

‘Themba: A Boy Called Hope’ honoured

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, 5 August 2010 – South African filmmaker Stefanie Sycholt's ‘Themba: A Boy Called Hope’ has won the UNICEF Child Rights Award at the 2010 Zanzibar International Film Festival.

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NEWS / PROJECTS / PHOTO: Developing vision: Young people in South Africa photograph their communities

by Hong-An Truong

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 8 June 2010 – Across some of South Africa’s most impoverished neighbourhoods, a youth photography programme is helping students document their lives – while also raising wider awareness of their communities’ struggles.

VIDEO: Watch now

The Umuzi Photo Club is run entirely by a volunteer staff of dedicated teachers and organizers. The innovative organization integrates technical and creative skills with organic community development, helping young people see their communities – and find solutions to problems – in new ways.

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RESOURCES / PUBLICATIONS: Children's Views Not in the News: Portrayal of Children in South African Print Media 2009

This 34-page report is from Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), which, as part of its Empowering Children and the Media (ECM) strategy, researched selected print media's coverage of children and children's rights in South African news. As part of this study, media coverage of children for the period of May 17 to August 30 2009 was divided into 5 broad questions:

1. Have children's rights been respected, and is the coverage ethical?
2. Are children's voices heard?
3. Are children's issues covered in depth?
4. Are a diversity of children represented - in terms of age, sex, race, and region?
5. How has the media covered children, overall?


source - full document in pdf

ARTICLES: Zindaba Mwanzah - star of Kids TV in Zambia (AFRICA)

“Young people can achieve every goal they set for themselves as long as they are determined and focused on those goals”, these are the wise words of Muvi TV’s kids and teens presenter 16-year-old Zindabah Mwanzah.

Born to Priscilla and Tenthani Mwanzah, Zindabah is the first born in a family of six and is currently in Grade 11 at Lusaka’s Matero Boys Secondary School.

“I did my grade one to seven at Sacred heart of Jesus school and from there I went to Matero Boys in grade eight where I will be until my grade twelve,” says Zindabah.

Zindabah got his inspiration to get into TV from the people that surrounded him. “Growing up, I was told that I was not shy to do anything. And I remember people telling me that I could do well as a presenter, I also recall being active in Sunday school which made me realiSe that I really loved talking to people and I was not afraid or shy to do it,” he narrates.

His decision to finally do what he thought he really wanted (being a presenter) came when he was just 9-years-old.

“In 2004 I heard about the auditions that ZNBC was having, I immediately thought it was my chance to try it out just to see where it could take me. And a thousand of kids auditioned and to my surprise I was among the five kids that were picked from those auditions,” he says.

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NEWS: We are here! (SOUTH AFRICA)

Johannesburg 17-18 April, 2010

We are here! This is the slogan of the group of children who participated in the Children and Broadcasting Foundation’s (CBFA) Interactive, Multi-Media production workshop at Soccer City, which is the venue for the Opening and Closing matches of the FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa from 11 June- 11 July 2010.

The children were playing on the FIFA World Cup slogan of ‘I was there’! Saying we ARE here and we want to be part of this very important event. The CBFA hopes that the FIFA World Cup and all other partners are listening! In 2007 when the CBFA hosted the 5th World Summit on Media for Children in Johannesburg, we included ‘Sport as a Peace-builder’ as a theme to the World Summit in preparation of the 2010 World Cup that South Africa would host. However, now as the World Cup comes to Africa, South African children are concerned that they may not be part of this mega opportunity to celebrate and be part of this major football event. CBFA decided that it would be important to bring together a group of South African children to visit Soccer City and to host a media workshop at this iconic stadium.

The CBFA facilitated a two-day workshop with a group of 11-13 years old’s on how to use their mobile-phones in the production of children’s football content. The short films (between 1-2 minutes) will be presented as part of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s (CBA) General Assembly (GA), on Monday, 19 April at 14:15. The aim is to provide broadcasters with a glimpse into the ever expanding citizen media environment and to give South African children an opportunity to be part of the preparations for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. Giving African children access to produce football stories will provide them with the opportunity to use the social networking channels to inform their peers and help make them chant ‘I was there!’

Hoping that you all will return to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup, 2010 and shout ‘I was there!’

Best Regards
Firdoze Bulbulia


A PAN AFRICAN CHILDREN & YOUTH CHANNEL
Faith Isiakpere - Director: Moments Entertainment
Chairperson: The New SITHENGI
Firdoze Bulbulia - Director: Moments Entertainment
Chairperson: CBFA/5WSMC(www.5wsmc.com)
President: CIFEJ (www.cifej.com)

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NEWS: Research reveals media influences on youth

A 2009 model of youth media consumption indicates that traditional media, such as television, catalogues and magazines, generally have a stronger influence on purchase decisions of secondary education learners than new media, such as cellphones and the Internet.

This is one of the key findings from research released this week by the Youth Research Unit (YRU). The YRU was established in 2009 by the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) at the University of South Africa (Unisa) in collaboration with the Film and Publication Board (FPB) and Vodacom. It provides detailed and custom-made research regarding the youth market in South Africa, the so-called technology-savvy youth (the Net generation).

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OPPORTUNITIES: 2010 TV opportunity for youth

2010 TV opportunity for youth

by Wilma den Hartigh

The 2010 FIFA World Cup offers many obvious benefits for tourism and the economy, but now the global football extravaganza will also help anyone interested in a career in television broadcasting to get a foot in the door.

The Visual Impact Academy will be hosting three-day “digital boot camp” courses in conjunction with Africa Soccer Media to equip people with the skills needed to become production, camera and sound recording assistants before the event.

Ashleigh Martyn of Visual Impact Media has encouraged any media and broadcasting students, as well as school leavers who aren’t sure what they would like to study, to enrol for the course. An interest in sport – and football in particular – would also be to their advantage.

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