A Resource Kit for Journalists: Children's Media Mentoring Project

This resource was developed as part of the South African-based Media Monitoring Project (MMP)’s Empowering Children & Media Project, which analysed and assessed the representation of children in the South African news media. It found that children are rarely featured in the media, and, if they appear, they are often shown as voiceless victims. This resource kit is designed to provide journalists with the necessary information to enable children’s voices to become a part of daily media coverage, without violating children’s rights, South African laws, or international norms and standards. The resource kit intends to allow journalists and editors easy access to guidelines and laws during the production of news.

The resource includes the following sections:

• Children’s Rights and South African Law
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Journalist’s Summary
• Codes of Practice
• Guidelines for Reporting on and Interviewing Children
• Guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Guidelines
• Informed Consent
• Resources for Reporting on Children