My own recently published research on this subject identifies large shortcomings in the way Swazi newspapers report on children. This is happening even though journalists themselves have agreed a code of conduct in the ethical reporting of children.
Within Swaziland the main journalists’ organisation the Swaziland National Association of Journalists (SNAJ) created a code of ethics for journalists in the kingdom to follow. This code includes Article 16, specifically dealing with the reporting of children.
My research found ten items over an eight week period that appeared to have breached Article 16. Here to give a flavour of the articles is one of them.
One newspaper reports that a 14-year-old girl is selling herself for sex to get pocket money because her mother will not provide her with pants. She is not identified by name (her mother is described as a maid and the location in which she works is given). The girl, who by any standards must be considered to be in a vulnerable position, is interviewed by the paper (it is not stated but it seems as if she was not interviewed with an adult present). The words used to describe the girl sexualise her. ‘Dressed in her black stockings complemented with an above the knee mini skirt, the girl stood out from the rest of her friends as someone who has been “enlightened” about life more than anything’.
You can find a summary of this research in the latest edition Issue 10 (September to December 2007) of Khulumani, the newsletter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Swaziland chapter.
The Khulumani article is based on a full research report called Suffer The Children – Reporting of Minors by the Swazi Press. I published in Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research (Swaziland), Vol 4, June 2007. For subscription details for the journal, contact its editor Dr Francis Mogu at lwatijo@yahoo.com
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