Our Children, Our Media: A Guide for Caribbean Practitioners
This media manual on responsible coverage of children’s issues in the Caribbean was produced through a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-sponsored project, implemented by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) in partnership with the Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM). The guide, designed for use by print, broadcast, and electronic media in the region, underwent a detailed review by Caribbean media practitioners in a regional workshop in November 2015, supported by UNICEF Eastern Caribbean office, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission Juvenile Justice Programme, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Suriname. At that workshop, participants examined international treaties, regional media laws, and global good practices for covering children’s issues in broadcast, print, and online media.
Organisers note that there is considerable documented, evidence-based research that proves that sustained exposure of children to broadcast images, ideas, and themes have a profound and powerful influence on their behaviour, health, and mental well-being, for good and for ill. For instance, television’s and radio’s power to entertain and teach, to open vast new vistas to children, expose them to places and peoples different from their own and be exposed to ideas that they may never come across in their own homes or on their own. Just as broadcast programmes with positive role models can influence young viewers and listeners to make positive lifestyle changes, some shows can have a negative effect on their behaviour, attitude, health, and lifestyle. This guide is intended to help broadcasters make responsible decisions in the content choices and placement, and help caregivers make informed choices to consume those products reasonably and responsibly as it is presumed their reasoned and responsible makers intended.
After introductory sections, the manual provides: Guide to Ethical Reporting; Our Principles: The Administrator Code Of Ethics; Principles Of Reporting On Children And Children’s Issues; Basic Guidelines For Interviewing Children; and Basic Guidelines For Reporting On Children. Following this are checklists and briefs for reporters, editors, and programme makers on the topics of: Children With Disabilities; Children And Discrimination; Children And The Family; Children’s Health And Welfare; The Child’s Identity; Children Expressing Their Opinions; Children In Care; Education; Children And Crime; Sexual Abuse And Exploitation Of Children; The Responsibilities Of The State; and Child Labour. The manual continues by presenting a Caribbean Children’s Broadcast Code, providing a rationale for it and showing how it can be used. The final section looks at children and the law, offering an at-a-glance look at The Convention On The Rights Of the Child.
You can read ‘Our Children, Our Media: A Guide for Caribbean Practitioners’ here Our-Children-Our-Media
