The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on Nigerian journalists to prioritise the dignity, privacy, safety and best interests of children in their reporting.
The call was set out in a communiqué issued at the end of a two-day national workshop on ethical reporting about children, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, from August 19 to 20, reports The Nation.
Organised under the auspices of the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) and UNICEF, the workshop brought together 40 journalists from the North Central, South East and South South geopolitical zones, representing print, broadcast and online media.
Participants deliberated on the ethical, legal and professional responsibilities of journalists in reporting on issues affecting children and adopted a number of resolutions to strengthen child-sensitive journalism.
They urged journalists to report issues involving children accurately, without presenting allegations as established facts.
They also advised media practitioners to use appropriate terms such as “alleged” or “accused” until guilt is established by a competent court, while avoiding graphic, sensational or unnecessary details that could expose children to further harm, stigma, discrimination or exploitation.
The participants stressed that children’s protection, medical care, psychological well-being and access to justice must remain central to reports involving them.
They also cautioned journalists against conducting interviews in ways that could cause further trauma or re-traumatisation.
According to the communiqué, journalists should seek relevant information from appropriate authorities, including the police and recognised child-protection agencies, when reporting cases involving children.
The participants further urged journalists to disclose any personal relationship or conflict of interest to their editors and, where necessary, allow another journalist to handle the assignment.
They said media reports should focus public attention on child protection, institutional response and accountability rather than unnecessary details of alleged sexual or other forms of abuse.
The workshop also called on media organisations to establish dedicated Child Rights Desks in their newsrooms to ensure sustained attention to issues affecting children and promote specialised reporting on children’s rights.
The participants urged bloggers and online journalism platforms to provide additional avenues for reporting child-rights issues while maintaining the same ethical, legal and professional standards expected of mainstream media.
Susan Akila of UNICEF, Temitoye Falayi of CRIB, Dr Geoffrey Njoku of Truevine Communications, Namsel Nimyel, former Executive Director of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Lanre Idowu of DAME, and Dr Jide Johnson of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism facilitated the workshop.
The training covered child rights and the role of the media, ethical principles in reporting children’s issues, balancing public interest with child protection, trauma-informed journalism, storytelling that protects and empowers, and the legal and institutional framework for reporting on children in Nigeria.
In their recommendations, the participants called for strengthening and sustaining the strategic partnership between UNICEF and the Guild of Editors on coverage of issues affecting children.
They said the partnership would strengthen newsrooms’ capacity to consistently and responsibly report issues affecting children and ensure that journalists’ efforts to amplify children’s rights and concerns receive institutional support.
The journalists also called on UNICEF to broaden its training programmes to include media owners, publishers and senior management of media organisations, including the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria and the National Broadcasting Organisations.
They said involving media owners and senior managers would help institutionalise child-sensitive reporting policies and practices across newsrooms.
The participants further recommended that media organisations develop and implement internal child-protection and ethical reporting policies to guide journalists and editors handling stories involving children.
They also called for regular training and capacity-building programmes for journalists, editors and other media professionals on child rights, trauma-informed journalism, digital safety, privacy and the legal framework governing the reporting of children in Nigeria.
The participants expressed appreciation to UNICEF for funding and sponsoring the training and retraining of journalists, saying the initiative would strengthen responsible media coverage of children’s issues and contribute to protecting and promoting children’s rights.
They also appreciated the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation and the Child Rights Information Bureau for supporting initiatives to strengthen ethical and responsible reporting on children.
The participants reaffirmed their commitment to journalism that informs, protects and empowers children, stressing that while the media has a critical role in amplifying children’s voices and exposing violations of their rights, reportage should not become a source of further harm.
The resolutions are consistent with concerns raised by UNICEF and other facilitators at the Port Harcourt workshop that sensationalism, inappropriate identification and intrusive reporting can expose vulnerable children to stigma and further trauma.
