Journalists have been advised to desist from attitudes, questions or comments that are judgmental or insensitive to cultural values that expose children to humiliation or danger.
Communication Specialist UNICEF Kano Field Office, Mr. Samuel Kaalu, made the call during a two day, Capacity Building Workshop for journalists from Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states, organized by UNICEF in collaboration with Abubakar Rimi Television Kano.
According to him, United Nations children’s fund ethical guidelines for reporting on children, stressed that while interviewing and reporting on children, the best interest of each child should be considered above everything.
The communication specialist maintained that, discrimination against children based on sex,race,age, status, religions educational background or physical disabilities is unethical.
Mr. Samuel pointed out that, children and young people have all the rights of adults, plus the rights to be protected from harm that may arise from any reportage in traditional or social media.
He urged journalists, to revive the passion of the profession, through publication and broadcasting of human angle stories designed to promote behavioural change on government and other stakeholders on the need to take the welfare of the children very seriously.
In her presentation titled “The role of media in protecting children” Child protection manager, UNICEF Kano field office, Emelia Alan highlighted that United Nations convention on the rights of children is the most widely signed document.
He noted that, the three out of the sustainable development goals are directly related to protection of children against all forms of molestation through peaceful and inclusive societies.
On the way forward for countries through vital registration, the child protection manager stressed that, death, birth, marriage, migration and other relevant record keeping will go a long way in moving the country forward.
She however, explained that, research indicates that, only 43% of children under five years are registered in Nigeria.
“17% of boys and girls in humanitarian setting are in need of medical health and psychological support”
In a paper titled, ‘using multimedia to tell stories’ facilitator and Media Consultant, Mr. Onche Odey, lectured participants on the ethics of journalism and key elements professional journalists must consider while writing stories, feature articles and commentaries.
He said stories should expose that are causing heightened cases of child marriage in high burden states using stories of individuals.
He maintained that journalists would achieve a lot through writing stories about individuals, communities, government and partners are doing on societal problems and ways of mitigating the challenges.
The workshop titled’ capacity building workshop for media, Kano katsina, Jigawa, organized by UNICEF, attracted over 40 journalists from print, broadcast and new media.
KHADIJAH ALIYU