News coverage of children and young people in ethics codes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-8160.v18i2p145-167Keywords:
Children, young people, codes of ethics for journalism, news coverageAbstract
This study focuses on the norms inscribed in codes of journalistic ethics on news coverage of cases involving underage citizens to identify established values and principles as well as prescribed professional conduct. Research is based on content analysis of 200 codes from around the world. This study concluded that 128 codes (64%) directly reference the subject, such as respect for the best interest of the child, privacy protection, previous consent to contact, or conditions for conducting interviews. The main concern detected refers to the evaluation of damage caused to children and young people. The concealment of identity is the most frequently recommended procedure to ensure their protection.
Downloads
References
Accountable Journalism. (2016, 27 de fevereiro). Child rights international network: Reporting on children. https://accountablejournalism.org/ethics-codes/child-rights-international-network-reporting-on-children.
Aldridge, J., & Cross, S. (2008). Young people today: News media, policy and youth justice. Journal of Children and Media, 2(3), 203-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482790802327418.
Appendix III: Declaration of rights and obligations of journalists. (2021, 25 de junho). Reporters sans frontières. https://training.rsf.org/appendix-iii-declaration-of-rights-and-obligations-of-journalists/
Asquith, S. (1996). When children kill children: The search for justice. Childhood, 3(1), 99-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568296003001007.
Ayre, P. (2001). Child protection and the media: Lessons from the last three decades. The British Journal of Social Work, 31(6), 887-901. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/31.6.887.
BBC. (2019). The BBC’s editorial standards. https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/pdfs/bbc-editorial-guidelines-whole-document.pdf.
BBC. (2021). BBC code of conduct-safeguarding. https://www.bbc.co.uk/safeguarding/documents/bbc-code-of-conduct-safeguarding.pdf
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4a ed.). Oxford University Press.
Cambodian Center for Independent Media. (2020, 15 de janeiro). Code of ethics for Cambodian journalists. https://ccimcambodia.org/?page_id=502.
CBC News. (2023, 5 de março). Journalistic standards and practices: Children and youth. https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/vision/governance/journalistic-standards-and-practices/children-and-youth.
Christofoletti, R., & Gaia, G. O. (2018). Direito e proteção à privacidade em códigos deontológicos de jornalismo. Media & Jornalismo, 18(32), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-5462_32_4.
Christofoletti, R., Paul, D., & Becker, D. (2021). Transparência e ética jornalística: Análise de códigos deontológicos nos maiores mercados de notícia latino-americanos. Fronteiras, 23(3), 91-103. https://doi.org/10.4013/fem.2021.233.08.
Colegio de Periodistas de Nicaragua. (2005). Código de ética: Cobertura informativa sobre temas de niñez y adolescencia. https://bienestaryproteccioninfantil.es/wpfd_file/codigo-de-etica-cobertura-informativa-sobre-temas-de-ninez-y-adolescencia/
Coleman, R. (2011) Journalists’ moral judgment about children. Journalism Practice, 5(3), 257-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2010.523588
Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma. (2013, 31 de janeiro). Interviewing children: Guidelines for journalists. https://dartcenter.org/content/interviewing-children-guide-for-journalists
Díaz-Campo, J., & Segado-Boj, F. (2015). Journalism ethics in a digital environment: How journalistic codes of ethics have been adapted to the internet and ICTs in countries around the world. Telematics and Informatics, 32(4), 735-744. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2015.03.004.
Elliott, D. (1990). Suffer the children. Journalists are guilty of child misuse. FineLine, 2(2), 1-8.
Fidalgo, J., Thomass, B., Ruggiero, C., Bomba, M., Sallusti, S., & von Krogh, T. (2022). Ethical codes of conduct in journalism: Demands for a digitalising mediascape. In J. Trappel & T. Tomaz (Eds.), Success and failure in news media performance: Comparative analysis in the Media for Democracy Monitor 2021 (pp. 211-230). Nordicom. https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855589-10.
Fullerton, R. S. (2004). Covering kids: Are journalists guilty of exploiting children? Journalism Studies, 5(4), 511-524. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700412331296437.
Fundo das Nações Unidas para a Infância. (2018, 22 de janeiro). Guidelines for journalists reporting on children. https://www.unicef.org/eca/media/ethical-guidelines.
Fundo das Nações Unidas para a Infância. (2019). UNICEF guidelines for interviewing children. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/unicef-guidelines-interviewing-children
Himelboim, I., & Limor, Y. (2008). Media perception of freedom of the press: A comparative international analysis of 242 codes of ethics. Journalism, 9(3), 235-265. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884907089007.
Himma-Kadakas, M., & Tenor, C. (2023). Children and adolescents as news sources: Research brief on voice and agency of minors in Swedish and Estonian journalistic regulative documents. Journal of Children and Media, 17(1), 87-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2022.2127818.
Hodges, L. (2009). Privacy and the press. In L. Wilkins & C. G. Christians (Eds.), The handbook of mass media ethics (pp. 276-287). Routledge.
Independent Press Standards Organisation. (2018). Decision of the Complaints Committee 01675-18 A woman v Daily Star on Sunday. https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/01675-18/International Federation of Journalists. (1997). Information and child’s rights: The challenge of media engagement. http://www.mediawise.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Information-Childs-Rights-International-Survey.pdf
International Federation of Journalists (2002). Child rights and the media: Putting children in the right. Guidelines for journalists and media professionals.
Mackay, J. B. (2008). Journalist reliance on teens and children. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 23(2), 126-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/08900520801909269.
Marôpo, L. (2012). Anjos ou demónios? Crianças, jovens e crimes nos media: Um debate sobre a ética jornalística e os direitos infantis. Comunicação & Cultura, (14), 207-225. https://doi.org/10.34632/comunicacaoecultura.2012.642.
Marôpo, L. (2015). Crianças como fontes de informação: Um desafio de inclusão para o jornalismo. Vozes & Diálogo, 14(2), 5-17.
Martins, P. (2014). O respeito pela privacidade começa na recolha de informação. Comunicação e Sociedade, 25, 169-185. https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.25(2014).1867.
McBride, K. (2003, 16 de outubro). Beyond puff: Writing about kids. Poynter. https://www.poynter.org/news/beyond-puff-writing-about-kids
Media Monitoring Africa. (2011). Editorial guidelines and principles for reporting on children in the media. https://www.comminit.com/global/content/editorial-guidelines-and-principles-reporting-children-media.
Observatoire de la Déontologie de l’Information. (2017). Rapport annuel 2017: L’information au coeur de la démocratie.
Ordine dei Giornalisti. (2016, 19 de fevereiro). Allegato 2: Carta di Treviso. https://www.odg.it/allegato-2-carta-di-treviso/24290.
Organização das Nações Unidas. (1989). Convention on the rights of the child. https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text
Pereira, A. C. (2018, 15 de abril). Sobre a participação das crianças nas notícias. Público. https://www.publico.pt/2018/04/15/sociedade/cronica/sobre-a-participacao-das-criancas-nas-noticias-1809956
Porque publicamos esta fotografia [Editorial]. (2015, 2 de setembro). Público. https://www.publico.pt/2015/09/02/mundo/noticia/porque-
publicamos-esta-fotografia-1706724.
Press Council of India. (2022). Norms of journalistic conduct. https://presscouncil.nic.in/Norms.aspx.
Press Council of South Africa. (2018, 3 de dezembro). The Press Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print and Online Media. https://presscouncil.org.za/ContentPage?code=PRESSCODEENGLISH
Radiotelevisión Española. (s.d.). Código de autorregulación sobre contenidos televisivos e infancia. https://www.rtve.es/codigo-autorregulacion/
Raidió Teilifís Éireann. (2015). Child protection policy and procedures. https://about.rte.ie/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/07/RT%C3%89-Child-Protection-Policy.pdf
Raidió Teilifís Éireann. (2020). Journalism and content guidelines. https://about.rte.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/21449_RTE_Journalism_Guidelines_2020-Updated.pdf
Reid, C. (2002). Child abuse and the media: Naming and shaming. Child Care in Practice, 8(2), 140-143.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13575270220148611.
Reuters. (2008). Reuters handbook of journalism. https://www.mediareform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Reuters_Handbook_of_Journalism.pdf
Silvestre, M. J. C., & Ferreira, C. (2013). As crianças protagonistas de notícias: Sujeitos e objectos de crime. Intercom, 36(1), 81-102. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1809-58442013000100005.
Society of Professional Journalists. (2014, 6 de setembro). SPJ code of ethics. https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Swaziland National Association of Journalists. (2005). Swaziland journalists’ code of ethics. https://misaswaziland.wordpress.com/snaj-code-of-ethics-2/
Teichroeb, R. (2009, 4 de fevereiro). Covering children and trauma. Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma. https://dartcenter.org/content/covering-children-trauma?section=all.
The Independent. (2012, 12 de março). Code of conduct. https://www.independent.co.uk/service/code-of-conduct-a6184241.html
Thomass, B., Marrazzo, F., Meier, W. A., Ramsay, G., & Blach-Ørsten, M. (2022). Media accountability: A cross-country comparison of content monitoring instruments and institutionalised mechanisms to control news media performance. In J. Trappel & T. Tomaz (Eds.), Success and failure in news media performance: Comparative analysis in the Media for Democracy Monitor 2021 (pp. 231-252). Nordicom. https://doi.org/10.48335/9789188855589-11
Tompkins, A. (2002, 25 de agosto). Identifying juveniles. Poynter. https://www.poynter.org/news/identifying-juveniles.
Whitehouse, G. (2010). Newsgathering and privacy: Expanding ethics codes to reflect change in the digital media age. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 25(4), 310-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/08900523.2010.512827
Withnall, A. (2015, 3 de setembro). If these extraordinarily powerful images of a dead Syrian child washed up on a beach don’t change Europe’s attitude to refugees, what will? The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/if-these-extraordinarily-powerful-images-dead-syrian-child-washed-beach-don-t-change-europe-s-attitude-refugees-what-will-10482757.html
Yerevan Press Club. (2021). Code of ethics of Armenian media and journalists. https://pjc.am/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Code-of-Ethics-of-Armenian-Media-and-Journalists.pdf
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) which allows sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal for non-commercial purposes.
- Authors are authorized to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (eg, publishing in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
