The Rights of Children and the Right to Media

"...as important as it is to prevent, identify, and punish media abuses  -  including its penchant for stimulating consumerism and early sexualization  - this approach is inadequate to address the interrelationship between the media and the rights of children and youth."

This analysis of the state of children’s rights regarding the media in Latin America discusses ten aspects of media from literacy through content, quality, children’s participation, use of children’s images, rating systems, new social media, and more.  It is published by ANDI  - Communication and Rights and Auçuba Comunicação e Educação, Brazil.

From the introduction, by chapter:

• Chapter 1: Media Education

"The first chapter argues that media literacy for children and adolescents is essential to ensure the segment interacts in an independent and participatory manner with the media - and continues to do so throughout the course of their lives. These educational proposals strive to support children and youth in their efforts to better understand the various stages that go into building media products (and identifying the motivations underlying each stage) and to value materials that contribute to more pluralistic socialization.

The intention here is not to recommend specific academic content for teachers or to incite war on the media. Rather, the idea is that there is a need to implement State policies in this area based on successful experiences executed in other countries and projects developed by civil society organizations and universities. This includes changes in academic curricula, training for educators, and initiatives to encourage girls and boys to produce their own media content. Family and civil society must also be part of this process, to the extent media education is a continuous effort which cannot confined exclusively to the classroom."

• Chapter 2: Production of Quality Content

"This section discusses how to achieve a media setting with an abundance of good formats and attractions that foster the development of boys and girls. The respective incentives should focus on the domestic media industry - which represents a minority of all television programming - and funded by the State or with the financial resources of private institutions.

Yet, the primary responsibility on this issue resides with radio and television broadcasters, which must prioritize the pursuit of excellence in the products developed for children and youth. For its part, organized civil society can, through media observatories, demand changes or stimulate continued good practices - many of which already exist and are described in these pages."

• Chapter 3: Regional and National Programming

"Chapter three raises the need for a specific legal and regulatory framework that ensures more space for national, regional, and independent media productions. Countries with a diversity of cultures and ethnicities, for example, have laws requiring the broadcast of a minimum percentage of programming produced domestically or in a particular language.

The issue takes on greater importance to the extent the discussion on the socializing role of the media is revisited. If the media is a factor which directly impacts the construction of children’s values and personalities, it is critical that the content it broadcasts include a variety of faces, accents, and worldviews. This allows everyone to recognize him or herself in media productions and, at the same time, to gain exposure to diversity and differences."

• Chapter 4: Children Participating in the Production of Content

"Chapter 4 advocates greater participation by boys and girls in building media products. This approach is employed by non-governmental organizations in a number of countries, yet the significance of the media in the everyday lives of children suggests that the related measures should be the focus of public policies.

Engaging girls and boys in the development of media projects is a strategy for fostering participatory communications (a point expressly incorporated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and enhancing media education, the subject of Chapter 1. This measure would serve to ensure children a leading role not only in projects developed for alternative medias sponsored by the third sector, but in the mass media (through editorial boards, for example, involving the participation of children and/or youth) and the classroom as well."

• Chapter 5: Broadcasting Images of Children and Adolescents

"The need to preserve the identity and integrity of children and youth in the media is the focus of Chapter 5. While the vast majority of Latin American countries have enacted restrictions in this area (including concealing the faces of children involved in violations of the law or victimized by acts violence), unacceptable abuses and exposure are still found - especially in true crime programs and publications. In addition, boys and girls of different socioeconomic classes continue to receive unequal treatment: the poorest are often represented in a negative light. However, strengthening existing laws is not sufficient. Good practices and training must be promoted among media professionals, while entities and groups organized to oversee the media’s compliance with the applicable laws must be established."

• Chapter 6: Evaluation of the Impact of Specific Content

"The sixth chapter examines a critical component of the construction of quality media: research. Without it, regulators will remain in the dark in their effort to strengthen laws and standards governing the media and children. As such, this section points to the need to establish study centers and enhance the work performed by learning institutions and civil society organizations through the allocation of additional resources.

Research cannot be limited to measuring the potential effects of the media on children and youth, but must endeavor to understand how this segment interacts with the media: their exchanges, the context in which these occur, how they rework the content with which they interact, and the tools they need to develop greater independence within the framework of this relationship."

• Chapter 7: Establishing Times and Ratings

"Audiovisual ratings, including recommended programming times (in the case of television), is the focus of Chapter 7. The issue has been the subject of previous studies by ANDI and its partners, in particular the publication Clasificação Indicativa: Construindo a cidadania na tela da tevê (TV Rating System: Building citizenship on the small screen) released in 2006 as a contribution to the discussion on the implementation this particular method of content regulation.

The experiences and advances spurred by the policy in Brazil serve as references for strengthening the related instruments and mapping potential improvements - including partnerships between government institutions and organized civil society to monitor programming."

• Chapter 8: Regulation of Advertising

"The concern with the exposure of girls and boys to content that fuels consumerism has emerged as a priority issue of media regulation in numerous countries. In this light, Chapter 8 discusses the need for co-regulation instruments (State, advertisers, and civil society) to establish clearly defined limits on the marketing of products and services to children and youth.

The chapter concludes that small children have not yet developed the full capacity to evaluate and discern in a critical manner the advertising content to which they are exposed. This vulnerability requires that boys and girls be kept away from advertising aimed at marketing potentially harmful products, including foods high in calories, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages. A solution could reside in enacting a total ban on this type of advertising at specific times or in establishing stricter rules than those currently adopted by many Latin American nations."

• Chapter 9: Child Labor in the Media

"Child performers who sing, act, or host programs on television are generally not viewed as workers, but as prodigies. What this perspective conceals, ultimately, is the fact that the rights of girls and boys can be severely jeopardized by excess work and exposure. For many of these young artists, the time devoted to school, play, and privacy is relegated to the background.

Given that child labor is vigorously condemned and combated throughout Latin America, particularly in the light of the destructive poverty and inequality that still pervades the region, employing boys and girls in the media is a highly disputed matter, with some segments calling for its prohibition and others arguing  for rules requires special court authorizations/orders to engage in the related activities. The chapter analyzes the possibility of adopting balanced and while striving to ensure their right to artistic expression is not unduly stymied."

• Chapter 10: New Technologies: Inclusion and Protection

"New technology devices have expanded the possibilities for creativity and learning by children and youth. However, these same digital instruments have increased the risks of victimization by pornography and pedophilia networks and of harassment, including bullying - and, in addition, of children and youth engaging in these online practices without thoroughly assessing the consequences of their actions. As   such, this new social setting requires an effective regulatory environment that guarantees and protects the rights of children and adolescents without limiting free expression. The full access to digital culture should serve as the basis for discussions about the Internet. In short, children should be guaranteed the use of information and communication technologies and a role as active participants in these mediums within a safe environment. As mentioned above, this requires a partnership between the State, family, schools, and business working together to respond to the challenges of, and identify the pathways to, development."